Can the Internet Brain Spark a New Superintelligence? A 50‑Year Journey

In a 2019 outlook, the author reflects on how the Internet has transformed over the past 50 years from a mesh network into a brain‑like structure, giving rise to the nascent "Internet brain" model that promises a deep fusion of human collective wisdom and machine intelligence, forming an unprecedented superintelligence.

21CTO Summary: As 2019 approaches, the Internet has evolved from a network to a brain‑like architecture, and the emerging Internet brain model suggests that human collective intelligence and machine intelligence will merge into a superintelligence.

Brief History of Collective Intelligence

Life began about a billion years ago, later moving onto land, leading to a diverse biosphere. Individual organisms exhibit free will and adapt to nature, but many evolve into virtual collectives that tackle environmental challenges. In 1911, Wheeler observed ant colonies acting like a single organism, coining the idea of a "superorganism." In 1991, George Pór defined collective intelligence as the ability of organisms to evolve toward higher complexity through differentiation, integration, competition, and cooperation.

Natural examples such as bee swarms, ant colonies, and bird flocks demonstrate enhanced intelligence through group behavior, and the Internet’s emergence provides the technological means to achieve similar collective intelligence among humans.

Development of the Internet Brain

Over the past five decades, the Internet has shifted from a mesh to a brain‑like architecture. Key milestones include the 1974 TCP/IP protocol establishing a common language for machines, the 1991 birth of the World Wide Web standardizing information format, and the 2004 explosion of social networks laying the foundation for neural‑like connections.

Subsequent technologies map to parts of a nervous system: cloud computing as the central nervous system, the Internet of Things as sensory nerves, mobile Internet as nerve fibers, Industry 4.0 and industrial Internet as motor nerves, big data as the base of cloud intelligence, artificial intelligence as reflex arcs, and edge computing as nerve endings.

By 2018, major tech giants launched their own "brain" systems—Google Brain (2012), iFlytek Superbrain (2014), Baidu Brain (2015), Alibaba ET Brain, Didi Traffic Brain, 360 Security Brain, Tencent Super Brain, and Huawei EI—integrating core businesses with the Internet brain architecture and preparing for a massive social‑intelligence convergence in 2019.

In 2019, human collective wisdom, machine intelligence, and cloud intelligence combine to form a superintelligence (ΩSI = HI + MI + CI). This superintelligence surpasses the capabilities of any natural swarm, comprising billions of humans, tens of billions of sensors and devices, and forming a "right brain" of human wisdom and a "left brain" of cloud‑machine intelligence.

Evolution and Naming of the Superintelligence

The superintelligence is expected to evolve along three dimensions: continuous increase in intellectual capacity, exponential growth in linked elements (people, devices, natural entities), and expanding spatial coverage beyond Earth, eventually reaching a universal brain that spans the cosmos.

Philosopher and biologist De Rijk proposes that this Internet‑brain‑based superintelligence, evolving toward an ultimate "Omega" state, should be called the Ω Superintelligence, reflecting its trajectory toward a universal intelligence.

For further reading on the Internet brain model, see "The Brain Explosion Behind 50 Years of Internet Architecture Transformation" at http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-39263-1136902.html.