"Dear, we have been apart for too long. So you're here. We are as one from the beginning. Let me hold your hand once again."
[+] Collective spiritual power
This is the third article of the series. I spent two weeks thinking how to put it into words because, as the series goes, we will inevitably talk about issues related to philosophy and religion, which is of much greater complexity and diversity than the sociological topics regarding Web 2.0 we previously mentioned.
If you cannot see what philosophy and religion has anything to do with the future of Web 2.0, or even feel offended, I can only regrettably admit that my attempt is a failure. Every religion has its god(s), and it is difficult to use a single theory to cover everything while avoid offending other people. May I ask for your pardon in advance.
Almost every religion in the world, wherever it comes from, has the ritual of group worship (or chanting and the like). Such ritual implies that we all believe that the collective spiritual power of a group of people can change the way the world runs. We call it divine power. When changes do happen because of the power, we call it a miracle. At bottom, it's the collective will of man. The source of the power to change is blessing, especially collective blessing.
Blessing is a kind of tremendous spiritual energy endowed by god to man. Amazingly, when you give your blessing to other people, you'll receive even greater positive energy than that you give. Similar effect happens to hatred. Therefore we realize that one cannot get happiness by cursing others.
Such spiritual energy exists not only in religion, but in our daily life and in our mind. Just think about it: how many thousands of millions of people in the world that bears hatred towards the U.S. over the past few decades? At the end there was the 911 incident. So who is to blame for the evil summoned? Don't point fingers at others.
[+] The world as one
"Collective will" is the cornerstone on which the world operates. Some thoughts buried deep in your subconsciousness are unknowingly taken as true. In the Bill Clinton era, there had been considerable progress towards world peace; yet later the Americans' collective will summoned a belligerent president onto the stage.
In the area of religion, it is easy to see how collective will works. If you look around, you can also see how people's collective will changes the fate of a country - good leaders always work on forging collective will that is positive and uplifting . Moreover, the fate of humans is summoned by themselves collectively. There is no exception to that.
How can humans uplift themselves collectively? The ultimate truth behind the "collective will" is "the world as one." The hell exists only where this truth is blinded.
The country that inflicts violence on another will receive the evil consequence in the end, because to do harm to others is to do harm to oneself. We all feel sorry for victims of 911 incident, but we cannot ignore what the Americans had done in the Middle East before. That may be one reason for this hostility to American people.
Similarly, the group of people that send blessings to another will receive the positive energy of the blessings as well, because we are as one. You may say that I am talking about Buddhist causality, but more simply, it's just "what you get is what you give."
So smart people are never sparing in giving. The Bible tells us that, "It's better to give than to receive." To give you something does not mean that something will be taken away from me because you and I are as one. On the contrary, the positive energy created by sharing will ultimately benefit you and me.
[+] The desire that lies deep inside our hearts
I hope that what I just mentioned above reminds you of the Internet. Indeed the Internet is a giant network that carries the collective will of all human beings. In the previous Web 1.0 era, "Its" purpose was to carry all kind of information and make our life more convenient. In Web 2.0, "It" starts to carry the shared will of people increasingly.
The original spirit and the essence of the Internet are openness and sharing. Through the connection of networks, people are getting closer to one another. In Web 2.0, with the emergence of various services such as Blog and social networking services (SNS), people are exchanging not only information but also emotions.
I once wrote to my colleagues that, "Think about it: our users shed tears when reading their own Blog articles, behind which is the platform, tens of thousands of lines of program code, constructed by you. There is nothing more significant in your work than this."
If a Web 2.0 website operator does not know how important "emotions" are, or how Web 2.0 can help people communicate and exchange feelings, then s/he doesn't know what else s/he can do, so to speak. Nowadays people are not looking for information tools or operation platforms.
Major Web 2.0 websites like MySpace in the US have every capability to facilitate global exchange. Moreover, through proper guidance, maybe they can allow users to enhance themselves a little bit and positive thoughts to generate during interpersonal interaction. Just imagine how people have shared will flows on the giant network of the Internet….
I do not intend to preach about "website operators' social responsibility." Internet companies are not charities. They are not obliged to do charity. However, everyone wants to bless and be blessed. If website operators do something about it, it's just to 'satisfy consumers' needs." Isn't business opportunities come from fulfilling consumers' demands?
[+] Collective enhancement of all humans
In Web 1.0, we think about how to promote the exchange of information; in Web 2.0, we think about how to establish relationship and to increase interpersonal interaction. In Web 2.0 Next, we need to think about "what can touch our hearts." What we need to connect is people's hearts but not information.
We need to turn the Internet into a medium of emotions, a platform of exchange of souls, so that users will feel more emotions when using it. This echoes to the desire deep inside our hearts. When that desire is fulfilled, we feel close to god.
Some friends wrote to me, saying that online emotions are not real. Some are worried that spending too much time on the Internet may impede the emotional exchange with other people in our daily life. Think about it: in your daily life, the number of people you are familiar and share feelings with may be within five. This is your social network, much more lonesome than you may think.
And these few people constitute the world you recognize. You never think there is any relationship between you and African people, nor do you understand what is "the world as one." The Internet Next brings forth a brand new chance that we've felt 10 years ago. Now it's finally mature with full energy.
Web 2.0 Next will seek to satisfy users' emotional needs (love and blessing), and encouraging sharing (open oneself) and exchange (global integration). It will need an upgrade from information exchange to emotion exchange. Human beings need to enhance themselves collectively, and they should start from getting in touch with each other. The Internet can make all of this possible.
"Dear, we have been apart for too long. So you're here. We are as one from the beginning. Let me hold your hand once again."
2007/09/16 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to
China Internet/Telecom )
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Prev : The Next Step for Web 2.0 (2) The Fourth Flow: Emotion Flow
Next : Mobile TV Market (1) Cell Phone plus TV, the Dream of Everybody
- Today in History
The Next Step for Web 2.0 (3) Collective Will Is the Cornerstone of Everything - 2007/09/16
The Web 2.0 Revolution (4) the Google Paradigm - 2006/09/17
The Web 2.0 Revolution (3) Advertising Revenue is Not Enough - 2006/09/10
Envisioning China's 3G Market (3) Systems & Markets - 2005/09/11
Three Musts of Digital Content Biz (2) Stop Selling "Containers" - 2004/09/19
Three Musts of Digital Content Biz (1) Content is Cheap - 2004/09/12
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