In Time Magazine’s Person of the Year cover story, Jaron Lanier asks a provocative question:

What’s to stop an online mass of anonymous but connected people from suddenly turning into a mean mob, just like masses of people have time and time again in the history of every human culture?

The Web 2.0 movement is about collecting bits of information from a massive amount of people to generate a new level of intelligence, whether it be recommendations or encyclopedia definitions. But simple, collective human acts in the past have led to violent and otherwise very negative events. (E.g. fascists, communists, religious cults, criminal “families”). Jaron is saying that individuals will perform evil deeds just because they are a cog in the wheel. What do you think about this?

I disagree with part of his theory, but I think he is making a good point. Because, when you participate in a Web 2.0 effort (or a cult, take your pick) and your part in the collective act is very small so you don’t have to or bother to think about it very much, those in power can manipulate the collective to perform very dangerous acts. I don’t believe people individually will do evil just because it is Web 2.0, but if there is a malicious leader (say, Hitler 2.0?), then the collective intelligence trend can certainly be utilized to conduct all sorts of evil.