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| World Encyclopedia | |
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Wellsian dream of World Brain was first expressed in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Weekly Evening Meeting, Friday, November 20th, 1936. He began with his motivation:
My particular line of country has always been generalization of synthesis. I dislike isolated events and disconnected details. I really hate statements, views, prejudices and beliefs that jump at you suddenly out of mid-air. I like my world as coherent and consistent as possible. So far at any rate my temperament is that of a scientific man. And that is why I have spent a few score thousand hours of my particular allotment of vitality in making outlines of history, short histories of the world, general accounts of the science of life, attempts to bring economic, financial and social life into one conspectus and even, still more desperate, struggles to estimate the possible consequences of this or that set of operating causes upon the future of mankind. All these attempts had profound and conspicuous faults and weaknesses; even my friends are apt to mention them with an apologetic smile; presumptuous and preposterous they were, I admit, but I look back upon them, completely unabashed. Somebody had to break the ice. Somebody had to try out such summaries on the general mind. My reply to the superior critic has always been ... "Damn you, do it better." (pp. 3-4)
He wished the world to be such a whole "as coherent and consistent as possible." He wished the wise world citizens to make sure the world peace. He was such a communalist and contextualist that he ended his lecture as follows:
I am not saying ...; what I am saying ... is this, that without a World Encyclopaedia to hold men's minds together in something like a common interpretation of reality, there is no hope whatever of anything but an accidental and transitory alleviation of any of our world troubles. (pp. 34-5)
[edit] Tags:World Citizens,Royal Institution Of Great Britain,Communalist,Contextualist,The Science Of Life,Short, | |
| The Brain Organization of the Modern World | |
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(Lecture delivered in America, October and November, 1937)
This lecture lays out Wells's vision for "...a sort of mental clearing house for the mind, a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared."[1] Wells felt that technological advances such as microfilm could be used towards this end so that "any student, in any part of the world, will be able to sit with his projector in his own study at his or her convenience to examine any book, any document, in an exact replica."[2]
[edit] Tags:Clearing House,Microfilm,Film, | |
| A Permanent World Encyclopedia | |
| 3>
(Contribution to the new Encyclopédie Française, August, 1937)
In this essay, Wells explains how then-current encyclopedias failed to adapt to both the growing increase in recorded knowledge and the expansion of people requiring information that was accurate and readily accessible. He asserted that these 19th century encyclopedias continued to follow the 18th century pattern, organization and scale. "Our contemporary encyclopedias are still in the coach-and-horse phase of development," he argued, "rather than in the phase of the automobile and the aeroplane."[3]
Wells saw the potential for world-altering impacts this technology could bring. He felt that the creation of the encyclopedia could bring about the peaceful days of the past, "with a common understanding and the conception of a common purpose, and of a commonwealth such as now we hardly dream of."[4]
[edit] Tags: | |
| 1930s: | |
| 3>
One of the stated goals of this Congress, held in Paris, France in 1937, was to discuss ideas and methods for implementing Wells' ideas of the World Brain. Wells himself gave a lecture at the Congress.[5]
[edit] Tags:Paris, France, | |
| From World Library to World Brain? | |
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In his 1962 book Profiles of the Future, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that the construction of what H. G. Wells called the World Brain would take place in two stages. He identified the first stage as the construction of the World Library, which is basically Wells' concept of a universal encyclopedia accessible to everyone from their home on computer terminals. He predicted this phase would be established (at least in the developed countries) by the year 2000. The second stage, the World Brain, would be a superintelligent artificially intelligent supercomputer that humans would be able to mutually interact with in order to solve various world problems. The "World Library" would be incorporated into the "World Brain" as a subsection of it. He suggested that this supercomputer should be installed in the former war rooms of the United States and the Soviet Union once the superpowers had matured enough to agree to cooperate rather than conflict with each other. Clarke predicted the construction of the "World Brain" would be completed by the year 2100.[6][Need quotation to verify]
[edit] Tags:H. G. Wells,Arthur C. Clarke,Computer Terminals,Developed Countries,Superintelligent,Artificially Intelligent,Supercomputer,War Rooms,United States,Soviet Union,Superpowers, | |
| World Wide Web as a World Brain | |
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Main article: World Wide Web
Brian R. Gaines in his "Convergence to the Information Highway", sees the World Wide Web as an extension of "World Brain" that individuals can access using personal computers.[7]
[edit] Tags:World Wide Web,Personal Computers, | |
| See also | |
| 2>
New encyclopedism
Communal vs. personal intelligence
Collective intelligence
Organizational learning
Global brain
Semantic web
Mental model
Mind map
Small world
Small world phenomenon
Small-world network
[edit] Tags:New Encyclopedism,Collective Intelligence,Organizational Learning,Global Brain,Semantic Web,Mental Model,Mind Map,Small World Phenomenon,Small-world Network, | |
| Footnotes | |
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^ Wells(1938) p. 49
^ Wells(1938) p. 54
^ Wells(1938)[page needed]
^ "The Idea of a Permanent World Encyclopaedia". Contribution by H. G. Wells to the new Encyclopédie Française, August, 1937
^ "Documentation Congress Step toward Making 'World Brain'". The Science News-Letter 32 (861): 228–9. 9 October 1937. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3913334. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
^ Clarke, Arthur C. Profiles of the Future; an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. New York: Harper & Row, 1962
^ Gaines, Brian R. (1996). "Convergence to the Information Highway". Proceedings of the WebNet Conference. San Francisco. http://algo.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/bibliothek/proceedings/webnet96/Html/KGaines/Gaines.htm. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
