[music]
There’s a fascinating connection between
social networks and how the human brain is
evolving.
For a long time, neuroscience held a wrong
belief—several, actually—about the human
brain.
The number of brain cells we have was seen
as a fixed number that declined over time.
No one realized that stem cells in the brain
can renew lost neurons at any time in life.
But the most exciting discovery was that everyday
experience rewires the brain.
Even though it looks like a fixed thing, your
brain is actually a process, an activity.
I like to say that your brain is not a noun
but a verb.
It is in a constant state of dynamic flux.
New connections and new cells are being born,
and as the rewiring occurs, something astonishing
happens.
The brain processes reality, and when new
pathways are formed, the world becomes different.
Millions of tweets, texts, emails, and phone
calls have one thing in common: they are neural
signals in the global brain.
Social networks have the capacity to swiftly
alter the global brain.
On the surface, most tweets are small fleeting
events.
But stand back a bit, and you see that a new
identity is being formed, a global “we”
that anyone can participate in is being shaped.
This newly shaped global brain can topple
the traditional barriers of religion, tribalism,
nationalism, and political oppression.
Before the social networks, think of what
it took to escape the mindset of a repressed
culture.
You had to physically move away, plant yourself
in a foreign country, and probably continue
to fear for your relatives stuck back home.
Now, in the darkest hours of civil resistance,
anyone can send and receive messages from
the global brain.
What I’m saying isn’t mystical or hypothetical.
The destiny of the whole planet depends on
reaching beyond the narrow interests of rich
nations and multinational corporations.
A community of humanity needs to be formed.
It’s completely possible for that to happen.
In fragile, hopeful ways, it already has.
