Mundaneum

In 1934, a Belgian futurist named Paul Otlet predicted something that he called Mundaneum.  It was a network of people, linked by telephones and computers.  Mundaneum would allow all the thinkers of the world to pool their ideas and opinions, to study things through, to find solutions to all huan problems.

The future we should be having, today

He didn’t predict the torrent of cat pictures which would clog the streets of the Mundaneum, the popularization of porn, or to what extent such a network would facilitate massive, large scale stupidity.  Other than that, he pretty much predicted the Internet; in 1934.  Full credit.

The thing is, Otlet’s vision could become reality.  It may even be headed in that direction.  There are many sites where there is a relatively free exchange of ideas.  Unfortunately, they are generally pretty unimaginative ideas, and the free exchange very often is just “You’re stupid!”, “No, you’re stupid!”  There are places, I think, where serious ideas are discussed, and I occasionally stumble across them.  But, someone raises an objection, somebody else calls them a troll or a hater, and you have to read through a lot of pointless back and forth for every intelligent, constructive comment that actually adds anything to the original point, that actually moves the discussion forward.

It’s a form of artificial intelligence.  The linking of highly intelligent and creative minds with the knowledge and computing power of the world’s finest thinking machines.

It could solve all of the problem’s of the world.  Well, at least it could propose solutions.  We’re still human beings, so we’d probably screw things up.