This isn't new ground, but it's probably worth reiterating every decade or so. The human group mind / hive mind / pack mind / herd mind - whatever you want to call it - it's dumb. Very dumb.

We evaluate intelligence of other species by their awareness of their environment, ability to problem solve and most importantly the magical ability to have forethought.

So let's see, individual humans are very aware of their environment, ever more so the better we educate ourselves. We're very good at problem solving - in the last hundred years we've performed incredibly miracles with the technology we've produced and discoveries we've made, generally all by brilliant individuals.

And that amazing ability for forethought is present in just about every one you'll meet - some more so than others. These are our wise-men, and the better they are at it, the more valuable they are to society, because they can predict the future in a way. In ancient times these were our Sages, enlightened people.

So what happens when we apply these properties to the hivemind of humanity. It seems almost every animal has hivemind like behaviour. Some hiveminds are incredibly smart - smarter than the individuals. Take bees for example, the individuals aren't that bright, but the hive is extremely successful.

But when we look at the human hivemind, we see a very different story. Firstly, as a group, we are very unaware of our environment. If we look back through natural disaster and man made disasters in our history, we discover that we have a very reactionary hivemind. Something bad happens, we react. For man made disasters, this demonstrates a lack of forethought. For natural disasters, this demonstrates a lack of awareness of our environment.

And when it comes to problem solving, the human hivemind shouldn't even rate. When we get together in large groups, we consistently fall pray to emotional or simply irration mood swings - rioting, shouting like wild things, becoming violent or becoming incredibly self deprecating.

These are not the properties of an intelligent creation. There is, however, some good news. If we look back through history, we discover that the common wealth of the human hivemind has increased. The more we're forced to stretch the hivemind muscles, the smarter they're becoming. The hivemind is made up of less than the mean of the individual minds - so as the population gets smarter, so does the hivemind.

Now we can flee when a volcano is about to erupt. Unfortunately, our hivemind is not being put to the test often enough. Take the latest war in Lebanon with Israel for a politically sensitive example. Was the hivemind successful there? no - on either side of the conflict. I won't sully my blog here by delving in to details, but I'm sure those reading know what I'm talking about.

When it comes to the environment, our hivemind is still irrationally blind. Elements of the hivemind speak more vocally in the negative to positive action than the elements with the rational response that will save us as a race. Why? If a human had this kind of conflict in their brain that led to indecision or wrong decision - we'd say they're mentally ill. Is the human hivemind mentally ill or simply a naive child?

I choose to believe it is simply a naive child and that if it is capable of growing up (ie: it doesn't destroy itself first) then we may become a whole new race, a brighter future for all. But right now, we're a mood spoilt brat who can't see past the end of his nose.

There are so many modern examples of the human hivemind failing. I try to keep a look out for when the human hivemind has matured a bit more. Politics is one area where the hivemind is especially stupid most of the time.

Shortly there will be a conscience vote in Australia by our politicians as to whether we should allow therapeutic cloning or not. This will be a test of our hivemind's maturity. A national poll already indicates that 82% of Australians are in favour of allowing the cloning. Will our flow-control mechanism (politics) succeed in advancing the human hivemind, or will it give in to petty fears (monsters under the bed or in the closet, don't turn off the lights before I go to sleep ma) and keep the practice banned even though some of closest allies have already allowed it (the UK).

We'll see.. time will tell. The worst possible outcome would be to discover that humans have no hivemind and that each decision we make as a group is purely coincidental.. or that the hivemind of a species cannot grow smarter (I find this unlikely, everything I've ever seen in the universe is constantly changing and adapting toward a greater outcome - at odds with entropy).