" ... Intelligence, I propose, is the capacity of life to create and modify patterns in its search for what works and what satisfies it. We can observe intelligence as much in the highly-evolved patterns of forest eco-communities as in the worksheets of a college math student. CO-intelligence adds the idea that such patterning is mutual, multi-dimensional, holistic, and evolving. The usual idea of intelligence -- individual rational intelligence -- is part of the linear, fragmented, causational worldview. Co-intelligence is part of a fuller holistic, systemic, relational view of the world.
The political vision of co-intelligence was foreshadowed by John Dewey in a 1937 speech entitled "Democracy as a Way of Life":
"The foundation of democracy is faith in... human intelligence and in the power of pooled and cooperative experience... to generate progressively the knowledge and wisdom needed to guide collective action.... [E]ach individual has something to contribute, whose value can be assessed only as [it] enters into the final pooled intelligence constituted by the contributions of all.
[ ... ]
One weekend in June, 1991, a dozen Canadians met at a resort north of Toronto, under the auspices of Maclean's, Canada's leading newsweekly. They'd been scientifically selected so that, together, they represented all the major sectors of public opinion in their deeply divided country. They were facilitated by Harvard professor Roger Fisher -- co-author of the classic Getting to Yes -- and two colleagues.
Despite being political and personal strangers and despite being continuously watched by a camera crew from CTV television, these diverse ordinary citizens managed to craft a consensus vision for their country in less than three days. It was published in four pages of fine print -- part of the 39 pages Maclean's devoted to describing their efforts in the July 1st issue.
Maclean's editors pointed out that this process had proven more effective than numerous other forums run by the government for years, involving hundreds of thousands of Canadians at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. ... "
~ from Co-Intelligence and the Holistic Politics of Community Self-Organization ~
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