The Global Brain Institute The GBI uses scientific methods to better understand the global evolution towards ever-stronger connectivity between people, software and machines. By developing concrete models of this development, we can anticipate both its promises and its perils. That would help us to steer a course towards the best possible outcome for humanity. Objectives (for more details, check our strategic objectives and activities) Assumptions We see people, machines and software systems as agents that communicate via a complex network of communication links. Challenges that cannot be fully resolved by a single agent are propagated to other agents, along the links in the network. The propagation of challenges across the global network is a complex process of self-organization.
The Freenet Project - /whatis "I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'" --Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation Freenet is free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish "freesites" (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Communications by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are routed through other nodes to make it extremely difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is. Users contribute to the network by giving bandwidth and a portion of their hard drive (called the "data store") for storing files. Sounds good?
Human Connectome Project | Gallery A coronal slice of a diffusion tensor imaging data, each pixel is represented with an ellipsoid glyph depicting water molecule diffusion. Alternate: HARDI (high-angular resolution diffusion imaging), Coronal view. The tensor can be visualized as an ellipsoid in 3D space, showing fluid mappings and brain connectivity. Image by David Shattuck, PhD. and Paul M. Thompson, PhD.HARDI (high-angular resolution diffusion imaging), Coronal view. The tensor can be visualized as an ellipsoid in 3D space, showing fluid mappings and brain connectivity. A sagittal slice of a diffusion tensor imaging data, each pixel is represented with an ellipsoid glyph depicting water molecule diffusion. An axial slice of a diffusion tensor imaging data, each pixel is represented with an ellipsoid glyph depicting water molecule diffusion. An axial slice of a diffusion tensor imaging dataset set inside a brain surface. A detailed view of axial slice of a diffusion tensor imaging dataset.
Holarchy Different meanings[edit] David Spangler uses the term in a different meaning: "In a hierarchy, participants can be compared and evaluated on the basis of position, rank, relative power, seniority, and the like. But in a holarchy each person’s value comes from his or her individuality and uniqueness and the capacity to engage and interact with others to make the fruits of that uniqueness available."[2] In multiagent systems[edit] Multiagent systems are systems composed of autonomous software entities. Janus Multiagent Platform is a software platform able to execute holarchies of agents. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] Brief essay on holarchies
Gaia hypothesis Paradigm that living organisms interact with their surroundings in a self-regulating system The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. The Gaia hypothesis was formulated by the chemist James Lovelock[1] and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s.[2] Following the suggestion by his neighbour, novelist William Golding, Lovelock named the hypothesis after Gaia, the primordial deity who personified the Earth in Greek mythology. In 2006, the Geological Society of London awarded Lovelock the Wollaston Medal in part for his work on the Gaia hypothesis.[3] Overview[edit] The Gaia paradigm was an influence on the deep ecology movement.[12] Details[edit] Regulation of global surface temperature[edit] History[edit]
How to Burst the "Filter Bubble" that Protects Us from Opposing Views The term “filter bubble” entered the public domain back in 2011when the internet activist Eli Pariser coined it to refer to the way recommendation engines shield people from certain aspects of the real world. Pariser used the example of two people who googled the term “BP”. One received links to investment news about BP while the other received links to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, presumably as a result of some recommendation algorithm. This is an insidious problem. This is the filter bubble—being surrounded only by people you like and content that you agree with. And the danger is that it can polarise populations creating potentially harmful divisions in society. Today, Eduardo Graells-Garrido at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona as well as Mounia Lalmas and Daniel Quercia, both at Yahoo Labs, say they’ve hit on a way to burst the filter bubble. They found over 40,000 Twitter users who had expressed an opinion using the hashtags such as #pro-life and #pro-choice.
Semantic Web The promise of web standards W3C standards define an open web platform for application development. The web has the unprecedented potential to enable developers to build rich interactive experiences, that can be available on any device. The platform continues to expand, but web users have long ago rallied around HTML as the cornerstone of the web. Many more technologies that W3C and its partners are creating extend the web and give it full strength, including CSS, SVG, WOFF, WebRTC, XML, and a growing variety of APIs. W3C Standards and Drafts Why W3C web standards? W3C publishes recommendations, that are considered web standards. W3C develops technical specifications according to the W3C Process, which is designed to maximize consensus, ensure quality, earn endorsement and adoption by W3C Members and the broader community. W3C web standards are optimized for interoperability, security, privacy, web accessibility, and internationalization. Wide array of applications
Massive Brain Map Should Include Star Cells, Study Says A huge, federally funded project to map the human brain is incomplete because it ignores some of the brain's star players, a new editorial argues. The $100 million Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, which is slated to begin in 2014, should map not only neurons, the brain cells that send electrical signals, but also the supportive cells in the brain called glia, according to the editorial published today (Sept. 4) in the journal Nature. "The fact is that the greater mysteries in the brain right now are what the non-neuronal cells are doing," said author Doug Fields, a neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health. Mysterious purpose Though neurons get the most attention, there are millions of other brain cells that have critical functions. Research has suggested that glia play a role in a host of diseases. But relatively little is known about how glial cells are connected to each other, or what roles they play in the healthy brain.
Holism and Evolution 1926 book by Jan Smuts Holism and Evolution is a 1926 book by South African statesman Jan Smuts, in which he coined the word "holism",[1][2] although Smuts' meaning differs from the modern concept of holism.[3] Smuts defined holism as the "fundamental factor operative towards the creation of wholes in the universe."[4] The book was part of a broader trend of interest in holism in European and colonial academia during the early twentieth century.[1] Smuts based his philosophy of holism on the thoughts behind his earlier book, Walt Whitman: A Study in the Evolution of Personality, written during his time at Cambridge in the early 1890s.[5][6] The book describes a "process-orientated, hierarchical view of nature" and has been influential among criticisms of reductionism.[3] Smuts saw the League of Nations as a project that would unify white internationalists and pacify a forthcoming race war by establishing a mandate system, whereby whites would indirectly rule and segregate non-whites.[8]