You are here

The flock-of-birds phenomenon

8 September, 2015 - 14:12

A feature of many the new communication technologies has been the fact that in most cases they do not “belong” to any one institution, nor does any particular authority control them. The Internet is a case in point. Some have referred to this as the “flock-of-birds phenomenon”6. When one observes a flock of birds flying in formation, or fish schooling in a distinct pattern, one is tempted to speculate whether there is or could be a "bird in charge" or an "alpha fish". Naturalists will explain that flocking is a natural phenomenon and that there are indeed no “head” fishes or birds in charge. The network becomes the processor.

Humans have been conditioned to seek a controlling body or authority for nearly all of the phenomena that we experience in life, for that is indeed how most modern societies have been organized. The response to the questions, “Who’s in charge?”, “Who controls this?”, or “Who owns it?” is generally, “some large firm”, “the government”, a government department or ruling institution. In the case of many of the phenomena of the observed on the Internet, there is indeed no one in charge. They are like giant flocks of birds or schools of fish. The response to questions such as “Who owns them?” or “Who’s in charge?” is either “We all do”, or “No one does”. These are great mechanisms for democracy, but their effects can also be anarchic, and society may have to develop new ways to deal with these liberating effects.

The effect of the flock-of-birds phenomenon is that access is equalized, unlike what occurs in traditional media. In a very real sense, no one has a “better right of access”, and no one, even the largest corporation, can shout louder. The smallest player, the individual, has a right and opportunity to be seen and heard. Furthermore, many laws designed to regulate a physical world don’t work as effectively when no one owns or controls the medium.