Collective consciousness
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| - | In the [[Society_of_Mind|society of mind]], what happens when agents become aware of something? Can | + | In the [[Society_of_Mind|society of mind]], what happens when agents become aware of something? Can they become aware of themselves ? What we call conscious and self aware certainly exists in some form in a society, too. |
== Collective consciousness == | == Collective consciousness == | ||
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=== Sociology === | === Sociology === | ||
| - | Collective consciousness is '''what the majority of agents is thinking or doing right now'''. It is also connected to shared beliefs and attitutes. | + | Collective consciousness is based on collective cognition |
| + | and perception. It is '''what the majority of agents is thinking or | ||
| + | doing right now'''. It is also connected to shared beliefs and attitutes. | ||
According to the french sociologist Émile Durkheim, | According to the french sociologist Émile Durkheim, | ||
the term [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness collective consciousness] | the term [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness collective consciousness] | ||
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Do we have a spirit of China "hovering over the room" in this case? A real life situation where a common consciousness arises is for example a national world cup game in stadium, or a divine service. The spirit of the group is in fact "hovering" over the place in both cases. The participants are confused by feedback illusions: if all participants act synchronously, then it is difficult to distinguish between the actions of the group and the actions of the individual. An individual thinks it has suddenly the power of the whole group. | Do we have a spirit of China "hovering over the room" in this case? A real life situation where a common consciousness arises is for example a national world cup game in stadium, or a divine service. The spirit of the group is in fact "hovering" over the place in both cases. The participants are confused by feedback illusions: if all participants act synchronously, then it is difficult to distinguish between the actions of the group and the actions of the individual. An individual thinks it has suddenly the power of the whole group. | ||
| - | How would a recognition or representation of itself look like? | + | How would a recognition or representation of itself look like? Maybe you can describe it like this: when agents become aware of themselves, suddenly a small group of agents (which represent the society somehow through a certain belief, attitude or action) gets into the focus of attention. They become very famous, and nearly everyone makes connections to them. In the above situation, these agents may be comparable to the team on the field, or the leaders of the religious group. A huge confusion arises in the population which agents should be activated: everyone since the agents represent everyone, and nobody since they are just one team among many others. |
=== Collective self-awareness === | === Collective self-awareness === | ||
| - | + | Collective self-awareness happens '''when the majority of agents is thinking or discussing about themselves''', which is possible during revolutions or revolutionary changes in a society, when the society is debating and changing itself. These revolutionary changes can be more or less peaceful. Collective self-awareness is a bit like '''a thunderstorm in the social network of the society of mind''': items which represent the society become popular supernodes in the social network of the society (which may lead to sudden flashs of insight), but also lead to massive confusion (or thunderheads) afterwards. | |
| - | A team, whether a sports team, an organization, or an army, can have a "team spirit" (in German "Teamgeist"). If the person which seems to embody this team spirit acts for the whole group in some form of competition or election, this can lead to some kind of self-awareness, if the actions are discussed or celebrated afterwards. If the people of a country start to discuss their own president (see Egypt), the society becomes aware of itself to a certain degree. | + | In general, everything which represents the society can lead to some form of self-awareness in the society, for instance a sports team in a world cup or an army in a war which shows certain positive or desired attitudes. During the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup|World Cup in 2006], the Germans for example showed their patriotic spirit with flag waving. A kind of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness|collective consciousness]. |
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| + | Any team, whether a sports team, an organization, or an army, can have a "team spirit" (in German "Teamgeist"). If the person which seems to embody this team spirit acts for the whole group in some form of competition or election, this can lead to some kind of self-awareness, if the actions are discussed or celebrated afterwards. If the people of a country start to discuss and dismiss their own president (see Egypt 2011), the society becomes aware of itself to a certain degree. | ||
=== Insight in Confusion === | === Insight in Confusion === | ||
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agent is able to see eternity in a moment and a lifetime | agent is able to see eternity in a moment and a lifetime | ||
in a day. | in a day. | ||
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| + | == Links == | ||
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| + | * Notebook entry for [http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/notebooks/collective-cognition.html Collective Cognition] | ||
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| + | [[Category:Consciousness]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Self-Star Properties]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Collective Processes]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Psychology]] | ||
