A Summary of "Collective Intelligence: Mankind’s Emerging World in Cyberspace"

Citation
Levy, Pierre. "Introduction." Collective Intelligence: Mankind’s Emerging World in Cyberspace. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1999. 1-19.

Summary / Assessment
In the introduction to his book, Levy first discusses collective intelligence as it relates to economy. He writes: “the prosperity of a nation, geographical region, business, or individual depends on their ability to navigate the knowledge space.” The more we can form intelligent, highly capable communities, the more we can ensure our success in a highly competitive environment. As an example: businesses transform themselves to promote information exchange between departments. This results into what Levy calls “innovation networks”. Departments can easily interact with one another transferring knowledge, personnel, and skills. This allows companies to be more receptive to ever changing demand for skills (such as scientific, technical, social, and aesthetic skills). An organization that is inflexible to changing skills, will eventually collapse.

Levy defines an anthropological space as: “a system of proximity (space) unique to the world of humanity (anthropological), and thus dependant on human technologies, significations, language, culture conventions, representations, and emotions”. Four spaces are defined: earth, territorial space, commodity space, and knowledge space. The Earth Space defines our identity in terms of our “bond with the cosmos”, as well as our affiliation or alliance with other humans (ex: our name is a symbol representing out place in an ancestral line). In the Territorial Space, the meaning of identity shifts. Identity, in this space, is linked with the ownership of property and group affiliations (ex: our home address identifies our geographic location as well as affiliations with certain groups of individuals (our neighborhood)). In the Commodity Space, identity is defined by one’s participation in the process of moving commodities (goods). This includes involvement in the production of goods and involvement in the exchange of goods. In the fourth space, the Knowledge Space, one’s identity is defined by knowledge and the capacity to rapidly acquire knowledge. Levy identifies three aspects of the Knowledge Space: Speed – information/knowledge can rapidly be acquired. Mass – It is impossible to restrict the movement of knowledge; therefore a larger mass of individuals now has access to information/knowledge. Tools – tools have been created that enable individuals to acquire, manage, and filter information as needed.

Levy defines collective intelligence as “a form of universally distributed intelligence, constantly enhanced, coordinated in real-time, and resulting in the effective mobilization of skills.” Knowledge is enhanced at the level of the individual as we try to better ourselves through the acquisition of new skills and abilities. Intelligence is coordinated in real-time through digital mediums and emergent technologies. Skills are mobilized first by acknowledging an individual’s skills, and then by recognizing the individual’s contributions to the collective.

Levy also adds to his definition of collective intelligence by writing, “the basis and goal of collective intelligence is the mutual recognition and enrichment of individuals, rather than the cult of fetishized or hypostatized communities”. In other words, the goal of collective intelligence should be that individuals are compensated or acknowledged based on the quantity and more importantly, the quality of their contribution to the collective. Furthermore, acknowledgement should be made at the level of the individual, rather than at the level of the collective.