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Humanity is in the early stages of the most significant evolution in its history: learning to think as a species.
This is the linking of human minds, values, information and solutions at lightspeed and in real time around the planet, via the internet and social media, says science writer Julian Cribb.
Global thought is opening the way to solve some of humanity's greatest threats – including climate change, famine, global poisoning, weapons of mass destruction, environmental collapse, resource scarcity and overpopulation, says Mr Cribb, who is the author of 'Surviving the 21st Century' (Springer 2017), a new book describing the ten mega-threats and what can be done about them.
"Thanks to the internet and social media, people are for the first time communicating across the barriers of language, race, nationality, religion, region and gender. While the internet contains much rubbish and malignance, it also contains huge amounts of goodwill, trustworthy science-based advice, practical solutions to problems – and people joining hands in good causes."
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:03PM
Hmm how about germ theory? Or electricity? Or the polio vaccine?.... etc etc
All wrong. These great inventions were not the product of "thinking as a species", these were the products of a small number of great minds. The polio vaccine you mention was invented by Jonas Salk, not by humanity in general. Nylon was invented in a lab by a few scientists. Calculus was invented by Isaac Newton, working alone (and simultaneously invented by Leibniz IIRC, again working alone).
"Thinking as a species", aka "groupthink", is what brought us things like Naziism and the Holocaust and most wars throughout history.
A few really smart humans working alone or in small groups produces wondrous things. Large groups of regular people working together produce abject horror.