GLOBAL BRAIN The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century N A A HOWARD BLOOM x ® John Wiley & Sons, Inc. NEW YORK * CHICHESTER + WEINHFIM + BRISBANE * SINGAPORE * TORONTO“This lusty tome gencrated by Bloom's voracious reading habit and extraor- dinary talent for explanativa proclaims that groups of individuals from people to vervet monk ‘s to bacteria—organize themselves, create nov- elty, alter their surroundings, and triumph to leave more offspring than Joncr individuals, A stunning commitment to scientific evidence, this sequel to The Lucifer Principle ought to purge the academic world of ‘selfish genes’ and the neodarwinist dogma of ‘individual selection,” —Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and recipient of a 1999 Natiorial Medal of Science “The Thales of the Internet, H. Bloom thinks what he wants, writes what he thinks, and performs his synthes truth, creative brain, and mountain: of Eshe! Ben-Jacob to the scientific sidclining of Professor Ling, we see the daunting power of groups that interact and sacrifice their members in order to thrive and evolve.” with a good heart, uncompromising of evidence. From the bacterial web —Dorion Sagan, author of Biospheres and coauthor of into the Cool: The New Thermodynamics of Life “Howard Bloom’s Global Brain is lilled with scientific firsts. It is the first book to make a strong, solidly backed, and theoretically original case that we do not live the loncly lives of sclfish beings driven by selfish genes, but are parts of a larger whole. It is the first to take this idea out of the realm of ism and into the sphere of hard-nosed, data-derived reality, And it is one of the few books which carry off such grand. v mystic ions with energy, excitement, and keen insight.” —Flizabeth Loftus, former President, American Psychological Socicty, and author of Witness for the Defense and The Myth of Repressed Memory “In a superbly written and totally original argument, Howard Bloom con- tinues his onc-man tradition of tac Kling the taboo subjects. With a mar- velously erudite survey of life and society from bacteria to the Internet, he demonstrates that group selection is for real and the group mind was there from the start. What we are entering now is but the latest phase in the evo- lution of the global brain. This is a must read for professionals and laymen alike.” Robin Fox, University Professor of Social Theory, Rutgers University, and coauthor of The fmperial Animal“A modern-day prophet, Bloom cumpels us to admit that evolution is a team sport. This is a picture of the universe in which human emotions find their basis in the survival of matter, and the atoms themselves are held together with love, I am awestruck.” —Douglas Rushkoff, author of MediaVires, Coercion, and Festasy Chad “God, this is grea stuf” —Richard Brodie, author of Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme and original author/programmer of Microsoft Word “Stunning! Howard Bloom has donc it again. He is certainly on to some- thing” —Peter Corning, Director, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems; President, International Society for the Systems Sciences; and author of The Synergism Hypothesis:A Theory of Progressive Evolusion “Howard Bloom’s work is simply brilliant and there is nothing else like it any where—we ve looked, as have our collcagues. Global Bram is powerful, provocative, and mind-blowing” —Don Edward Beck, Ph.D., author of Spiral Dynamics and Codirector, National Values Center “Howard Bloom has a fascinating vision of the interplay of life and a cem- pelling style which I found captivating” \ Nils Daulaire, President and CEO, ~ : Global Health Council “My head is still spinning from sa much eloquence and content.” -Valerius Geist, President, Wildlife Heritage and author of Life Strategies, Human Evolution, Environmental Design and Toward ¢ Biological Theory of Health “Bloom paints a spirited and wide-ranging picture uf the importance of information-sharing and other forms of cooperation in organisms ranging from bacteria to hymans. Arguments on group versus individual selection are normally conducted in dense prose, but Bloom’s overview is high, swift, and enjoyable.” ~~Peter J. Richerson, coauthor (with Robert Boyd) of Principles of Human Ecology and The Pleistocene and the Origins of Human Culture: Built for Speed