Tom Atlee's research and thought innovations span from the conscious evolution of social systems to collaborative dynamics to a host of other ideas centering on group, social and political dynamics. He has worked with a number of leading authors on their books including ‘Awakening: The Upside of Y2K'. More recently Tom Atlee has been exploring and writing about collective dynamics.
Tom is one of the 8 US Collective Intelligence leaders, one of 25 (or more) global leaders of collective intelligence and bottom-up deliberative dialog democracy. He received the Golden Candle Award at OSS'04.
OSS '04: To Tom Atlee, founder of the Co-Intelligence Institute, for his sustained leadership in the vanguard of an informed democracy.His book, The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World that Worlds for All is in the best traditions of Thomas Jefferson, who said “A Nation’s best defense is an educated citizenry.”
It can safely be said that he has had more influence than any other person on the migration of the original Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) movement away from serving governments and toward achieving its righteous role as public intelligence in the public interest.
A converstion is developing that will lead to a taxonomy for collective intelligence in all its forms, including public intelligence. Below is a first effort by Tom Atlee that decisively corrects our preliminary conclusion that public intelligence was the umbrella term.
Tom Atlee
Dear Robert,
I guess I'm stuck on what seems to me the straight-forward simplicity of “collective intelligence” as the overall category — as the intelligence capacity of any collective — family, group, organization, community, society, culture, network — they're all collectives (at least in my sense of the word). “Intelligence capacity” includes things like problem-solving, pattern recognition, analytic or integral model-making, learning (knowledge-building and revision), application of knowledge, insight, etc. — anything and everything having to do with engaging successfully with the patterns of reality. The different types of intelligence have diverse gifts to offer — different types of cognition needed to deal with certain types of patterns — e.g., Gardner's seven “multiple intelligences” (including emotional intelligence), on the one hand, or “business intelligence” and “street smarts” on the other. In this definition, at this level, I find “collective intelligence” to be totally embracive of the requisite diversity, and the term “public intelligence” to be awkward, at best (public as opposed to private?).
However, there's a whole ‘nother framing from which to view this, which I sense is your “home base” — “the craft of intelligence (as in “intelligence agency”). I see the “craft of intelligence” (as a specific sub-category of the broader CAPACITY of intelligence, in this case focused on the collective practice of gathering, sorting, organizing, and analyzing data into useful patterns (information, understanding, narratives, meaning) for decision-makers. With this definition, at this level, the term “public intelligence” means to me the publicly visible and highly participatory practice of doing that for democratic decision-makers who, in the fullest democratic sense, includes or is the public, itself (the citizenry), who are practicing intelligence to inform their own empowered decision-making.
So public intelligence is, for me, a subset of collective intelligence. Much of my “wise democracy” work can be squeezed into the “public intelligence” category. But I have also framed collective intelligence more broadly and think of my larger work as being largely involved with that broader category.
“Co-intelligence” is a larger category still, involving the interactive, collaborative intelligence of the whole (which can be a group, but it can also be an event, nature, evolution, the universe, or Spirit).
I hope that's useful, at least in terms of where to place me in the weave you're creating…
Co-heartedly,Tom
We urge one and all to support Tom Atlee's gentle intelligent efforts to restore the Collective Intelligence that is inherent in humanity as a Whole. Visit him at the Co-Intelligence Institute and make your donation there, please.
This is my most patriotic book, and a very serious book. All of the chapters and the 500+ non-fiction annotated bibliography are available as individual downloads:
I dare to hope that serious people considering me for any mission or any task will recognize the earnest civic value of this contribution. Certainly I know that the public is waking up to the “Borg” that uses the Presidency as theater while Wall Street controls, the Treasury, Justice, and the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal nor a Reserve).
All Chapters Free (Scroll Down)Amazon Page $69.95++
George Pór is an advisor to leaders in international business and government. Former Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD, currently he is a PrimaVera Research Fellow in Collective Intelligence at Universiteit van Amsterdam and Publisher of the Blog of Collective Intelligence. His clients include: British Petroleum, EDS, Ericsson, European Commission, European Foundation for Management Development, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Co., Hewlett Packard, Intel, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Swiss Re, and Unilever. He can be reached at George(at)Community-Intelligence.com.
The book would not have been possible without the help of George Por and Tom Atlee, and this is acknowledged at the book's dedication page. It is also understood that the book is a snapshot of the emerging discipline, and that the conversation will continue, assisted by George Por, at http://cic.evolutionarynexus.org.
Below is an illustration from the first page of his historic contribution, it also leads to the chapter; and the cover of his book, Society's Breakthrough: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People leading to the Amazon Page. Jim Rough epitomizes the very best of the American pioneer spirit of common sense and good intention. He is, along with Tom Atlee and others in the Collective Intelligence movement, a center of gravity for restoring America.
