Look Into My Crystal Ball...

What is the future of Digital Cultures? I can't pretend to know but I can speculate that perhaps we are going to move into a new computing age of distributed intelligence. It’s also known as the agent-based model or multi-agent system in which free agents work together as a collective to attain a goal. It’s kind of like ants in an ant farm. This combines complex systems, game theory, evolutionary programming and emergence. They can help us model behaviours under circumstances that we cannot simulate in real life.

These agents as a whole would be capable of 'learning' and evolving. One day they might even be able to evolve to a standard of complex behaviour that surpasses ours. The basic idea is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Its many years away but not impossible. If we look at African Termites one termite cannot achieve much, but together they can build massive complex colonies. The most impressive thing is that there is not one termite in charge. No architect or foreman to design and engineer the building of said colony. It’s a combined effort. All of it is achieved with no one in a position of higher authority.

For many reasons this would not work with humans. We need someone to be in charge and be held liable in case anything goes wrong. But would an agent-based model need anyone in charge? I certainly think the future of Digital Culture lies in artificial intelligence and I think agent-based models might be the most interesting area to develop. I have learned a lot in Digital Cultures this year about how the Internet actually works, which I intend to use to my advantage as a student. I've also learned that technology has a huge impact on society and culture, which has been very interesting to think about. I'm looking forward to spending the summer trying to build my own computer, and will try keep my eyes and mind open to better notice how society and technology evolve together.