Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism  "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism" is an essay, by Jaron Lanier, originally published in "Edge – the third culture". In his online essay, in "Edge" magazine in May 2006, Lanier criticized the sometimes-claimed omniscience of collective wisdom (including examples such as the Wikipedia article about himself), describing it as "digital Maoism". He writes "If we start to believe that the Internet itself is an entity that has something to say, we're devaluing those people [creating the content] and making ourselves into idiots." His criticism aims at several targets which concern him and are at different levels of abstraction:  This critique is further explored in an interview with him on Radio National's "The Philosopher's Zone", where he is critical of the denatured effect which "removes the scent of people". In December 2006 Lanier followed up his critique of the collective wisdom with an article in "Edge" titled "Beware the Online Collective". Lanier writes:  I wonder if some aspect of human nature evolved in the context of competing packs. We might be genetically wired to be vulnerable to the lure of the mob...What's to stop an online mass of anonymous but connected people from suddenly turning into a mean mob, just like masses of people have time and time again in the history of every human culture? It's amazing that details in the design of online software can bring out such varied potentials in human behavior. It's time to think about that power on a moral basis. Lanier argues that the search for deeper information in any area sooner or later requires that you find information that has been produced by a single person, or a few devoted individuals: "You have to have a chance to sense personality in order for language to have its full meaning." That is, he sees limitations in the utility of an encyclopedia produced by only partially interested third parties as a form of communication.