Is it at all possible that all of these social media/Web 2.0 toys that some of us love to talk about and use may herald something bigger to come? Could a science fiction novel from 1989 be painting a picture of things that really could come?

Rex Hammock, who someone on Twitter once compared to the Web’s version of Walter Cronkite (which I would consider to be high praise), made the following quick comment on Twitter on June 28:

“FriendFeed, Twitter, Seesmic et al, are pointing in the direction of something. They aren’t the destination.”

This lead to an interesting discussion on FriendFeed about just what that something is. A number of people speculated on the future in terms of the current toolsets that we have.

Let me take a drink of the magic KoolAid and speculate a bit further, as inspired by one of my favorite science fiction novels, Hyperion.

Dan Simmons wrote Hyperion and three other novels that tied into the same continuity about a future filled with amazing technological advances which seem to predict the evolution of technologies that we use today. A rich, well crafted series of novels, the Hyperion and Endymion series focused on a future where humanity began colonizing outer space, developing artificial intelligence (AI), and instantaneous travel between places within a WorldWeb of teleportation portals. People of the 28th century use a sophisticated data network in ways similar to the way we are starting to use the Web today.

Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for Hyperion:

More than 700 years after the 21st century, humanity has spread across the galaxy, first aboard “Hawking drive” ships and then, after Earth is destroyed in a scientific accident (the Big Mistake) through what that accident was studying: controlled singularities known as “farcasters” which permit nigh instantaneous travel between points separated by apparently unlimited distances. The farcaster network (the “WorldWeb”) profoundly changed the Hegemony of Man (the political entity headquartered on the planet Tau Ceti Center which controls all worlds in the WorldWeb and many beyond), permitting such wonders as the river Tethys - a river which flows uninterruptedly through farcaster portals across dozens of planets.

Today, we take it for granted that we can access virtually any website or piece of public information via the Internet and the World Wide Web that sits atop it. Hyperion’s reality is that not only can information travel this freely, but so can people. The farcasters act like the many webservers and communications infrastructure that allow us to access information across the world.

And, of course, humanity in the 28th century has some kick ass systems as well.

Also flowing across these portals are the strands of fabulously advanced computer technology which support the datasphere (a network reminiscent of the Internet in design, but far more advanced), in which lurks the powerful, knowledgeable, and utterly inscrutable TechnoCore - the vast agglomeration of millions of the most intelligent AIs who run the farcaster networks and nearly every other piece of high technology

We really don’t have anything that rivals the AI today, thank goodness. Just the term “AI” brings visions of Skynet from the Terminator movies.

Here’s a bit more about the power of computer networks in the 28th century:

The political head of the Hegemony is an executive advised by the TechnoCore advisory council, and working with the “All Thing” (a real-time participatory democracy, much like a web forum, which is enabled by the TechnoCore’s datasphere, and reminiscent of the medieval Icelandic Althing), and the senators that the All Thing elects.

Some of you may not be science fiction fans and might be wondering why the heck I’m dragging all of this stuff into a blog that revolves around social media. Here’s a couple of things to consider:

  1. In many cases, the advancements that have been first conceived in science fiction are starting to materialize in the real world.
  2. BBSes, then Usenet, then Forums, and now newer products like Ning and FriendFeed are showing an evolution of how large numbers of geographically distributed people can pool information, discuss, and form new ideas.
  3. Wouldn’t a “real-time participatory democracy” be an interesting, possibly beneficial evolution of our current political processes?

Despite the drama that can erupt over different parts of the Web (I cited an example in a recent post), new ways of connecting and communicating are developing over time.

A lot of talk about social media these days revolves around monetization, commerce, and connecting with customers. How about connecting with each other as peers instead? How about harnessing brainpower en masse to solve some of the bigger problems of our time? People talk about crowdsourcing these days, but almost always in the context of commerce.

Don’t get me wrong. Technology is not a “silver bullet” solution to solve all of our woes. The future reality of Hyperion isn’t perfect and the improper use of technology ultimately dooms a large piece of humanity. At best, technology is a tool to make jobs easier or faster.

All I’m suggesting is that we look beyond commerce (or perhaps look at our entire lives and needs, not just commerce) for examples of how this technology could improve the lives of large numbers of people. We know all too clearly, in no small part to social media tools that are available to us today, that things could be a whole lot better for much of the world.

Can social media help? What are some productive ways to use enhanced communication tools? Or should we just keep partying while we still can?

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