L'intelligenza collettiva. Per un'antropologia del cyberspazio

by Pierre Lévy, Maria Colò (Translator)

Rete di reti che si basano sulla comunicazione "anarchica" di migliaia dicentri informatici nel mondo, Internet è diventata oggi il simbolo del grandemedium definito cyberspazio. Quanto poi al futuro che esso dischiude, nonesiste un determinismo tecnologico o economico; si prospettano per i governi,i grandi operatori economici, i cittadini scelte politiche e culturalifondamentali. Non si tratta di ragionare esclusivamente in termini di impatto,ma anche di progetto, si tratta di inventare tecniche, sistemi di segni, formedi organizzazione sociale che permettano di pensare assieme, concentrare forzeintellettuali e spirituali, moltiplicare immaginazioni ed esperienze,negoziare soluzioni pratiche ai problemi complessi.

Genres: Nonfiction, Internet, Technology, Science, Philosophy, Education

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Pierre Lévy (French: [levi]; born 1956 in Tunis) is a French philosopher, cultural theorist and media scholar who specializes in the understanding of the cultural and cognitive implications of digital technologies and the phenomenon of human collective intelligence.

He introduced the collective intelligence concept in his 1994 book L'intelligence collective: Pour une anthropologie du cyberspace (Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace). Lévy's 1995 book, Qu'est-ce que le virtuel? (translated as Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age) develops philosopher Gilles Deleuze's conception of "the virtual" as a dimension of reality that subsists with the actual but is irreducible to it. In 2001, he wrote the book Cyberculture.

Pierre Lévy currently teaches at the communication department of the University of Ottawa, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Collective Intelligence. Lévy is fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and received several awards and academic distinctions.[citation needed]

Reviews

[David Šír · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to rate this in 2018? The 90s optimistic spirit may seem from our perspective too naive, sad or even repulsive concerning the fact things didn't go so well with the internet and collective intelligence. Or it can, on the contrary, be exactly THE book to read today, in our dark times: to once again ignite the utopian spirit, backward understand the possibilities people were hoping for when internet was starting, and that were largely forgotten. It worked for me in this way. Levy underestimated the power's ability to entrap the new media's potential and surely that was his problem. Nevertheless reading it today helped me to re-animate a possible positive vector leading from our situation. I specifically appreciated his discussion of Neo-Platonism, actualized in a 'material' form (collective brain's noosphere as a sort of celestial architecture), collective intelligence as the emanating Oneness, nonpersonal cosmic Source of life and creativity. It is kind of a reverse theology, atheistic non-theology, that ia despite all its problems still keeping its visionary force.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

NÃO gostei da leitura!

Termos extremamente técnicos, sem exemplificações práticas. Vou estudar sobre o pensamento desse filósofo/sociólogo por meio de vídeos, pela leitura fiquei confusa!

[Kevin Fodness · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lévy has some excellent criticisms of current modes of governance, mainly centering around the fact that the world is changing too fast for current modes of governance to be able to keep up with. He advocates digitally mediated direct democracy using cyberspace technologies, which is not without its set of problems. However, the book was written in 1994, before the world wide web explosion, so I have to give him a little slack here.

Much of the book was written in this lofty, ethereal style that was more like poetry than prose, and was pretty much incomprehensible nonsense. ("Divine acts and human rituals are the gestures and songs that support the world.")

He argues that a knowledge space is emerging (on top of the earth, the territorial space, and the commodity space) where collective intelligence is possible, which is the interaction between human beings in real time that is digitally mediated. I think that this space has indeed emerged, and is evidenced by such innovations as Wikipedia and others. In this sense, Lévy was somewhat visionary.

The challenge now is how to make systems of direct democracy possible without abuses of power and without oppression of the minority. Lévy tends to brush these criticisms aside, but they need significantly more analysis and critique.

[Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dude is French
I wish I was French
I want to go to raves
Socio-Political Raves
The French way

[Emanuela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stupisce questo saggio a vent'anni dalla pubblicazione.
Sembra di aver vissuto con la percezione latente che tutto quello che Lévy ha scritto si stava avverando. Non è ancora una percezione endemica, ma girano da tempo nell'aria le sue affermazioni come la più famosa "società della conoscenza".

Tra i capitolo quello che mi ha stupito di più è sicuramente il quinto: "Coreografia dei corpi angelici" dove l'autore fa un parallelo con le teorie di Avicenna. Fantasioso ma efficace. E' così.
Ancora. Nella teoria degli spazi, quello della conoscenza ci riavvicinerebbe a quello della Terra. Svincolati dal materiale ci avviciniamo alla materia primaria. Bello.
Tutto da gustare.

[Alex Whalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You want a French theorists take on how the Internet is changing the world? Its going to be hard to beat this book

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting subject. well read but a bit complicated for me. it was easy to listen to but difficult to actually understand.

[sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for class, mid

[Declan Nerney · Rating 1 out of 5]

what is he yapping about

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across Collective Intelligence by Pierre Lévy in my research for the Patron 2.0 paper. It was cited in Henry Jenkins's book, Fans, Bloggers and Gamers. Although the book was written in 1997, well before the advent of social media, the theory is solid and completely applicable to the discussion of Web 2.0.

Lévy begins his discussion with books. The written word is humanity's first and longest lived way of generating collective intelligence. Libraries are repositories of knowledge waiting to be read and interacted with. The modern day wiki, blog, social tagging or microblogging site (such as Twitter) are new expressions of collective intelligence.

While the book wasn't entirely on topic for my research, as I was looking for discussions of blogging in a library setting, the theory was nonetheless fascination. It also provided background for me to format my own research questions around.

[Leonardo]

Del mismo modo que la modernización en la era previa, la posmodernización o informatización hoy marcan un nuevo modo de volverse humano. En lo que a la producción del alma concierne, como diría Musil, uno debe reemplazar las técnicas tradicionales de las máquinas industriales con la inteligencia cibernética de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación. Debemos inventar lo que Pierre Levy denomina una antropología del ciberespacio.

Imperio Pág.218

[Karla Kitalong]

He wrote this book some 25 years ago. It's interesting to read some of his predictions from the vantage point of 2021. Much of it feels accurate, but I don't think it's as optimistic as he hoped or expected.

[Cameron · Rating 1 out of 5]

too much gobblygook.....