The Rise Of The Social Nervous System - Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/09/internet-innovations-hive-technology-breakthroughs-innovations.html?feed=rss_technology

...communication is the foundation of society, business and government. When you scale up communications, you change the world....As ever more people get connected, we see an acceleration in the way the Internet is used to coordinate action and render services from human input. We are witnessing the rise of a social nervous system.

"the Internet is, at bottom, a communications network, and communication is the foundation of society, business and government. When you scale up communications, you change the world."

Another outcome of the social nervous system is that we see the shift away from privacy as an inalienable right to an individual responsibility. In a social nervous system there will be increasing pressure to be connected 24/7 to the hive mind that is Facebook, Twitter and so on. Those who do not connect, share and collaborate will have a hard time in business and in social life. Older generations expect that digital natives will one day wish to erase all their indiscreet photos online. But I don't believe this nonstop exposure will go away as the digital natives mature. Our lives are increasingly being logged on the Internet. It is part of the trade. Given the complexity and precarious position of the modern world, getting people to genuinely reach out and touch their neighbors is a good thing but it will come at the price of reshaping our identities as part of a larger, interconnected whole.

Older generations expect that digital natives will one day wish to erase all their indiscreet photos online. But I don't believe this nonstop exposure will go away as the digital natives mature. Our lives are increasingly being logged on the Internet. It is part of the trade. Given the complexity and precarious position of the modern world, getting people to genuinely reach out and touch their neighbors is a good thing but it will come at the price of reshaping our identities as part of a larger, interconnected whole.