The 7th Era of human idea dissemination

Human history can be split into 7 “Eras”

● Each Era is defined by the most effective “thought dissemination system” of the time

● The 7 Eras are:○ 1st: Pre-Language○ 2nd: Proto-Language○ 3rd: Full Language○ 4th: Written Language○ 5th: Printing Press○ 6th: Telecommunications○ “7th Era”

● We are currently at the cusp of Era 6 and 7

● 2.6 million to 1.8 million years ago (Homo erectus)○ 1 thought -> 1 person○ No communication possible

● Towards the end of this era people started to realize:○ We don’t know much

about this Era (obviously)○ wild guess: “we achieve

more when we worktogether”

○ Society not possible

1st Era: Pre-language

2nd Era: Proto-language

● From 1.8 Million Years ago to 200,000 years ago○ 1 though -> 1.5 people○ Cavemen grunting to one another

● Towards the end of this era people started to realize:○ We don’t really know!○ No one can understand me completely○ “Partial thought dissemination” is pretty much

pointless○ “Full thought dissemination” is the only way

3nd Era: Complete Language

● 200,000 years ago human language was “invented”○ System for transferring a complete thought from one

person to another○ Complex thoughts can now be expressed○ Society now possible○ 1 thought -> N people

● Towards the end of this era:○ Dissemination of thoughts is limited to face-to-face

interaction (availability)○ “Telephone effect” (untrustworthy)○ You have to repeat yourself a lot (spam)

4th Era: Written Language

● 3200 BCE written language was “invented”○ Thoughts can now disseminate beyond face-to-face○ “trustworthy record” compared to oral tradition

● Towards the end of this era:○ Physically creating books (or carving stone tablets)

by hand is slow and can only be afforded by the wealthy.

○ Lack of copies means information is less than perfectly durable

5th Era: The printing press

● In 1450 the printing press was invented○ Exponentially increased the amount of people who

could disseminate their thoughts○ Copies are cheap and so information is durable

● Towards the end of the era:○ Dissemination of printed materials became limited by

the cost to ship paper across large distances○ Speed of physically shipping paper is to slow

6th Era: Telecommunications

● In the 20th Century, the telecommunications was invented○ internet == nadir of the “telecommunications era”○ Another exponential increase in the amount of

people who can consume your thoughts○ No more physical barriers, digital copies are

“resourceless”● Towards the end of this era (now!):

○ Spam is a problem○ The NSA Spying on us is a problem○ Misattribution, 404s, slashdotting, etc.

??????

7th Era

Characteristics of “Era changes”

● People see it coming○ Printing press was not an earth shattering idea○ People predicted the internet centuries ago○ Telecommunications existed in the middle ages

■ Semaphore Line○ Writing systems most likely were attempted for many

thousands of years before 3200 BCE.

Characteristics of “Era changes”

● Each era builds upon the last○ You have to know the language before you can use

a writing system○ You need to write to use the printing press○ You need “long form reading skills” to use the

internet○ You have to know how to use the internet in order to

participate in the 7th Era.

Characteristics of “Era changes”

● Each era brings about two constant “types” of improvement○ Availability - How long your thoughts are “alive” and

able to be consumed by others○ Accuracy - How trusting people are of the content

disseminated through each system, both in the present and in the future

Characteristics of “Era changes”

● Some people get left behind○ When the written word was invented, some people

were probably still grunting○ When the printing press was invented, some people

still couldn’t read○ When the 7th Era begins, some people will still have

not learned how to use the internet

Availability and Accuracy throughout each era

● 1st (no language) - 0%● 2nd (proto-language) - 0%● 3rd (Full language) - 0%● 4th (written word) - 0.00000001%● 5th (printing press) - 40%● 6th (internet) - 99.999999999%● 7th (??) - 100%

All numbers are “drake equation” guesses

When will the 7th Era come about?

● 1st (no language) - 2.8 Million BCE● 2nd (proto-language) - 1.8 Million BCE● 3rd (full language) - 200,000 BCE● 4th (written word) - 3200 BCE● 5th (printing press) - 1450 AD● 6th (internet) - 1975 AD● 7th (??) - 2013 AD?

Human achievement is speeding up exponentially. Should we be worried?

What tool will usher in the 7th Era?

● Will be more durable than the internet○ 404 problem will be solved

● Will be more trustworthy than the internet○ Attribution problem will be solved

● Will make it possible to reach exponentially more people than the internet○ “Slashdotting” problem will be solved

● Will be “infrastructural” in nature○ Decentralized unlike Google and Facebook

● Will not be completely mindblowing○ It may already exist

What is it already!?!?!

● Reddit? Facebook?● Google? Wikipedia?● Bitcoin?

● These are all primitive implementations of the semantic web

● Reddit, Facebook, Google, et al : 7th Era :: Morse Code, Fax Machine, et al : Telecommunications Era

The Semantic Web

● The term for “a better internet” thats been floating around since the beginning of the internet

● Nebulous collection of ideas, no single definition

● Protocol level (infrastructural)○ Not a “product” ala facebook and google○ Non-centralized, ala bitcoin.

● In my opinion the invention that brings about the “7th Era” will look a lot like what people these days call the “Semantic Web”

Maybe the 7th Era will never come about?

● The internet as we know it today is pretty good.

● The Semantic web is basically the last 1% of Accuracy and Availability.○ Maybe we don’t seen 100%?○ Effort required to switch to another system not worth

it?

How does the semantic web work?

● No need for URLS○ Internet:

■ http://myblog.com/blog/34■ (you need to know the exact url)

○ Semantic Web:■ “Chris Priest’s 34th blog”■ (you just need to know what you want)

● No need for search engines○ “Search” is replaced with “declare what you want”

● You need to learn a new language○ Each new Era brings with it a new skill you have to

learn

Library DSS

● My whack at creating the Semantic Web● http://libraries.pw● https://github.com/priestc/LibraryDSS● very much alpha● Language for describing what data you want

○ LQL (Library Query Language)○ Meant to be read and written by “regular people”○ Very similar to SQL WHERE clauses○ Examples:

■ INCLUDING title contains ‘python’, mimetype matches “text/*”, date_created < 1996

■ INCLUDING date_created == 2006-03-01;EXCLUDING mimetype matches “image/*”

LibraryDSS

● Best described as “ID3 tags for everything”○ or “Cloud-based Napster where you only connect to

people you explicitly want to hear from”● More available than the internet

○ You host your own content, no more relying on Facebook to store your photos

○ Long after you’re dead, your Library will live on with all your data still intact

● More accuracy than the internet○ No 404s ever (immutable storage structure)○ Every document in the system is tagged with Author,

date, title, pretty much everything else.

Thats it!

For more information: #librarydss on freenodeOr check it out on githhub!Contributions welcome.(all dates from these slides were taken from Wikipedia)