A great perspective on the Emergent Democracy and the role of the internet and other interactive media in its evolution.   

(via Seb's Open Research) :

New Harvard blogger Jim Moore's wonderful paper The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head. Here's a choice quote on the newfound power of the individual within a global social movement:

"The shared, collective mind of the second superpower is made up of many individual human mindsóyour mind and my mindótogether we create the movement. In traditional democracy our minds donít matter muchówhat matters are the minds of those with power of position, and the minds of those that staff and lobby them. In the emergent democracy of the second superpower, each of our minds matters a lot. For example, any one of us can launch an idea. Any one of us can write a blog, send out an email, create a list. Not every idea will take hold in the big mind of the second superpoweróbut the one that eventually catches fire is started by an individual. And in the peer-oriented world of the second superpower, many more of us have the opportunity to craft submissions, and take a shot." (emphasis mine)

In a complex world it makes sense to use the intelligence of many more people to reach decisions - if only we can craft a process that effectively allows all of us to think together. I don't think we're there yet, but things are moving fast in many directions at the same time.

[Seb's Open Research]

Jim Moore goes on to say :

"The Internet and other interactive media continue to penetrate more and more deeply all world society, and provide a means for instantaneous personal dialogue and communication across the globe.  The collective power of texting, blogging, instant messaging, and email across millions of actors cannot be overestimated.  Like a mind constituted of millions of inter-networked neurons, the social movement is capable of astonishingly rapid and sometimes subtle community consciousness and action."

 A must-read for all citizens of the world. 

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