Editing World Brain (section)

== Influence ==

===1930s: World Congress of Universal Documentation===
{{Main|World Congress of Universal Documentation}}
One of the stated goals of this Congress, held in Paris, France, in 1937, was to discuss ideas and methods for implementing Wells's ideas of the World Brain. Wells himself gave a lecture at the Congress.<ref name=doccong>{{cite journal|title=Documentation Congress Step toward Making 'World Brain{{'-}}|journal=The Science News-Letter|date=9 October 1937|volume=32|issue=861|pages=228–9| jstor=3913334|doi=10.2307/3913334}}</ref>

[[Reginald Arthur Smith]] extended Wells's ideas in the book ''A Living Encyclopædia: A Contribution to Mr. Wells's New Encyclopædism'' (London: Andrew Dakers Ltd., 1941).

=== 1960s: The World Brain as a supercomputer ===

==== From World Library to World Brain ====
In his 1962 book ''Profiles of the Future'', [[Arthur C. Clarke]] predicted that the construction of what H. G. Wells called the World Brain would take place in two stages. He identified the first stage as the construction of the ''World Library'', which is basically Wells's concept of a universal encyclopaedia accessible to everyone from their home on [[computer terminal]]s. He predicted this phase would be established (at least in the [[developed countries]]) by the year 2000. The second stage, the ''World Brain'', would be a [[Superintelligence|superintelligent]] [[Artificial intelligence|artificially intelligent]] [[supercomputer]] that humans would be able to mutually interact with to solve various world problems. The "World Library" would be incorporated into the "World Brain" as a subsection of it. He suggested that this supercomputer should be installed in the former [[war room]]s of the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] once the superpowers had matured enough to agree to co-operate rather than conflict with each other. Clarke predicted the construction of the "World Brain" would be completed by the year 2100.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=Arthur Charles |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Profiles_of_the_Future/mJfkAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=World%20Brain%202100 |title=Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible |date=1962 |publisher=Harper & Row |pages=233 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1964, [[Eugene Garfield]] published an article in the journal ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' introducing the [[Science Citation Index]]; the article's first sentence invoked Wells's "magnificent, if premature, plea for the establishment of a world information center", and Garfield predicted that the Science Citation Index "is a harbinger of things to come—a forerunner of the World Brain".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Garfield |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene Garfield |date=May 1964 |title=Science Citation Index—a new dimension in indexing |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=144 |issue=3619 |pages=649–654 |doi=10.1126/science.144.3619.649 |jstor=1712875 |pmid=17806988 |bibcode=1964Sci...144..649G |url=http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v7p525y1984.pdf}}</ref>


=== 1990s: World Wide Web of documents ===

==== World Wide Web as a World Brain ====
{{Main|World Wide Web}}

[[Brian R. Gaines]] in his 1996 paper "Convergence to the Information Highway" saw the [[World Wide Web]] as an extension of Wells's "World Brain" that individuals can access using personal computers.<ref>{{Cite conference | first = Brian R. | last = Gaines | author-link = Brian R. Gaines | title = Convergence to the Information Highway| book-title = Proceedings of the WebNet Conference| year = 1996| location = San Francisco| url = http://algo.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/bibliothek/proceedings/webnet96/Html/KGaines/Gaines.htm| access-date = 7 November 2009}}</ref> In papers published in 1996 and 1997 (that did not cite Wells), [[Francis Heylighen]] and [[Ben Goertzel]] envisaged the further development of the World Wide Web into a [[global brain]], i.e. an intelligent network of people and computers at the planetary level.<ref name=Rayward/>{{rp|558}} The difference between "global brain" and "world brain" is that the latter, as envisaged by Wells, is centrally controlled,<ref name=Rayward/> while the former is fully decentralised and [[self-organization|self-organizing]].

In 2001, Doug Schuler, a professor at [[Evergreen State University]], proposed a worldwide [[civic intelligence]] network as the fulfillment of Wells's world brain. As examples he cited [[Sustainable Seattle]] and the "Technology Healthy City" project in Seattle.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schuler |first=Doug |date=January 2001 |title=Cultivating society's civic intelligence: patterns for a new 'World Brain' |publisher=Information, Communication & Society |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=157–181 |doi=10.1080/13691180122844 |s2cid=214651651 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2518107}}</ref>

====Wikipedia as a World Brain====

A number of commentators have suggested that Wikipedia represents the World Brain as described by Wells.<ref name=Reagle />{{rp|24}}<ref>Joseph Stromberg, [https://www.vox.com/2015/2/23/8078973/hg-wells-wikipedia In 1937, H.G. Wells predicted Wikipedia. But he thought it'd lead to world peace], [[Vox.com]], 23 February 2015.</ref> [[Joseph Reagle]] has compared Wells's warning about the need to defend the World Encyclopedia from [[propaganda]] with Wikipedia's [[WP:Neutral point of view|"Neutral Point of View"]] norm:

<blockquote>In keeping with the universal vision, and anticipating a key Wikipedia norm, H. G. Wells was concerned that his ''World Brain'' be an "encyclopedia appealing to all mankind", and therefore it must remain open to corrective criticism, be skeptical of myths (no matter how "venerated") and guard against "narrowing propaganda". This strikes me as similar to the pluralism inherent in the Wikipedia "Neutral Point of View" goal of "representing significant views fairly, proportionately, and without bias".<ref name=Reagle />{{rp|26}}</blockquote>