Nationhood : The future of Nationalism
Project: , Polytopia

As time marches on, we see the weakening of geographical forces on the lives and activities of humans. The borders we used to draw are being replaced with centers and relationships of relevance. People flock to cities, the countryside empties, and the connection to a National identity in a virtual connected world is no longer the most powerful connection an indivudal feels to another group.

So where will this trend take us? What will the nations of the future look like? When we move towards the borderless expanse of space and cyberspace, how will we define ourselves?

What if your nation was your values, a nation a thought?

A map of these nations could not be solid, it would have to change based on a focus. It's contours and features would be specific based on each individual. This map shows the values of one Summer Smith, and her values mapped across 3 axis: Ecological, Social, and Financial.



The values have scales based on a semantic differentials. The averages of her values would determine the co-ordinates of her Nation. Each nations name would be generated by the names of the company alone.


The population of the Nations would not be fixed to one number, but rather have various thresholds between people who share the exact same values, people who are similar, and people who are opposites. These could be seen as Allies and Enemies. The size of the nation could be characterized by the scope of the values, focused, or expansive.
Relationships and reputational identity of a set of values associated with the nation




In any type of fluid space mapping system, we need to cover all points relative to the focal point. These points would be other people to which one could shift the focus and see what nation they are from.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is to think of a values based economy, and pairing of beneficial trade relationships. Current beneficial trade relationships often come from natural resource surplus. What if a system could generate and identify the most powerful personal relationships. Introduce you to the nations of thought you need to be a better person, or find the group that needs your skills the most? Help you connect to those who share similar values and interests? Remind you of who you're fighting against and keep tabs on their numbers?

In the future, the importance of geography will be matched by the importance of values and ideas. Overlapping islands of thought within a flexible possibility space ever-expanding to match the boundaries of human creativity.

Tue, Jun 10, 2008  Permanent link
Categories: future, art, nations, nationalism, society, map, mapping
Sent to project: , Polytopia

Hive: Fractal Understanding

Patterns in nature, patterns in life, patterns in you, and patterns in us.
Are you seeing a pattern?



or watch it high rez, 60mbs.

Hive explores the relationship from the individual to the collective. At what point does one end and the other begin? You're made up of trillions of cells, and society is made up of billions of you. How can we use the patterns we see below us, to infer understanding on the levels above?

This concept could be called "Fractal Understanding". Using the self-similarity in the universe to help us project what we can understand onto what we cannot.

The film walks through many layers from dna, to cells, to organisms, to the larger super-organisms that it can


Still from the film


Still from the film


close-up of cellular comparison to cities


close-up of individual vs. collective


close-up of individual vs. collective


close-up of collective intelligence


For more on the project, head over to The Movement.

Wed, Apr 30, 2008  Permanent link
Categories: fractals, flocking, super-organisms, film, science, art, collective intelligence, cells, society