Collective Consciousness Via the Internet. 2-20-2009
There is no reason to fight it; we must embrace it, because it has already begun to change the world. Like it or not, the internet age is upon us. Since its inception, the internet has been streamlining communication and connecting the world. Globalization has developed to its current state thanks to the internet and continues to develop with the proliferation of online social networks. The internet has changed the way humans communicate, interact and synthesize information. Remaining in touch with the evolution of the internet is an ever challenging task, but is becoming more important every day. Awareness of this digital realm and knowledge of its strongholds and pitfalls are an invaluable trait everyone world citizens need. Collective consciousness via the internet can be described as the awareness of the presence of virtual identities, activities, and media; and human interaction with all three. This collective consciousness can be created, manipulated, empowered and corrupted and continuously does just that. The creation, manipulation, empowerment and corruption of the internet’s influence must be considered for insight into future states of this collective knowing.
Continuing to define collective consciousness, it can be assumed that individual internet consciousness makes up the greater collective consciousness. The parts are greater than the sum. This is because the parts are empowered, and the sum is simply the product of the parts. Individual internet consciousness extends as far as that particular individual’s experience with the internet through social networking, news-media, business transactions and entertainment. A person’s personality will be mirrored by her/his consciousness via the internet. Human interests will be represented by their internet consciousness and interaction with the web. This interaction is influenced by varying paradigms and spheres of influence. In this, individual collective consciousness is directly influenced by personal interaction with the internet, and creates the broader collective consciousness.
Creation.
Collective conscious via the internet is created in a few ways. First, consider the driving force behind the internet itself, information consolidation and communication. The internet was created by the US Department of Defense for communications and information processing (Wikipedia). Then, consider what has arisen from the creation of the internet, email, instant messaging, advertising, social media, and even online dating. Users have consciously visited and developed familiarity with these websites and continue to seek out the newest online thrill. When the next, new website is launched, humans almost instantaneously adapt to using the site and quickly decide their like or dislike of the site. Here, consciousness has expanded. The creation of collective consciousness via the internet is a conglomeration of every internet user’s awareness of the internet. Upon the advent of a new website, consciousness is created because an individuals consciousness has been increased, boosting collective consciousness.
Empowerment.
The internet would be impossible to navigate and would be of little interest to humans without organization and human curiosity. Collective consciousness is empowered through search engines connecting people to social, cause-based, and interest-based organizations and bodies of information. Activism and involvement empowers collective consciousness. According to Douglas McGregor’s theory Y, Humans have an inborn desire to work toward a common goal and to be committed to creativity and influence while doing so. (Kreitner.8) Socially responsible organizations truly empower collective consciousness and impact the world positively. Organizing likeminded individuals has lead to great developments such as solar power and habitat for humanity. E-commerce also empowers businesses and consumers alike, by connecting the two o a digital platform and streamlining the transaction. Consciousness of the vast information on the internet and accessing that information with search engines directly empowers humans. Information and knowledge of history, lessens the chance of repeating others mistakes. Sir Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.” This quote was searched on Google and took about 1.7 seconds to find out who first said it. The time saved from going to the library and searching the databases, is powerful. The organization of information is the most obvious account of the empowerment of collective consciousness. Human curiosity is a more abstract means of the empowerment of collective consciousness. Consciousness of the internet and its resources brings about curiosity and assimilation through seeking other people’s opinions and thoughts. In some extreme cases, just by reading an online post, someone’s personal views can be changed. Humans are always seeking more and better options for entertainment. Posting to blog spots and forums empowers people to reach audiences never reachable before the internet. All of these interactions take a dedicated individual’s consciousness. Collectively, the organization of information on the internet and human curiosity can be traced to human interaction with the internet. With this power in human hands, there is potential for the manipulation of collective consciousness.
Manipulation.
