When is a cigar more than a cigar? A team of Dutch scientists believe they may have the answer. By using an fMRI scanner to study the brain activity of eight bilingual volunteers as they listened to the names of four animals spoken in English—bull, horse, shark and duck—the scientists were able to locate the specific part of the brain where the meanings of words are created.
I know this might seem a bit non-linear; however, is there analgous applicability of this finding to the global networked collective mind or intelligence that is emerging. Are there centers of concentrated semantic focus and meaning, on a meme or conceptual basis, that by virtue of their authority, concentration, weight of influence, and clarity of concurrence and definition, provide the center of gravity for the rest of the collective on a global basis?