[edit] Tags:Clarke, Arthur C., | |
| References | |
| 2>
H. G. Wells (1938). World Brain. London: Meuthuen & Co., Ltd.; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc.
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: World Brain
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Works by H. G. Wells
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Crux Ansata
The Fate of Man
Floor Games
The Future in America: A Search After Realities
Little Wars
Mind at the End of its Tether
The New World Order
The Open Conspiracy
The Outline of History
Russia in the Shadows
The Science of Life
A Short History of the World
Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water
World Brain
Novels
Ann Veronica
Bealby
Christina Alberta's Father
The Dream
The First Men in the Moon
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth
The History of Mr Polly
The Invisible Man
The Island of Dr Moreau
Joan and Peter
Kipps
Love and Mr Lewisham
Marriage
Men Like Gods
A Modern Utopia
Mr. Britling Sees It Through
The New Machiavelli
The Passionate Friends
The Research Magnificent
The Sea Lady
The Secret Places of the Heart
The Shape of Things to Come
The Sleeper Awakes
The Soul of a Bishop
Star-Begotten
The Time Machine
Tono-Bungay
The Undying Fire
The War in the Air
The War of the Worlds
The Wheels of Chance
The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman
The Wonderful Visit
The World Set Free
In the Days of the Comet
Collections
The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents
The Plattner Story and Others
Tales of Space and Time
Twelve Stories and a Dream
The Country of the Blind and Other Stories
Short
stories
"The Chronic Argonauts"
"The Country of the Blind"
"The Crystal Egg"
"A Deal in Ostriches"
"Empire of the Ants"
"The Land Ironclads"
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
"Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation"
"The New Accelerator"
"The Pearl of Love"
"The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper"
"The Red Room"
"The Star"
"The Stolen Body"
"A Story of the Days to Come"
"A Story of the Stone Age"
"Triumphs of a Taxidermist"
"The Truth About Pyecraft"
"A Vision of Judgment"
Screenplays
Things to Come
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The New Faust
Film
adaptations
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
The First Men in the Moon (1919)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Island of Lost Souls (1933)
Things to Come (1936)
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)
The History of Mr. Polly (1949)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
The Time Machine (1960)
First Men in the Moon (1964)
Half a Sixpence (1967)
The Food of the Gods (1976)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
Empire of the Ants (1977)
The Time Machine (1978)
H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1983)
Food of the Gods II (1988)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
The Time Machine (2002)
War of the Worlds (2005)
H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005)
H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (2005)
H G Wells: War with the World (2006)
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008)
The First Men in the Moon (2010)
War of the Worlds – The True Story (2011)
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Tags:Works,Nonfiction,Crux Ansata,The Fate Of Man,Floor Games,The Future In America: A Search After Realities,Little Wars,Mind At The End Of Its Tether,The New World Order,The Open Conspiracy,The Outline Of History,Russia In The Shadows,A Short History Of The World,Travels Of A Republican Radical In Search Of Hot Water,Novels,Ann Veronica,Bealby,Christina Alberta's Father,The Dream,The First Men In The Moon,The Food Of The Gods And How It Came To Earth,The History Of Mr Polly,The Invisible Man,The Island Of Dr Moreau,Joan And Peter,Kipps,Love And Mr Lewisham,Marriage,Men Like Gods,A Modern Utopia,Mr. Britling Sees It Through,The New Machiavelli,The Passionate Friends,The Research Magnificent,The Sea Lady,The Secret Places Of The Heart,The Shape Of Things To Come,The Sleeper Awakes,The Soul Of A Bishop,Star-begotten,The Time Machine,Tono-bungay,The Undying Fire,The War In The Air,The War Of The Worlds,The Wheels Of Chance, | |
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