World Brain
Encyclopedia
World Brain is a collection of essays and addresses the English science fiction
pioneer, social reformer, evolutionary biologist and historian H. G. Wells
written during the period 1936-38. Throughout the book, Wells describes his vision of the world brain: a new, free, synthetic, authoritative, permanent "World Encyclopaedia" that could help world citizen
s make the best use of universal information resources and make the best contribution to world peace.
He wished the world to be such a whole "as coherent and consistent as possible." He wished the wise world citizens to make sure the world peace. He was such a communalist
and contextualist
that he ended his lecture as follows:
This lecture lays out Wells's vision for "...a sort of mental clearing house
for the mind, a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared." Wells felt that technological advances such as microfilm could be used towards this end so that "any student, in any part of the world, will be able to sit with his projector in his own study at his or her convenience to examine any book, any document, in an exact replica."
In this essay, Wells explains how then-current encyclopedias failed to adapt to both the growing increase in recorded knowledge and the expansion of people requiring information that was accurate and readily accessible. He asserted that these 19th century encyclopedias continued to follow the 18th century pattern, organization and scale. "Our contemporary encyclopedias are still in the coach-and-horse phase of development," he argued, "rather than in the phase of the automobile and the aeroplane."
Wells saw the potential for world-altering impacts this technology could bring. He felt that the creation of the encyclopedia could bring about the peaceful days of the past, "with a common understanding and the conception of a common purpose, and of a commonwealth such as now we hardly dream of."
1930s: World Congress of Universal Documentation
One of the stated goals of this Congress, held in Paris, France in 1937, was to discuss ideas and methods for implementing Wells' ideas of the World Brain. Wells himself gave a lecture at the Congress.
predicted that the construction of what H. G. Wells called the World Brain would take place in two stages. He identified the first stage as the construction of the World Library, which is basically Wells' concept of a universal encyclopedia accessible to everyone from their home on computer terminal
s. He predicted this phase would be established (at least in the developed countries) by the year 2000. The second stage, the World Brain, would be a superintelligent
artificially intelligent
supercomputer
that humans would be able to mutually interact with in order to solve various world problems. The "World Library" would be incorporated into the "World Brain" as a subsection of it. He suggested that this supercomputer should be installed in the former war rooms of the United States
and the Soviet Union
once the superpower
s had matured enough to agree to cooperate rather than conflict with each other. Clarke predicted the construction of the "World Brain" would be completed by the year 2100.
as an extension of "World Brain" that individuals can access using personal computer
s.
Communal vs. personal intelligence
Small world
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
pioneer, social reformer, evolutionary biologist and historian H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
written during the period 1936-38. Throughout the book, Wells describes his vision of the world brain: a new, free, synthetic, authoritative, permanent "World Encyclopaedia" that could help world citizen
World citizen
World citizen has a variety of similar meanings, often referring to a person who disapproves of traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship....
s make the best use of universal information resources and make the best contribution to world peace.
World Encyclopedia
Wellsian dream of World Brain was first expressed in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Weekly Evening Meeting, Friday, November 20th, 1936. He began with his motivation:He wished the world to be such a whole "as coherent and consistent as possible." He wished the wise world citizens to make sure the world peace. He was such a communalist
Communalism
Communalism is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'These include "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". "the principles and practice of communal ownership"...
and contextualist
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
that he ended his lecture as follows:
The Brain Organization of the Modern World
- (Lecture delivered in America, October and November, 1937)
This lecture lays out Wells's vision for "...a sort of mental clearing house
Clearinghouse (GIS)
A clearinghouse in GIS is a repository structure, physical or virtual, that collects, stores, and disseminates information, metadata, and data. A clearinghouse provides widespread access to information and is generally thought of as reaching or existing outside organizational boundaries....
for the mind, a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared." Wells felt that technological advances such as microfilm could be used towards this end so that "any student, in any part of the world, will be able to sit with his projector in his own study at his or her convenience to examine any book, any document, in an exact replica."
A Permanent World Encyclopedia
- (Contribution to the new Encyclopédie Française, August, 1937)
In this essay, Wells explains how then-current encyclopedias failed to adapt to both the growing increase in recorded knowledge and the expansion of people requiring information that was accurate and readily accessible. He asserted that these 19th century encyclopedias continued to follow the 18th century pattern, organization and scale. "Our contemporary encyclopedias are still in the coach-and-horse phase of development," he argued, "rather than in the phase of the automobile and the aeroplane."
Wells saw the potential for world-altering impacts this technology could bring. He felt that the creation of the encyclopedia could bring about the peaceful days of the past, "with a common understanding and the conception of a common purpose, and of a commonwealth such as now we hardly dream of."
1930s: World Congress of Universal DocumentationWorld Congress of Universal DocumentationThe World Congress of Universal Documentation was held August 16–21, 1937, in Paris, France. Delegates from 45 countries met to discuss means by which all of the world's information, in print, in manuscript, and in other forms, could be efficiently organized and made accessible.-The Congress...
One of the stated goals of this Congress, held in Paris, France in 1937, was to discuss ideas and methods for implementing Wells' ideas of the World Brain. Wells himself gave a lecture at the Congress.From World Library to World Brain?
In his 1962 book Profiles of the Future, Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
predicted that the construction of what H. G. Wells called the World Brain would take place in two stages. He identified the first stage as the construction of the World Library, which is basically Wells' concept of a universal encyclopedia accessible to everyone from their home on computer terminal
Computer terminal
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...
s. He predicted this phase would be established (at least in the developed countries) by the year 2000. The second stage, the World Brain, would be a superintelligent
Superintelligence
A superintelligence, hyperintelligence or superhuman intelligence is a hypothetical entity which possesses intelligence surpassing that of any existing human being...
artificially intelligent
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
that humans would be able to mutually interact with in order to solve various world problems. The "World Library" would be incorporated into the "World Brain" as a subsection of it. He suggested that this supercomputer should be installed in the former war rooms of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
once the superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s had matured enough to agree to cooperate rather than conflict with each other. Clarke predicted the construction of the "World Brain" would be completed by the year 2100.
World Wide Web as a World Brain
Brian R. Gaines in his "Convergence to the Information Highway", sees the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
as an extension of "World Brain" that individuals can access using personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s.
See also
- New encyclopedismNew encyclopedismNew encyclopedism is a term used by English writer H. G. Wells in 1937 to describe a proposed modern movement for the codification of knowledge in encyclopedic format....
Communal vs. personal intelligence
- Collective intelligenceCollective intelligenceCollective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
- Organizational learningOrganizational learningOrganizational learning is an area of knowledge within organizational theory that studies models and theories about the way an organization learns and adapts....
- Global brainGlobal brainThe Global Brain is a metaphor for the worldwide intelligent network formed by people together with the information and communication technologies that connect them into an "organic" whole...
- Semantic webSemantic WebThe Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
- Mental modelMental modelA mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about his or her own acts and their consequences...
- Mind mapMind mapA mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Especially in British English, the terms spidergram and spidergraph are more common, but they can cause confusion with the term spider diagram used in mathematics...
Small world
- Small world phenomenon
- Small-world networkSmall-world networkIn mathematics, physics and sociology, a small-world network is a type of mathematical graph in which most nodes are not neighbors of one another, but most nodes can be reached from every other by a small number of hops or steps...