{"product_id":"world-brain-isbn-9780262542562","title":"World Brain","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn 1937, H. G. Wells proposed a predigital, freely available World Encyclopedia to represent a civilization-saving World Brain.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a series of talks and essays in 1937, H. G. Wells proselytized for what he called a \"World Brain,\" as manifested in a World Encyclopedia--a repository of scientifically established knowledge--that would spread enlightenment around the world and lead to world peace. Wells, known to readers today as the author of \u003ci\u003eThe War of the Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e and other science fiction classics, was imagining something like a predigital Wikipedia. The World Encyclopedia would provide a summary of verified reality (in about forty volumes); it would be widely available, free of copyright, and utilize the latest technology. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course, as Bruce Sterling points out in the foreword to this edition of Wells's work, the World Brain didn't happen; the internet did. And yet, Wells anticipated aspects of the internet, envisioning the World Brain as a technical system of networked knowledge (in Sterling's words, a \"hypothetical super-gadget\"). Wells's optimism about the power of information might strike readers today as naïvely utopian, but possibly also inspirational.Foreword\u003cbr\u003eBruce Sterling\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003eJoseph M. Reagle\u003cbr\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003eI World Encyclopedia\u003cbr\u003e(Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, November 20th, 1936)\u003cbr\u003eII The Brain Organization of the Modern World\u003cbr\u003e(Lecture delivered in America, October and November, 1937)\u003cbr\u003eIII The Idea of a Permanent World Encyclopedia\u003cbr\u003e(Contribution to the new Encyclopédic Française, August, 1937)\u003cbr\u003eIV Passage from a Speech to the Congrès Mondial de la Documentation Universelle, Paris, August 20th, 1937\u003cbr\u003eV The Informative Content of Education\u003cbr\u003e(Presidential Address to the Educational Science Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, September 12th, 1937)\u003cbr\u003eAppendix I: Ruffled Teachers\u003cbr\u003e(Sunday Chronicle, September 12th, 1937)\u003cbr\u003eAppendix II: Palestine in Proportion\u003cbr\u003e(Sunday Chronicle, October 3rd, 1937)\u003cbr\u003eAppendix III: The Fall in America 1937\u003cbr\u003e(Collier's, January 28th, 1938)\u003cbr\u003eAppendix IV: Transatlantic Misunderstandings\u003cbr\u003e(Liberty, January 15th, 1938)\u003cbr\u003eAppendix V: The English Speaking World: \"As I See It\"\u003cbr\u003e(Broadcast talk delivered December 21st, 1937)“A time-capsule from a moment perfectly like our own that could not be more different from our own—a vision of steampunk Wikipedian peace and noble truth vanquishing cynical lies. A utopia and a cautionary tale.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eCory Doctorow, author of \u003ci\u003eAttack Surface\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this forgotten gem, Wells gave the twenty-first century a preview of itself, both as it is and as it might be. World famous as a writer, thinker, forecaster and educator, Wells turned his energies in this book to bringing the world together through shared knowledge\u003cb\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e Beautifully introduced, this \u003ci\u003eWorld Brain\u003c\/i\u003e is both brilliant and timely; its ambitious utopianism in a dark time is something many readers today might emulate.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSarah Cole, Dean of Humanities and Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; author of \u003cu\u003eI\u003c\/u\u003e\u003ci\u003enventing Tomorrow: H. G. Wells and the 20th Century\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Between two world wars, H. G. Wells reimagined universal education, envisioned a new global knowledge system, and even anticipated Wikipedia. \u003ci\u003eWorld Brain\u003c\/i\u003e is classic Wells: fascinating, thoughtful, inspiring, and deeply humane.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBryan Alexander, Senior Scholar, Georgetown University; author of \u003ci\u003eAcademia Next: The Futures of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eH. G. Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific and best-selling author of novels, short stories, and social commentary. Among his best-known works are \u003ci\u003eThe Time Machine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Invisible Man\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWar of the Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e, and T\u003ci\u003eono-Bungay\u003c\/i\u003e. Bruce Sterling is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction author. Joseph M. Reagle Jr. is the coeditor of \u003ci\u003eWikipedia @ 20\u003c\/i\u003e and the author of \u003ci\u003eHacking Life\u003c\/i\u003e (both published by the MIT Press) and other books.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303620694245,"sku":"NP9780262542562","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262542562.jpg?v=1767744541","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/world-brain-isbn-9780262542562","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}