Holoscope

We have recently completed and documented a prototype of a candidate new approach to knowledge, and called it knowledge federation. The mission of holotopia is to complete that prototype, by federating federate.

In holotopia we represent knowledge federation by the pseudonym holoscope; and we use knowledge federation (or federation) as a verb.

We define the holoscope by the ideogram on the right, with the help of the one below. The holoscope is the suitable new 'headlights', designed to be used for illuminating themes, issues and directions. The holoscope can be pointed at any theme or issue. By illuminating what has remained obscure or hidden, it lets us it as a whole – its undistorted shape, and correct proportions.

Proof of concept application

Can new headlights make a difference?

The goal of holotopia is to find a way to change course – and thereby show that the holoscope works.

Holotopia vision

When the new 'headlights' are used, what results is a cleear vision of the holotopia – and of 'course' that takes us there

The holotopia is a more desirable vision of the future than the common utopias tend to be. Yet it is practically realizable. The reason is that we already own the knowledge needed for its fulfillment.

Margaret Mead wrote:

One necessary condition of successfully continuing our existence is the creation of an atmosphere of hope that the huge problems now confronting us can, in fact, be solved—and can be solved in time."

Holotopia prototype

Holotopia is an art project, and an art direction. It wakes us up, ignites vision, disrupts complacency, reinvigorates evolution.

The mission of Holotopia as a prototype or project is to develop whatever is needed for "changing course" – and realizing the holotopia.

We present it here in terms of

• Five insights, which are alone sufficient to see how the holotopia vision naturally emerges from the knowledge we own
• The box – a ritual object designed for 'initiation' to holotopia, a way to help us 'unbox' our conception of the world and see, think and behave differently; change course inwardly, by embracing a new value
• A virtual space – including physical spaces, with suitable affordances and group dynamics by which the holotopia vision can be realized
• A collection of keywords which – just as science did back then – encode a new way of speaking and thinking
• A story, where we federate some of Margaret Mead's key ideas—which point to what's now necessary yet lacking, to make the holotopia possible (Mead is holotopia's icon or giant)
• A collection of keywords—just as science did at its arrival, the holoscope too brings along a new way of looking at the world and speaking, which allows for new insights being reached and shared

The story explains the exact mission of holotopia by federating Margaret Mead's familiar dictum:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.