Blogosphere and Global Consciousness

Truly global consciousness is just around the corner if we accept the singularity hypothesis, and for many the day couldn't come soon enough. The technology to create the global consciousness hasn't been invented yet, but there are already some very promising experiments being undertaken.

Until that day I am content to use the blogosphere as my virtual global consciousness, after all blogs have made it possible for the near instantaneous dissemination of ideas and their subsequent peer review. Over the next couple of years we will see even more development in this area, but for me, two main bottlenecks still exist that prevent truly ubiquitous blogging and therefore the rise of the global consciousness.

The first bottleneck relates specifically to installation and subsequent management of blogs. Anyone can get a free blog, but if you want more control over your website or simply want to ensure the server is geographically closer to your intended audience, or geographically remote from your home jurisdiction, you need to get your own hosting account, a domain name, and then hope the installation runs smoothly. Unfortunately this discourages many from taking the plunge. One of the reasons the Windows and Mac operating systems are so popular is that installation of software is a no brainer.

The second bottleneck relates to the type of content able to be stored in a blog. At present we are effectively limited to text. Sure you can upload an image, a sound bite, or even video to your blog, but unless I know where your blog is, I will never find you if the major search engines aren't able to index your content. EDIT: Serendipity blog now includes a plugin to attach a voice recording of your blog entry

Why you may ask have I chosen these particular bottlenecks when perhaps simple access to a computer might be considered more of a hindrance? I'm an optimist, I simply do not believe this state of affairs will continue indefinitely. Cheaper computers are being developed, pda's are more capable, and there will come a time in the hopefully not too distant future when access is no longer an issue.