Howard Rheingold: Way-new collaboration

Summary

This script explores the evolution of human cooperation and its impact on society, challenging the traditional 'survival of the fittest' narrative. It discusses how communication technologies, from the alphabet to the internet, have enabled collective action and new economic forms. The speaker highlights the importance of understanding cooperation through various disciplines, from biology to economics, and suggests that new forms of wealth and societal structures may emerge from enhanced cooperative arrangements.

Takeaways

• 🔄 The old narrative of 'survival of the fittest' is shifting towards a new story that emphasizes cooperation and collective action.
• 📚 The author's research on 'Smart Mobs' led to an ongoing contemplation of the relationship between communication, media, and collective action.
• 🌐 Human communication media and social organization have been co-evolving, with significant transitions such as the development of agriculture and the creation of the first cities and empires.
• 🏺 The advent of agriculture necessitated new forms of wealth and social arrangements, likely involving symbolic communication to manage the distribution of resources.
• ✍️ The invention of writing and the alphabet was initially a tool for elite administrators to keep track of resources and taxes, highlighting the role of communication in economic management.
• 📖 The printing press democratized literacy and enabled new forms of collective action in knowledge, religion, and politics, leading to scientific revolutions and new political systems.
• 💡 Capitalism, as we know it, is a relatively recent development, enabled by cooperative arrangements and technologies that supported commerce and market dynamics.
• 🌐 The internet and digital technologies are accelerating the pace of change, with every desktop becoming a broadcasting station and marketplace, and mobile devices further decentralizing power.
• 🤝 The prisoner's dilemma and the tragedy of the commons are key concepts in understanding social dilemmas, with cooperation emerging as a strategy even in competitive scenarios.
• 🏆 Elinor Ostrom's research showed that humans can successfully manage common resources through the creation of institutions for collective action, challenging the inevitability of resource depletion.
• 🔬 There is a growing recognition in various disciplines that cooperative arrangements are central to biological and economic systems, and that altruistic punishment may be a key social mechanism.
• 🌟 Modern businesses are increasingly adopting cooperative strategies, such as open sourcing software, creating markets for solutions, and treating suppliers as networks, to foster innovation and mutual benefit.

Q & A

What is the old story the speaker refers to at the beginning of the script?

The old story is the traditional narrative where biology is seen as a war where only the strongest survive, businesses and nations succeed by defeating and dominating competitors, and politics is about winning at any cost.

What is the new narrative that the speaker suggests is beginning to emerge?

The new narrative emphasizes cooperation, collective action, and complex interdependencies as more important factors in success, with the role of competition and survival of the fittest becoming less central.

What role did the printing press play in enabling new forms of collective action?

The printing press enabled mass literacy, which in turn led to new forms of collective action in knowledge, religion, and politics, including scientific revolutions, the Protestant Reformation, and the establishment of constitutional democracies.

What is the significance of the 'assurance game' in the context of the prisoner's dilemma?

The assurance game is a scenario where two parties can agree to cooperate, leading to a better outcome for both, as opposed to the prisoner's dilemma where lack of trust leads to a suboptimal outcome for both parties.

What does the speaker mean by 'cooperative arrangements have moved from a peripheral role to a central role in biology'?

The speaker is referring to the shift in understanding in biology where symbiosis, group selection, and cooperative behaviors are now recognized as central to evolution and survival, rather than just competition.

How did the invention of the alphabet impact the tracking of resources and taxes in early civilizations?

The invention of the alphabet allowed administrators to keep track of resources and taxes more effectively by making marks on clay, which was a significant advancement in record-keeping and administration of empires.

What is the 'ultimatum game' and what does it reveal about human economic transactions?

The ultimatum game is an economic game where one player proposes a split of a sum of money with another player, who can either accept or reject the offer. It reveals that people have an innate sense of fairness and are willing to reject offers that are not equitable, even at a personal cost.

What is the 'tragedy of the commons' and how does it relate to social dilemmas?

The tragedy of the commons is a situation where individuals, by acting independently in their own self-interest, deplete a shared resource, leading to a worse outcome for all. It is a social dilemma that highlights the challenges of managing common resources.

How did Elinor Ostrom's research challenge the 'tragedy of the commons'?

Elinor Ostrom found that people could avoid the tragedy of the commons by creating institutions for collective action, which often included common design principles that were absent in institutions that failed.

What is the potential significance of the cooperation project the speaker is advocating for?

The cooperation project could lead to a better understanding of how cooperation works across different disciplines, potentially alleviating forms of suffering and creating new forms of wealth, similar to how the scientific method improved understanding of disease and reduced suffering in the past.

How do modern businesses like IBM, HP, and Sun demonstrate the shift towards cooperation?

These companies, traditionally fierce competitors, are now open sourcing their software and sharing patents, showing that certain kinds of sharing can be in their self-interest and lead to mutual benefits.