Central inquiry: What enables human systems to
learn, create and respond coherently and successfully to the challenges
and opportunities they encounter?
Forms of co-intelligence particularly useful in this field
(see Five Dimensions
of Co-Intelligence): Of course, the natural focus here is
on collective intelligence.
Sample projects in this field: Most importantly,
create a culture of dialogue and
co-creativity. Individually and collectively we can: Establish
systems whereby information needed for positive change gets produced
and made accessible to those who could use it. Build inclusive,
readily accessible and continually updated collective memory.
Create public spaces and forums for collective reflection and
dialogue. Increase public awareness of diverse forms of dialogue
-- and help people practice them. Create contexts which support
fruitful self-organization and the co-creation of shared stories.
Create a feedback-rich environment to provide balancing and course-correcting
dynamics for organizations and societies. Create systems to ameliorate
extremes of domination and powerlessness which impede cooperation.
Develop a sense of shared meaning, shared undertaking, shared
destiny, and shared responsibility for those things we all depend
on (a healthy environments, peaceful communities, a just and thriving
culture, etc.).
Comments: In building collective intelligence,
we need to realize that the intelligence of the participants can
help or undermine the intelligence of the whole system.
To the extent a system creatively weaves together the intelligences
of its members, it tends to generate collective intelligence.
To the extent it pits them against each other, or isolates them
from each other, it tends to generate collective stupidity.
I care most about societal intelligence -- the societal sector
of this field. I believe our societies urgently need more collective
intelligence to deal with the dangers and opportunities of the
21st century. There has been considerable research and development
of the collective intelligence of organizations because
that information is of use to corporations in their efforts to
thrive in rapidly changing global markets. But building intelligent
organizations will not, in itself, create an intelligent society.
More attention needs to be given to building structures and cultures
that support collective intelligence in communities and in society
as a whole.
I find hope in the proliferation of projects devoted to participatory
politics, civic society, community renewal, and reinvigorated
democracy. I am particularly excited by efforts which reach beyond
individual responsibility and citizenship to facilitate systemic
transformation. People are addressing our social systems, cultures,
and power relationships with unprecedented creativity -- proposing
campaign finance reforms; establishing non-expert citizen consensus
councils to influence government policy; producing performance
art that promotes deep insights into community polarization. Furthermore,
recent developments in science -- systems thinking, chaos and
complexity theories, ecology, etc. -- provide us with new ways
to think about the dynamics of large systems. With these insights
we can address the structural and cultural dimensions of societal
intelligence and increase the creative engagement of
individuals and groups in public life.