Jean-Marc (Goachet), you are Social Media Manager at MINES ParisTech. (= for those who don't know: the École des Mines de Paris); you took part in writing the "Social media explained to my boss ; you are also Co-Chairman of Adetem's Marketing 2.0 Club.
1. In your various roles, you manage a large number of professional relationships, both "real" and "virtual": you increasingly have the impression of navigating in a highly fluctuating social microcosm ...
Fluctuating aptly describes the situation. The real and the virtual merge happily, because they now form a continuum. Whether the relationship was initiated at a physical meeting or following an exchange on Twitter, we are constantly moving back and forth without borders. Distance and time disappear. Based on this observation, we need to give meaning to the relationship so that it is enriched, natural and lasting. The disappearance of time and space is not a reason to be contactable at all hours or to have some kind of ubiquity that does not exist. This fluctuation implies greater flexibility and less formalism in exchanges. Greater 'mental' agility in the logistics of relationships, so to speak.
2. All this excitement on social media, both professional and personal, has been described by some as collective intelligence: but how can it be described as intelligence?
All agitation creates energy. Rubbing, crossing, clashing... the very illustration of chaos producing a new state. Creation is born of encounters. This is exactly what happens on social networks. It's not the sheer number of people that makes us think better, but the interest and the objective of thinking together that creates value. Because even if we can describe interactions on the web as collective intelligence, the results are not always there. Ideas don't just happen. The co-creation process only works if it is organised. That the platform is designed to support the creation of new ideas. Social networks do a lot of relaying, but in the end create very little. That's why we shouldn't confuse intelligence with influence. A collective is more likely to be influential than intelligent.
3. In the field of intelligence, the other major current trend is artificial intelligence: is man, as an isolated individual, now being overtaken by the group on the one hand, and the machine on the other?
If the isolated individual is to be overcome, it is undoubtedly more by the group than by today's machines. Co-creation and open innovation projects show that by pooling expertise and different points of view, we have a better chance of succeeding than by staying on our own, even with the best ideas in the world. We need to prepare ourselves to "cohabit" with artificial intelligence. An intelligence that outstrips us in more ways than one: greater computing power than our own, the ability to analyse several situations at once, non-existent fatigue apart from exhausting the motherboard... An intelligence that complements us more than it dominates us, even if Google's artificial intelligence has demonstrated its ability to supplant humans in the game of Go. It is the use to which artificial intelligence is put that will determine whether or not it overtakes the individual. In the meantime, it is enabling us to be more effective in medicine by compensating for certain disabilities, for example.
4. We can see that the new dominant players, the GAFAs, in particular Google and Facebook, are investing massively in social media and artificial intelligence: tomorrow's path to power?
As far as social media are concerned, the GAFAs, and now the TUNAs, are expressing their power through sheer numbers and the ability to address connected members. This is because a connection is not only a source of exploitable and marketable information, but also a means of becoming the intermediary that facilitates the connection. We are truly entering the service society. From smoomville to AirBnB, these companies don't own, they "broker". The creation of value is based on the link... and on the backs of those who own, in other words those who invest. This question of power is at the heart of the new "industrial" revolution we are experiencing.
As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, the power it could eventually wield will not only call into question the creation of economic value, but much more besides. The development of artificial intelligence is leading us to reflect on the human condition, its immortality, the segmentation of human beings, and the attribution of new... superhuman capacities to them. This new power will reside in the research carried out in this field, but it will also depend on our Reason. It will have to be held collectively and within a framework if the human race is to remain human.
