Education 2.0 & 3.0

Increasingly, the effect of the global connected mind will emerge as a social phenomenon. There are representations of this in popular culture. In Star Trek, the Next Generation, the Borg are a powerful, marauding society of nomadic cybernetic organisms - or cyborgs - that assimilate every society they encounter. They do so by absorbing the collective intelligence of each new world into their own vast, already existing hive mind. Resistance is futile, because everyone they encounter is overpowered, and integrated. Although I don't foresee a time when we will ever be invaded by such cyborgs, it serves to illustrate the fact that we are better when we are connected and are working concertedly toward a shared goal.

There is a growing feeling amongst the networked nation that we can do so much more together than we can as isolated individuals. To be a truly globally connected community, we must learn to work together, freely share and exchange our ideas and resources, and ultimately, teach each other about the world around us. We have the tools to do so. It is already beginning to happen.

"We have 3 billion new minds coming on line to work with us to help us solve our grand challenges." - Peter Diamandis (TED Talk)