"An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break." - Chinese Proverb
Perhaps as a way to begin a dialogue about technology and collaboration is to define a couple of new concepts that can provoke some interesting discussion. A recent article in Wired Magazine called "Six Degrees of Interconnection" by D. Watts points out "When we talk about distance, we almost always mean the space between objects or locations in the physical world. And for good reason: Most of the time, that's the sort of distance that makes sense. But after a century-long revolution in communications and transportation, physical space can be limiting or even misleading. Sociologists have long thought in terms of social space, the gap between individuals' wealth, education, ethnicity, or religion. More recently, however, social scientists and mathematicians have begun to examine another kind of distance, one increasingly important to our understanding of the world: network space"
It goes on to describe the study by social psychologist Stanley Milgram. "Milgram gave letters to about 300 people in Boston and Omaha with instructions that the envelopes ultimately reach a single "target," a Boston stockbroker. The letters could be sent only to a personal friend of the current holder, who then received the same instructions. To the surprise of many, more than 60 of the letters reached their goal, changing hands, on average, only six times. Milgram's conclusion was that people who seem very distant in physical or social space may actually be closer than we imagine."
The article is worth a read and certainly more discussion. On to the second concept - Stigmergy...
Stigmergy is a strategy found in natural systems. It has only recently been recognized as the single most important concept to explain why the Internet and the World Wide Web appear to self-organize and become increasingly more complex.
The term 'stigmergy' derives from the way colonies of insects self-organize, to tell each other where to find food and to build complex architectural structures.
The strategy was originally discovered about fifty years ago, by a biologist studying ants and termites. He was intrigued to learn how these virtually brainless creatures could create highly sophisticated messaging systems and build extremely complex architectural structures. It was a mystifying puzzle that nobody had ever been able to explain.
What he uncovered defied rational explanation. There were no plans, organization or control built into the brains or genes of the ants. The ants weren't even communicating with each other. The sophisticated frameworks and complex structures were emerging spontaneously. The understanding eventually came about through knowledge gained in the study of the self-organizing characteristics of complex systems.
The essence of stigmergy
Although the way stigmergy takes effect is a very complex subject area, it can be explained very simply. It is an effect that takes place when people interact with an environment by changing it. The changes they make cause them to react differently.
The best example is the Web. This has become increasing more organized and complex through people reacting with this environment by adding to it. It is self evident that these additions are influenced by what is on the Web already. People copy, improve and link bits together. The more additions, improvements and linkages that are made, the more complex these changes and improvements become. This is what stigmergy is about.
Reference Links:
Wired: Six Degrees of Interconnection