Table of Contents

Right now, this post is more of a "todo list" than a TOC, but it's a start :-)
I keep updating this post as I make progress.

• Introduction

• About this blog
  

• Table of Contents

• Part I -- Before explaining my model - I must explain what I mean when I say "model".
  

1. Models and reality (No model truly describes reality. Neither does this one.)
• Examples of models
  
2. Mental Models
3. Boundaries
   

• Part II -- Examples of Meta Organisms ("living social structures")
  

1. Tribes
2. Religions
3. Sciences
4. Arts
5. Cities, Countries
6. Local communities
7. Communities of interest
   
8. Companies and Corporations
9. Industries
   
10. Departments within corporations
    
11. Stampedes
12. People in a rock concert, play, movie, football game, party, etc.
    
13. Families
14. "Wave" in a football stadium
    
15. Wikipedia, del.icio.us, Web 2.0 in general

• Part III -- So what is a Meta Organism?
  
1. A Meta Organism is not the sum of the people in a group.
   
• It's an abstract entity
• It is something that "exists" "between" the participants, but it influences (and is influenced by) the participants.
  
2. We "host" Meta Orgnisms.
• We are "part" of more than one Meta Organism
• If the human mind was a CPU, the Meta Organism would have had "agent software" installed in each participating individual.
• The Meta Organism "thinks" when it "operates" in the minds of participating individuals.
3. A Meta Organism has a memory
   
• Memories in the minds of participating individuals
• Books
• Electronic information
• Culture
4. Meta Organisms require communications between participating individuals
• Direct (sound, sight, spoken language)
• Indirect (written words, recorded music, paintings, drawings)
  
5. Advanced Meta Organisms impose a "Mental Model" on participating individuals
   
6. A Meta Organism has structure
• The structure is a result of
  
• the relationship between participating individuals
• the memory
• form of communications
• Sub Organisms of the "Containing" Meta-Organism
• Each Meta Organism allows (or even encourages) some kinds of Sub Organisms, and destroys Sub Organisms of other kinds.
  
7. Meta Organisms have a "personality"
• Corporate culture
  
8. Meta Organisms can be found within Meta Organisms
9. Meta Organisms interact with other Meta Organisms
   
10. Meta Organisms have a lifespan
• It can be minutes, and it can be many hundreds of years
  
11. Meta Organisms and Maslow's Pyramid
• Meta Organisms exist because they answer human needs
• Stampede --> Survival
• Wikipedia --> Sense of meaning
• Religion --> The entire pyramid
• Meta Organisms compete with each other
  
• Will an individual belong to two Meta Organisms that answer the same human need?
• Some Meta Organisms are more resistant to the creation of other Meta Organisms (e.g., Religion)
• Different people can receive different things from the same Meta Organism
  
12. Meta Organisms "reproduce"
• Same structure, different memory (so different Meta Organism of same "class")
13. Do Meta Organisms impose "social values"?
    
• "Right" -> things that help the Meta Organism survive?
• "Wrong" -> things that can destroy the Meta Organism?
  

• Part IV -- Countries, Capitalism, Democracy
  
1. The two roles of a modern society
• Allow the creation of Meta Organisms
• Protect individuals from Meta Organisms
2. Is money the enregy molecule of country-based Meta Organisms?
• Bio Organisms store energy using ATP
  
• Meta Organisms in countries store energy using money

• Part V -- Internet, Web, Web 2.0
1. Web 2.0 is a biosphere for Meta Organisms of a new kind
• Evolution is much quicker here
• Communications are much quicker
• The resulting Meta Organisms are much more adaptive and intelligent
• How do Web 2.0 Meta Organisms relate to the offline world?
  
2. The Internet makes existing Meta Organisms more intelligent

• Part VI -- Categorizing Meta Organisms
1. Size
2. Timescale
• Some Meta Organisms operate in a totally different timescale than we do
  
3. Relationship with participants / Amount of effect
   
• The "Maslow Relationship" with individual participants
• Food
• Security
• Sense of worth
• How much hold does the Meta Organism have on participants?
• Can people choose to leave?
• Does it exert force on participants?
• Do participants know they are participating?
  
• Do participants "identify" themselves with the Meta Organism (e.g., "citizen of", "employee of", "member of community", "resident of", "practice this faith") or do some of them consider themselves outsiders (e.g., "customer", "watching the TV program", "stuck in a traffic jam")
• Do participants want to participate? Or are they "stuck" there?
• How much influence does the Meta Organism have on the participant's Mental Models? How long does the influence last?
• Type of interaction participants have with the Meta Organism (meet with people, communicate via e-mail, user of "products", stay in environment created by the Meta Organism)
  
• Frequency of interaction of each participant with the Meta Organism (daily?, once a year? once in a lifetime? all the time?)
  
4. As a system
• Inputs (sensors): what does the Meta Organism "sense"?
  
• Outputs: what does the Meta Organism "create"?
• Mental Model: what does the Meta Organism "recognize"?
  
5. Geography
• Does the Meta Organism require physical contact between participants?
• Does it "relocate" across different participants?
• Does it depend on some physical structure?
  
6. Structure (network -- [don't forget reference to Linked by Barabashi])
   
• How many types of participants?
• How many connections between participants?
• Are there different types of connections?
• How stable are the connections?
• Does the Menta Model of the Meta Organism define different "Roles" to participants?
• Stability of participation (how quickly do individuals leave? join? "churn")
  
7. Lifespan
• "The living company" by Arie de Gues
8. Intelligence
• "The learning Organization" by Peter Senge
• Does it learn?
• Does it remember?
• Where is the memory stored? (digital? paper? oral?)
• Is the memory accurate?
• Which participants have access to the memory?
• Does it have emotions?
• How is its attention focused? (newspapers, TV, memes)
  
• How are "thoughts" propagated?
• Does it create new knowledge?
• Do its participants know it? Is it aware of itself?

• Part VII -- Reciprocity
1. Meta Organisms have a profound influence on us
• Our clothes
• Our schedule
• Our homes
  
• Our language
• Our behavior
• Our interests
  
• Our perception (Mental Model)
• Our aspirations
• Our feelings
• Our values
• Our knowledge
• Our taste
2. We have influence on the Meta Organisms
• Amount of influence determined by structure of Meta Organism
• In a country: "Prime Minister" usually has more influence than a cab driver
• In an army: "Commander" has almost absolute control on "subordinates"
• In Meta Organisms with a memory: influence can last for a very very long time (books, inventions, changes in the structure of the Meta Organism)
  
• The influence is not absolute control
• Our influence depends on the time-scale and intelligence of the Meta Organism

• Part VIII -- Privacy and Meta Organisms
1. What is "private" information?
   
• Participants of a Meta Organism will hide "sensitive" information of that Meta Organism from people who do not participate in it. However, they will share it with other members of the same Meta Organism
• If Meta Organism A doesn't appreciate Meta Organism B, then people who participate in both A and B will hide this fact from Meta Organism A.
• Example: the Meta Organism "USA" doesn't appreciate the Meta Organism "Organized Crime". Citizens of "USA" will not tell other citizens of "USA" (who do not participate in "Organized Crime") about their own participation in "Organized Crime" .
• [should link to Danah Boyd. (her thesis? blog?)]
  

• Part IX -- References