The Superpowers of the Hive Mind

Here we are, a couple years into the great communications revolution. It's a theme I keep coming back to because I think the chaos of hearing everyone's thoughts all the time is having a very real impact on society and we don't really know where it's going to end up.

Entertainment is big money and the trick has always been figuring out what the suckers want. Now that the Audience is part of the show, it only makes sense that Fox doesn't report the news, it just gives the audience what it wants to hear. No need to wait for the Nielsen's at the end of the week, you know EXACTLY what the audience thinks.

What we've ended up with is a kind of a hive mind -- there are no leaders or followers and there's no accountability or clear direction, that is, for now. An idea may come from the Audience or it may come from the news companies. We don't really know, and as long as everyone's getting what they want, we don't really care.

It's like a new form of consciousness is waking up, and it's still in that cloudy state between dreaming and that first cup of coffee.

The people who can harness this hive are starting to wake up, too. Leadership skills that worked 50 years ago are useless today, but some people, like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck connect with part of the hive so seamlessly that they surprise the old guard leaders.

Obama did a great job of using the Internet, but it was mechanical and one-way. People like Palin and Beck are a neural nexus in the Hive; they pull ideas in and out of the Hive, modifying and amplifying them to create new waves in the collective.

It's almost like a super power, and surprisingly enough, it's these conservative, almost Luddite minded people who are the first to learn to fly. Whether you can actually govern the masses with this chaotic feedback loop remains to be seen, but like I said, the Hive mind hasn't had it's coffee yet -- let's check back in at lunchtime.