And the Blog is Thinking

John Udell’s InfoWorld column this week (The Network is the Blog) discusses blogging in the context of the blog network. He argues that the blog network filters and retransmits knowledge is a way that approximates a human nervous system or insects acting as a cooperative group. As a proof point he notes that he subscribers to more people than publications, knowing that people will alert him if a publication contain important information. Thus, a subconscious facility of the blog network is that it can help filter the crush of information.

I’ll take it further, I believe the blog network is mimicking human conscious thought. Let’s take an example.

I blog about the Churchill Club Top 10 Tech Trends. I report on Roger McNamee’s belief that it is a tough time for software vendors because we are a Do It Yourself period for IT. I disagree citing my market experience, particularly the excitement we are seeing around RSS. This generates many comments and links all from people I have never met. Notably Doc Searls comments via his blog. Doc agrees on RSS and feels that we are not in a DIY period, but rather the IT industry is on an irreversible march towards DIY. This generates more comments, notably Roger Lee, commenting on Doc’s blog asserts that everything in life is on a DIY trajectory, and brings it back to RSS as an enabler. Doc comments further – well, you get the point.

Ideas ping around the blog network like firing neurons. One node takes an input, gets excited, processes the idea in the context of its experiences and comes to a conclusion. Other nodes do the same. And ideas are discussed and developed like a conscious thought.

So can the blog network help process your ideas?