Five ways we’re using collective intelligence to change the world

by | Jul 12, 2016 | Blog

Collective Intelligence

It wasn’t difficult to see that the internet was going to change things forever, but what is surprising is the way it has actually brought people together. We have access to a ton of information at the click of a finger, as well as new connections to people from all over the world. What this has produced is an incredible wave of collective intelligence: people pooling their knowledge and power to make decisions, and even, change the world. But how?

Climate Change

One of the leading online platforms for connecting ideas on climate change is Climate CoLab. Instigated by websites like Wikipedia, Climate CoLab combines climate experts and people from around the world to share and join ideas on new solutions and approaches to environmental change. Featured in media channels such as the Boston Globe, Discovery, and the BBC, and recognized by the White House Climate Data, it is making leaps and bounds in real projects to change the world.

Petitions

Petitions are certainly not a new creation, and their beauty is in their simplicity. With email and social media, petitions are flourishing and having a real impact. Just look at the impact of petitions in the UK post-referendum. Spread across social media channels and approaching 4 million signatures, calls for a second referendum are hard to ignore. This is huge in terms of giving a voice to the people; simply signing and sharing can do a lot.

Research

Research towards curing diseases and changing the way we live need not be conducted in one place anymore. Pooling the intelligence and expertise of hundreds of thousands of scientists, Innocentive is an innovative crowdsourcing company constantly working towards new challenges in health, engineering, and life sciences. From challenges like tackling acne and empowering females, to stem cell research and heart disease treatment, Innocentive works with nearly half a million people across 200 countries

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding really is something that proves the level of collective input, and makes you feel good about humanity. Have an idea that could really take off? Try one of many crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, make your pitch, and hope that people across the world are invested in it. So far, there have been some really nifty inventions to come from crowdfunding: virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, Pebble – a watch that combines apps from your iPhone or Android, and even the Veronica Mars movie! Pretty amazing what we can do when we put our heads (and wallets) together!

Work and study

With all this new information, technology, and shared intelligence, this is bound to affect how we work and study, right? Workers have more access to almost anything they need, which brings with it an extension of freedom and flexibility in their work. The concept of going to an office every day is on the verge of changing, and conducting meetings in person is become rarer. All of this points towards more creativity and motivation in our work.

 

In our studies, too, we can harness the use of collective intelligence to fill in the gaps in thought processes, projects, and problem solving. InsightNG’s own Your Smartest Friend is a digital assistant which does just this. Your Smartest Friend is a unique assistant which finds insights specific to your situation that would otherwise be hard or impossible to find, giving you the ability to simplify, improve and even change your life.

 

About Neil Movold

I am the founder and CEO of InsightNG. I have a career spanning across Canada, Australia, Bermuda and New Zealand. For most of my life, I have been keenly interested in how our human brains function at a cognitive level. When my son Jaden was born with Spina Bifida, my interest in human cognition became more focused, resulting in the creation of InsightNG. My current interests lie in the areas of social learning, open innovation, collective & contextual intelligence, knowledge discovery, findability and content visualization.