The Social Superorganism

and its Global Brain

Principia Cybernetica

Society can be viewed as a multicellular organism, with individuals in the role of the
cells. The network of communication channels connecting individuals then plays the role
of a nervous system for this superorganism, i.e. a "global brain".

It is an old idea, dating back at least to the ancient Greeks, that the whole of human
society can be viewed as a single organism. Many thinkers have noticed the similarity
between the roles played by different organizations in society and the functions of
organs, systems and circuits in the body. For example, industrial plants extract energy
and building blocks from raw materials, just like the digestive system. Roads, railways
and waterways transport these products from one part of the system to another one, just
like the arteries and veins. Garbage dumps and sewage systems collect waste products,
just like the colon and the bladder. The army and police protect the society against
invaders and rogue elements, just like the immune system.

Such initially vague analogies become more precise as the understanding of organisms
increases. The concepts of systems theory provide a good framework for establishing a
precise correspondence between organismic and societal functions. The fact that
complex organisms, like our own bodies, are built up from individual cells, led to the
concept of superorganism. If cells aggregate to form a multicellular organism, then
organisms might aggregate to form an organism of organisms: a superorganism.
Biologists agree that social insect colonies, such as ant nests or beehives, are best seen
as such superorganisms. The activities of a single ant, bee or termite are meaningless
unless they are understood in function of the survival of the colony.

Individual humans may seem similar to the cells of a social superorganism, but they are
still much more independent than ants or cells ( Heylighen & Campbell, 1995). This is
especially clear if we look at the remaining competition, conflicts and misunderstandings
between individuals and groups. Thus human society is still an ambivalent system,
balancing between individual selfishness and collective responsibility. In that sense it
may be more similar to organisms like slime molds or sponges, whose cells can live
individually as well as collectively, than to true multicellular organisms. However, there
seems to be a continuing trend towards global integration. As technological and social
systems develop into a more closely knit tissue of interactions, transcending the old
boundaries between countries and cultures, the social superorganism seems to turn
from a metaphor into a reality. Although many people tend to see the super-organism
philosophy as a totalitarian or collectivist ideology, the opposite is true: further
integration will basically increase individual freedom and diversity.
Most recently, the technological revolution has produced a global communication
network, which can be seen as a nervous system for this planetary being. As the
computer network becomes more intelligent it starts to look more like a global brain or
super-brain, with capabilities far surpassing those of individual people (see our page on
learning, brain-like webs for an experimental approach to make the net more intelligent).
This is part of an evolutionary transition to a higher level of complexity. A remaining
question is whether this transition will lead to the integration of the whole of humanity,
producing a human "super-being", or merely enhance the capabilities of individuals, thus
producing a multitude of "meta-beings".

In order to study these different issues, the "Global Brain Group" has been created. Its
members include most of the authors that have written on the subject. Their works and
others are listed in the global brain bibliography. Their discussion have inspired a Global
Brain FAQ, i.e. a list of answers to the most common questions raised by this subject.