Page - 159 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

www.wHATIsyOURNAME.yOU (MANUAL) 159 1. My father’s son is my brother. 2. God exists. 3. There is a country inhabited by dragons. 4. The earth revolves around the sun. 5. All English people are very polite. 6. My mother’s sister is my aunt. 7. Gypsies kidnap children. 8. There are some astronauts who are able to reach the moon. 9. There are many religions in the world. 10. There are other forms of life in the universe. 11. Africans have rhythm in their blood. 12. Tomorrow the sun will rise again. 13. Donkeys fly. 14. The human body is composed of molecules. 15. I have brought my umbrella because I think it will rain. 16. Parents know everything there is to know. 17. Scientists know everything there is to know. 18. Human beings are the most intelligent beings on the earth. Episode 3 Leading Idea 1: Collective intelligence The language of human beings is the most complex means of communication among the animal species. Writing, press, telegraph, and all means of communication invented in the history of humanity have worked as an extension of the human capacity to communicate in order to spread ideas and knowledge to as many people as possible, and across as much distance as possible. Communication through the internet is another extensive means that allows for an exchange of ideas and information with many people in real time all over the world. Ac- cording to some sociologists, this broadened and, above all, indirect, means of commu- nication can create a lot of possibilities in terms of the autonomy of cultural exchange. Every user has the possibility to meet people from every part of the world and exchange ideas, cultural ways of being, and knowledge. With this perspective, cyberspace is seen as a place where a nomadic culture, composed of several specificities, creates an organic whole that lives in an eternal exchange of information. A constant exchange of ideas and competencies produced by various intelligences gives, and at the same time collects and shares, knowledge in a virtual world where no one is considered ignorant. Rather, every intelligence enriches with its abilities the other’s intelligence, creating a collective intelli- gence whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In this world, the awareness of our own existence is not given by the Cartesian cogito but by the collective cogitamus. Exercise: Collective intelligence Ask every student to write on a piece of paper a thing he or she is good at making. Then fold the paper and put it in a box. After mixing the papers, give each of them