O.L. Design

As social networking and the Web 2.0 grows bigger and bigger, we suddenly find ourselves in a world where we are no longer alone and insignificant. Now, everyone can easily find someone like themselves, someone who shares their interests. And anyone can, with minimal effort, contribute to the most important collection of knowledge in the world. People can gather huge audiences around them, doing what they like, they can share news that reaches out to millions of people, and they can play an important role in the ruling and educational forces around the globe.

It is a world of narcissism, where everyone stands out on their own. At the same time, it is a world of collectivism, where we share what we know and find people like ourselves. This may seem like a strange comparison to make, but the effect is not totally unlike that of a religion.

Religions unite large groups of people, make them socialize in particular ways, and provides a base on which people can live and express themselves. And at the same time, religion can satisfy personal, or narcissistic if you will, needs that people have, and through the social engagement, people can get their individual role through which they can get a sense of self-fulfillment.

So, let us celebrate Deus Connectivus, the Online God.

A creative, decision-making and ruling force

The Online God creates things. Or, people create things. Everything we create stems from an idea of something, and that idea is based on knowledge that we have gathered in the past — we call it inspiration — that we manifest into something new.

The Internet is by far the most important source of knowledge that we know (the exception being maybe life itself). A lot — maybe most — of the new things created today, have in some way or another a connection to the Internet. But it doesn’t stop there. A lot — and again, perhaps most — of the decisions made today, are made with the help of knowledge collected from the Internet. Even hugely important decisions on corporate and governmental levels are made this way. So, the Online God inspires us to create, and guides us in our everyday lives, in the decisions we need to make.

But a decision usually results in an action. There are theories of e-democracies, and how the collective knowledge of the people can guide politicians in decision making, taken in practical use more and more around the world. It seems that the Online God is also a ruling force, that in certain ways makes us do what we do, and makes us live how we live.

The big difference is that it is we who write the bible this time.