Distributed Consciousness
Typology
Different types of Distributed Consciousness supported by the web
By Shima Beigi and Francis Heylighen:
"We are now in a position to distinguish different types of distributed consciousness supported by the web. First, we will envisage the different agents (human as well as technological) communicating via the web as the equivalent of neuronal circuits in the brain, and their communications as equivalent to the “action potentials” or “spikes” transmitted from neuron to neuron. The network structure of the web then becomes equivalent to the associative network in which information is stored for use by cognitive processes of retrieval and inference. That means that it functions as a collective memory: shared knowledge available in websites, databases and computer programs that can be consulted and used when needed, but is otherwise passive.
Information propagates immediately and automatically via the existing links, for example when we download a book, watch the video produced by a remote camera, or order a pizza. This information is retrieved, used, and occasionally updated, but without active reflection or discussion. For example, we can find any info we need about tuberculosis, including ways to deal with it, but are at the moment not further interrogating that knowledge. Similarly, when we send an email, that message is transmitted automatically to the right address, without anyone wondering what path it took to get there. This is undoubtedly a form of distributed cognition, extending the information processing inside our individual minds across the globe. However, from the present perspective this type of process is not conscious, since it is not being examined, pondered or circulated. Therefore, the information that is standardly available on the web can be viewed as the noospheric equivalent of the subconscious.
Noospheric consciousness would then refer to those ideas that are actively circulating, being propagated from person to person or from webpage to webpage, while being scrutinized and discussed. That means that these ideas are likely to be questioned, rejected or elaborated before they become accepted as common knowledge or as agreed-upon strategy. For example, global society is presently discussing the different factors that promote the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the strategies to most efficiently combat it. Thus, we can say that at the moment, the global brain is consciously attending to COVID-19. On the other hand, it is not consciously attending to tuberculosis or to billions of other pieces of knowledge and processes that are available for retrieval or use, but that remain in the background.
The noosphere then is the equivalent of a global workspace for the global brain. The web, and in particular social media, provides the shared forum where inputs from many different, more specialized sources come together, complementing, contradicting or confirming each other, while circulating between individuals and systems. Ideas that are passed on, discussed and elaborated sufficiently frequently may start to “resonate” or “reverberate”, thus being amplified until they reach “ignition”, i.e. widespread, global circulation that maintains the overall pattern for a while in global “working memory”."