Smart Mobs the next Super Power

Second Superpower

This interesting article makes the case that a super-national, diverse group of citizens (or smart mobs) who identify themselves more with people and the world than with nation states are becoming a super power in their own right. While perhaps this is a bit over blown as they don't have much of an army and are composed on individual with competing interests, I think it is very interesting conceptually. It certainly is interesting in the light of the still growing anti-globalization, environmental, and anti-war movements seen in the last few years. Some bits are a little preachy and sound like a call for action, replete with aging rock and rollers humming, "let's give peace a chance", but conceptually I think the author is on to something. I am not sure I want to cede my personal or national sovereignty to this mob / super-power.

Jim Moore, the author also has a blog with some interesting opinions. Among them, the notion that China will be the winner in Iraq, a notion I have floated to many people in private. I would go further and suggest China has a interest in keeping us busy outside of the far east and may be acting in their national interest by doing so.

The ideas floated in the essay are also sympathetic to the idea of a smart mobs. This concept is floated in a book by the same name, that I saw first on slashdot

For an alternate view of the essay mentioned above see this piece at the Register.