Can 'Spiritual Computing' Drive Web 3.0? - Page 2

The role of science

One such solution could allow cancer patients to visualize and wage virtual battles against unhealthy cells, said Craig Warren Smith, a Seattle-based consultant who counts Nokia, Microsoft and Intel as customers.

He said that advances in neuroscience and computer science will create the backdrop for a richer interaction between technology and spirituality.

This is where the idea for using gaming technology to help individuals heal themselves emerges.

Smith said that with Web 3.0, technology could finally catch up to spiritual constructs that have taken thousands of years to develop.

But Smith noted that this does not mean "turning everyone on to spirituality."

Rather, he said, "it's about a more sophisticated system architecture and designers shaping new technologies that are going to be able to draw people into a deeper understanding of their human experience."

Daniel Ries, a senior vice president at Health Dialog Services and a former developer of AI systems, also sees the potential of Web 3.0.

He predicts it will help people engage in sophisticated role-playing games to help determine courses of medical treatment, as well as access information from other people with similar health issues.

"We'll see a deeper level of emotional involvement with systems than anything that exists today," he said.

Many aspects of Web 3.0 are already present in the social networking aspects of 2.0.

Bill Dunk, a management consultant based in Raleigh, N.C., noted that whereas an individual bee can be fairly called dumb, a swarm of bees demonstrates enormous intelligence.

The problem to be solved by Web 3.0 is differentiating the swarm from the mob.

According to Dunk, the answer will lie in diversity.

"If you go to a movie and everyone in the theater looks the same, chances are it won't be a good movie. But if you have the same number of people, but from a variety of backgrounds and genders, then you're likely to have a great experience.

"The general idea is that we are going to be accretive to each other. We're not going to succeed by entrusting our knowledge pods to a narrow band of experts," he said.

And the economic incentive to make this happen is not very far-fetched at all.

According to Smith, companies that take the trouble to develop a greater understanding of people's spiritual needs will reap the rewards of greater customer loyalty.

"Companies need to develop a vision for transitioning their customers to more value-added services once they have or can sustain their loyalty.

"They have to understand, 'you're not in the entertainment business or the whatever business, you're in the spiritual business.'"