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11 The Self-Organizing Society
the fundamental skills should encompass languages, mathematics, computer
science, and the ability to find relevant information and critically evaluate it.
This would empower people to curate information and to produce new knowledge. In addition, skills enabling people to share knowledge, collaborate with
others, and create services and products collaboratively, while bearing in mind
the externalities, will become increasingly important. In future, those seeking
paid work must be able to concentrate on tasks, but also to flexibly adapt to new
opportunities. Furthermore, they will have to apply an interaction- and systemsoriented way of thinking in order to understand and manage the complex dynamical systems around us. In conclusion, digital literacy and good education will
be more important than ever.
With these preparations, the emerging “Internet of Things” and participatory information platforms could unleash the power of information and turn the digital society
into a great opportunity for everyone. All it takes to make the digital age a great
success is the will to establish the necessary institutions. Are we ready for this?
11.12 Let’s Get Started!
Of course, governments can help to set this in motion, and they should! Spending
on wars in the past 15 years has cost the world many lives and many trillions of
dollars. Instead, we could have used this money to build the basis for the digital
society of the future. Why shouldn’t we assist people in making better decisions,
by providing good information? For this, access to high-quality information is key,
which in turn requires openness and transparency. Participatory opportunities can
create added value and trust. Citizens have become part of our global information
system. They should now be able to contribute to the collective intelligence needed to
solve the increasingly complex problems of our world. A “new deal on data” should
treat citizens as first-class partners in exploring the opportunities of the future and in
mastering our challenges.(see Footnote 34)
Regardless of whether politicians support self-organization or not, companies will
increasingly use the underlying success principles to create more efficient systems
and make money with them. That’s simply the logic of automation implied by the
digital revolution. As self-organizing systems spread, they will also change the way
our world is governed. Advances in Information and Communication Technologies
will drive this process. But the citizens can drive it, too!
Given that Instagram was initially built by 13 people and WhatsApp by around
50, it is clear that a few people can now have impact on a global scale. Moreover,
note that Wikipedia has a lot of contributors, and OpenStreetMap is now supported
by 1.5 million volunteers. Thus, citizens don’t have to wait. They can take action
themselves. The Information and Communication Technologies of the future will
enable us to change the world for the better! We can build a user-controlled Internet
of Things ourselves as a citizen web. We can measure externalities of socio-economic
11 The Self-Organizing Society
the fundamental skills should encompass languages, mathematics, computer
science, and the ability to find relevant information and critically evaluate it.
This would empower people to curate information and to produce new knowledge. In addition, skills enabling people to share knowledge, collaborate with
others, and create services and products collaboratively, while bearing in mind
the externalities, will become increasingly important. In future, those seeking
paid work must be able to concentrate on tasks, but also to flexibly adapt to new
opportunities. Furthermore, they will have to apply an interaction- and systemsoriented way of thinking in order to understand and manage the complex dynamical systems around us. In conclusion, digital literacy and good education will
be more important than ever.
With these preparations, the emerging “Internet of Things” and participatory information platforms could unleash the power of information and turn the digital society
into a great opportunity for everyone. All it takes to make the digital age a great
success is the will to establish the necessary institutions. Are we ready for this?
11.12 Let’s Get Started!
Of course, governments can help to set this in motion, and they should! Spending
on wars in the past 15 years has cost the world many lives and many trillions of
dollars. Instead, we could have used this money to build the basis for the digital
society of the future. Why shouldn’t we assist people in making better decisions,
by providing good information? For this, access to high-quality information is key,
which in turn requires openness and transparency. Participatory opportunities can
create added value and trust. Citizens have become part of our global information
system. They should now be able to contribute to the collective intelligence needed to
solve the increasingly complex problems of our world. A “new deal on data” should
treat citizens as first-class partners in exploring the opportunities of the future and in
mastering our challenges.(see Footnote 34)
Regardless of whether politicians support self-organization or not, companies will
increasingly use the underlying success principles to create more efficient systems
and make money with them. That’s simply the logic of automation implied by the
digital revolution. As self-organizing systems spread, they will also change the way
our world is governed. Advances in Information and Communication Technologies
will drive this process. But the citizens can drive it, too!
Given that Instagram was initially built by 13 people and WhatsApp by around
50, it is clear that a few people can now have impact on a global scale. Moreover,
note that Wikipedia has a lot of contributors, and OpenStreetMap is now supported
by 1.5 million volunteers. Thus, citizens don’t have to wait. They can take action
themselves. The Information and Communication Technologies of the future will
enable us to change the world for the better! We can build a user-controlled Internet
of Things ourselves as a citizen web. We can measure externalities of socio-economic