Much of the visual organization of the internet comes from the various search engines and news sites that internet users set as their home pages. Human collective consciousness via the internet is driven by the awareness of the internet and its various resources, but a popular use for the internet can be traced back to news and search engines. It is known that news outlets often inflate, exaggerate, and flat out falsify news worthy information to boost traffic to their sites and sell advertisement revenue. This is a prime example of how collective consciousness can be manipulated. Many rumors have been created online and lawsuits have been filed about misreporting of news. Search engine optimization could be considered manipulation because searchers often rely on the most relevant websites to come up first when they search a topic and often, unwanted sites come up as a result of a search. By simply linking your site to as many other sites as possible will bring your site toward the top on a Google search. Often times, scamming websites find out how to optimize their positions and trick searchers. Buying ad-space on Google is another way that searching may be manipulated by those companies with bigger budgets to spend on advertising. Smaller companies with smaller budgets often get bumped from Google advertising altogether due to larger entities. Finally, human consciousness via the internet is often manipulated with viral video marketing campaigns. These often morally questionable videos play on human emotions to sell products almost subliminally. Subliminal messaging in media has been deemed illegal. Viral marketing thrives off of social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube. Since the advent of social media sites, viral marketing has expanded as Facebook and YouTube are considered examples of “viral expansion loops.”(Wikipedia) These “loops” consistently bring in new members that are invited by old members, building the user base and opening the door to more ad revenue. These social media sites influence thoughts and decisions of everyone involved with them. Manipulation of collective consciousness can be detrimental because of time wasted online sorting through garbage news and annoying advertisements, but the true threat to human consciousness via the internet is the corruption that occurs online.
Corruption.
False advertising, false reporting, computer hackers, pornography websites and sexual predators are examples of the corruption of human consciousness on the internet. Anything that can be taken advantage of and misused will be. Advertising pop ups saying “You Won 1 million dollars!” are just misleading and news websites endorsing one presidential candidate over the other are just as bad. Computer hackers, script kitties, and virus makers have made the world scared of their malice and have changed our view of the internet forever. Phishing has become a great problem on the internet and countless identities have been compromised because of hacker’s efforts. People spent over 7.4 billion dollars on antivirus software in 2005.(vnunet.com) That money would have gladly gone to a better cause and could have significantly lessened the problem of world hunger that year. Human innocence and lightheartedness about the internet is nearly gone. Parental controls have affected human consciousness. Parents now can block their children from potentially harmful websites that encompass the internet. Personal morality has been influenced by the presence of disgusting videos, gossip websites, and pornography websites available online. American morality has been on a constant downturn for the past hundred years and the internet has sped the process significantly. Through hackers and sub-moral websites, collective consciousness via the internet has been corrupted, but there is always time to change.
By studying collective consciousness via the internet and how it is created, empowered, manipulated and corrupted, one can begin to provide insights on the future of this collective knowledge as it relates to the internet. It is known that organization of information and ease of communication has driven the internet’s explosive growth; keep these principles in mind to forecast the future of the internet.
Current State: Humans rely on the internet for entertainment, news, communication, business, information finding and the list continues indefinitely. Websites with user friendly interfaces prosper. Google is now a verb in the dictionary. Humans can meet others online and have communities online through social networking websites. The internet has increased the speed of everyday life. Human reliance on the internet is a reality. If the internet ceased to exist, chaos would follow. The internet will undoubtedly play an ever increasing role in society and minds.
Future State: Human interaction with the internet will probably increase for the foreseeable future. The web will be continually easier to use and will begin to play a bigger part in everyone’s life. Reliance on the internet will be exponentially higher than what it currently is. Humans may be able to search for information on computers that is normally stored in their minds, such as times tables or the alphabet. Humans may be able to use their memories strictly as vehicles of thought and problem solving. There will be a greater presence of wiki’s and user generated sources of information. Knowing facts may become irrelevant when facts can be instantly searched on the internet. The internet may not only be limited to computers but all electronic devices and even embedded in human’s brains. The internet could potentially act as human’s collective knowledge of the world. The relation between humans and the internet will be much more fluid than it currently is.
Human awareness of the impact of the internet with virtual identities, social networking and information organization, lies in the impact the internet has had on everyday lives. Human collective consciousness via the internet is represented differently by each individual on earth, yet together is an engine for growth and development. It is important to realize the influence the internet has over lives and that collective consciousness can be manipulated and corrupted just as easily as it is created. Humans will continue to interact, live and learn through the internet and making breakthroughs while doing so. The internet has proven to be an invaluable tool for global interaction, can it continue impact the world positively, or will its innovation slow in the years to come?
Works Cited.
"Internet -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 6 Feb. 2009
Kreitner, Robert, and Angelo Kinicki. Organizational Behavior. Grand Rapids: Irwin
Professional, 2007.
"Security software spend hit $7.4bn in 2005 - vnunet.com." UK technology, news, reviews and downloads - vnunet.com. 11 Feb. 2009
