Holotopia
Contents
Holotopia
A different way to see
Having proposed knowledge federation as an approach to knowledge that answers to the contemporary needs of people and society – or metaphorically, as a 'pair of lightbulbs' that can replace our outdated 'candles' – we are now developing the Holotopia prototype as a proof of concept application.
So imagine that you have in your hand a strong electrical searchlight, which you may point at any issue or theme in order to see it in a new light, see it as a whole, see its correct shape and proportions. What issue would you point it to? What new insight would you expect to reach as result?
The scope
Owning the way we see the world
We say "no thanks" to yet another report about Donald Trump's latest mischief. The knowledge federation begins with a conscious and creative choice of the theme; and of the way in which we look at that theme. That's what this keyword, scope, stands for.
The scope of Holotopia
The scope of Holotopia is the nature of our contemporary condition as a whole. We want to grasp what's going on in our time – in a way that empowers us to set our priorities and to act in accordance with the situation we are in.
The task to federate whatever data might be relevant for making us functionally informed might seem daunting. But we use knowledge federation to make that work, and its results, extremely simple: We identify five insights in five pivotal areas of interest, which are alone sufficient to show us our situation in a completely new light.
But seeing and comprehending our situation is not the Holotopia's final end, but only its beginning. An insight is not federated before it has become part of our collective awareness. Before it's reflected in the way we act. And most importantly – before it is reflected in the social-systemic structures that organize us in action. Which socialize us to see and act in a certain way.
It is that change that is the Holotopia's final end. Holotopia is a co-creative strategy game, in which artists, scientists, collective intelligence activists, educational innovators... collaborate to change our collective mind.
The insight
There is an elephant in the room
There is an elephant in the room, which we have, incredibly, failed to notice!
The elephant becomes visible as soon as we begin to connect the dots.
Before we see the elephant, we might hear our visionary thinkers talk about "the fan", the "hose" and the "rope" – and ignore what they say and the relevance of it completely. But when we catch a glimpse of this fascinating large whole – then suddenly all the specific ideas begin to make a whole new sense. The knowledge we already own acquires a whole new meaning; and the power to make a difference.
A new social order of things is ready to manifest
Our situation is – as we suggested in our website's opening – closely similar as the one four centuries ago, when Galilei was in house arrest. A new way to think and speak is ready to emerge, and lead to comprehensive change. What will the new order of things be like? That's what the hologopia as keyword really stands for.
Beyond the utopia
As a vision of a societal new order of things, the holotopia differs from the common utopias by being far more congenial, and at the same time practically, and indeed easily, realizable. It is more congenial, because the authors of common utopias lacked the data to see what was really possible, or conceived their visions when the possibilities we have today did not yet exist.
The mission of the Holotopia prototype is to explicate the holotopia vision, and to orchestrate its fulfillment.
The reversals
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