The World-Wide Web as a Super-Brain: from metaphor to model
Francis Heylighen, Johan Bollen, Léo Apostel · 1996
Abstract ticular has been characterized by the explosive develop-If society is viewed as a super-organism, communication networks play the role of its brain. This metaphor is developed into a model for the design of a more intelligent global network. The World-Wide Web, through its distributed hypermedia architecture, functions as an “associative memory”, which may “learn ” by the strengthening of frequently used links. Software agents, exploring the Web through spreading activation, function as problem-solving “thoughts”. Users are integrated into this "super-brain " through direct manmachine interfaces and the reciprocal exchange of knowledge between individual and Web. 1