Object-Links in Collective Intelligence

As Pierre Lévy? explains so well in a paper called Collective Intelligence and its objects (1994), "The players use the ball simultaneously as an index that turns between individual subjects, as a vector that allows everyone to design everyone, and as the main object, the dynamic link of the collective subject. We shall consider the ball as a prototype of the linking-object, the collective intelligence catalyzing object". Melody, ball, objective, or 'objective' of the meeting, no doubt that original collective intelligence gets built upon convergence of individualities toward a collectively pursued object, whether or not the object is a physical or symbolic one (a project for instance). When they belong in symbolic space, it is an absolute necessity that these objects must be clearly identified and united in their number and quality by each participant of the group, otherwise this leads to some of those fuzzy situations that all of us have already painfully experienced.

Communities – whatever is their structure — always self-organize around circulating objects, whether these objects are real or symbolic. These include items such as balls, objectives, ideals, enemies, prey, melodies, art, or symbols.

In our sport team this mechanism is very simple: the position of the ball and the global configuration of the group on the field provide each player with a sufficient, rich, and angled information (according to his or her position in the playing field). Then the experience and expertise of each player can be used to interpret and exploit this information in the most optimal way. In social and professional communities, these objects are often hazy, (too) numerous, fluctuating, and even undetermined, so much so that they often become as numerous as the participants. This is usually is accompanied with desynchronizing and dissolution issues that each of us has already experienced.

Objects-link can be separated in three big categories:

• Yum-yum objects: all for one. These are the prey-objects that we need to catch for ourselves and incorporate. We cooperate in order to reduce their scarcity from the individual perspective (only a pack of wolves can catch the deer). Money, notoriety, power, time, attention, gold, and oil are all yum-yum objects.

• Monster objects: all against one. Threats, enemies, diseases are easy-to-objectivize monster-objects which makes them strong community catalysts. History – that stutters and repeats itself as we all know – shows that monster-objects have always been the ideal tool for belligerent leaders and other war lovers. Every person will recognize them. Whether these objects are the barbarian, the witch, the Jew, the communist, the spy, the woman, the homosexual, the alien or the terrorist, the principle remains the same: it is easier to unite the population against something than to help them build unity and create for something.

• Art objects: their existence comes from a creative impulse and from a pact of Quality signed with the Universe. This is the very essence of Art. Art-objects are projections of our desires within time that we create as a natural outcome of living a full and vibrant life. As if we are unfolding a carpet in front as we walk, we orient our steps on soils that we manifest. Projects, other than just surviving, that include works of art, music, supporting human rights, or the enhancing our happiness belong to this category. While, yum-yum and monster objects are created by people in reaction to our world, Art-objects are offered by creation. Holoptical architectures – natural or reconstructed via technology – facilitate their existence (see MMOGs). Some are static and defined a priori (project, strategic plan, model, melody, etc…), others are emerging, i.e. produced a posteriori as a constantly updated collective representation tool produced by the sum of individual interactions – they are the new object-Arts of holopticism. Knowledge trees, are one of the first examples of such art-objects.

Attraction and repulsion objects (yum-yum and monster) are indisputably the most archaic variety, which probably originated in the first positive sum economies in the animal and human worlds.

Made to create the world, Art-objects are permanently reinvented, nourished by their own creative nature. They are updated, destroyed, replaced, and reincarnated in much the same manner as Tibetan sand mandalas. They are 'Whole for All' where interiorities are connected with one another. They build the world in which they will live. For these reasons, Art-objects are not rational: what rationality could explain human rights or entice us with a vision of an ideal world?

Collective Intelligence as a discipline needs to provide a framework about how to objectivize, play and represent each of these objects-link within its artificial and virtual spaces.