Check out Jon Husband’s post on Wirearchy :: How Flat Is Your World ?

It’s a great look at how technology is revolutionizing the world and the pecking order of the social system. I agree quite substantially that we have begun a global process of removing top-down hierarchies. Perhaps they are here to stay, but perhaps also we can narrow the gap in some areas. What Jon seems to say is that an equal playing field of information flow will compete against the hierarchies that already exist, and live along side them in a new way. Its an intriguing idea that I will need to mull over.

I think that the two view points combine to clarify something important … the notion of status, pecking orders, merit, authority have been with us just as long as the notions of equality, fairness, dialogue, taking responsibility for others, collectivism, etc. Top-down and bottom-up, chaos and order and ordering human activities under new conditions that encourage and demonstrate interdependencies are all part of the evolutionary path with which we are being confronted…

Wirearchy is not just about flattening … it’s about the ‘archy” that we’re learning to live with that stems from environments where the Web and integrated information systems surround and enable human activities, and the ways that these new (wired and wireless, but nevertheless ‘wired” as we understand this new environment) conditions are changing traditional expertise-and-authority based ways of doing things.

I agree that individuals compete for status, credit, authority, attention .. the things that hierarchy offers and confers to those higher up in the pecking orders. That is what we’ve learned, as humans and the human population have accelerated rather quickly up population and complexity growth curves during the past century or so.

I also believe that these new conditions give new sense and nuance to the old saw “knowledge is power”, given that the ripples of connectedness to other minds and hearts widen (but not necessarily deepen) spheres of potential influence and collaboration.

I won’t claim to have the same expertise in this field, nor to give it due diligence in this post. Therefore, I highly recommend you read what Jon has to say.