Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Science Fiction and Smart Mobs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the palmtops-for-pitchforks dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Henry Jenkins is director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies at the MIT. In this article, he compares the new science fiction comic book from Warren Ellis, Global Frequency and the more serious book from Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs. 'It is almost as though Ellis was illustrating arguments that Howard Rheingold makes in his new book, Smart Mobs.' As Rheingold explains, 'Smart mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don't know each other. The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities.... Groups of people using these tools will gain new forms of social power.' Check this column for some excerpts or read the original article for more details. More information about topics discussed in Howard Rheingold's last book can be found at the Smart Mobs weblog." T. adds: Here's Curtis Frye's review of Smart Mobs .

5 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Larry Niven Covered This Years Ago by Dr.+Wu · · Score: 5, Informative

    He wrote several short stories that dealt with the effects of technology on mobs. Although in his universe, it was teleportation that created the problem, it's certainly relevent with today's technology (just look at the /. effect)

    I know that they are included in several collections, the titles are...

    - Flash Crowd

    - The Last Days Of The Permanent Floating Riot Club

    Actually, some of his best writing is that which deals with the psychology of new technologies, such as teleportation. So I would highly recommend that those interested check his work out.

    1. Re:Larry Niven Covered This Years Ago by doom · · Score: 2, Informative
      Yeah, Niven's "Flash Crowds" concept is fairly similar to this.

      You could also look at Bruce Sterling's "Distraction" from 1998 which pretty much totally nailed the concept.

      (Not to mention that Washington Post article on "swarming")...

  2. Bruce Sterling has also written about this by kpost · · Score: 2, Informative
    Bruce Sterling has written twice about smart mobs. It's been a while since I read it, but IIRC he wrote about them in:

    Distraction, as an event that was discussed in the novel, where a random mob suddenly comes together to completely destroy a bank in under two minutes.

    A short story in A Good Old Fashioned Future where a computer mediates between people doing almost random favors for each other that result in great things being accomplished.

  3. Anybody actually read the book & want to discu by Howard+Rheingold · · Score: 2, Informative
    I know from past experience that armies of below-my-thresholds hasten point out that this was all covered by {insert name of science fiction writer] years ago. If anyone who actually read the book would like to discuss it, I'll be happy to participate.

    Yes, OSS development shares two key characteristics with smart mobs: the OSS community engages in a form of collective action, and they use online media to communicate and coordinate. Smart Mobs specifically looks at the new kinds of social impacts afforded by the combination of mobile communication, pervasive computation, and collective action. When OSS developers start using the Net and mobile devices to coordinate their activities, they will be smart mobby.

    Jenkins article was about the art and science of writing about the future in a way that would encourage discourse. I believe that we can have more influence on events if we understand the driving forces and critical uncertainties raised by the intersection of society and technology -- and if we have intelligent discussions about the implications. Anyone interested?

  4. Re:Reed's Law is exponential by Mazzaroth · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, if you are interested in the science of networks, I would suggest reading Nexus (by Mark Buchanan) an also Emergence (by Steven Johnson). These two books are a nice introduction to the network effect and the theory of complexity. Of course, there is also the classical Order Out of Chaos (by Prigogine et al (Nobel laureate))


    I read those three books back to back (finished Mobs 3 days ago) and, taking these ideas together, you'll see an interesting picture develops.