Might sound hypothetical but a closer look is enough to convince that the internet or the web is slowly but surely approaching towards becoming a brain.

Think of the brain as a collection of nerves, thin pipes with openings to the outside world in form of organs, the eyes, ears, skin, etc.

The internet is also a collection of network pipes with opening to the outside world in form of input devices.

In the brain the input stimuli passes as a signal triggering reactions. If lots of nerves see/hear/feel the same event then there is a consensus formed in terms of what happened.

Similarly if some major event happens in the outside world, bloggers, news agencies , etc, all cover it extensively, these being the input points which help the internet brain in developing a consensus.

This brain, like our brain could one day become the basis of driving something bigger than itself. Well, if we come to think of it, the internet has already started to drive its end points. It is getting to the point where it can create a consensus in the actions of the organs, like how the when the brain tells to grab something, then all the parts, the arm, the forehand, the wrist, the finger all come in unison to complete that task.

Open source software is a successful example of this coordination.

When Web 2.0, social networks reach their logical culmination they will make sure that every one is part of the conversation, which will mark the formation of the full fledged internet brain.
It even makes sense to think of the human brain too as a conversation, between our memories and the run time inputs.

If we delve deeper into understanding the exact working of the internet, of social networking, of open source software, we might be able to unlock the secret of our brains, and hence open the frontiers to the ‘next’ in science.

This article is inconclusive, ’cause its intended to be more a conversation than a static piece.