Suppose, you were suddenly given the opportunity to send one tweet to everyone in the world. Those not on Twitter, would get an IM or an email. Those not on-line, would get a telegram or letter. But one way or another, each of the 7 billion people of the world would receive your 160-character message at about the same time.
What would you say?
Can a tweet change the world?
I read a statement by Neil Young, who said he no longer thinks a song can change the world:
Neil Young: Music Can Actually Save the World, Sort Of
"The time when music could change the world is past," he said. "I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age. The world today is a different place, and that it's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world and to try to save the planet."
----
"My friends write to me don't give up. I am not giving up. I know this is the time for change. But I know that it's not a song. Maybe it was. But it isn't now. It's an action, an accomplishment, a revelation, a new way."
Yet, perhaps a tweet is different, especially if shared by everyone all at once. E.g., some people believe in a global consciousness to which we all belong, and this global consciousness governs the physical world rather than the other way around. The traditional scientific view is that consciousness is just a passive byproduct of neurological activity. But the alternative view is that consciousness has primacy over matter, and in fact, matter is just a part of consciousness. In other words, if we dream it, we can make it real, but only if it is a shared wish amongst a large number of us, and it does not contradict the shared wishes of other groups. Here is some more info, if you're interested:
Global Consciousness Project
The Global Consciousness Project (GCP, also called the EGG Project) is a parapsychology experiment begun in 1998 as an attempt to detect possible interactions of "global consciousness" with physical systems. The project monitors a geographically distributed network of hardware random number generators in a bid to identify anomalous outputs that correlate with widespread emotional responses to sets of world events, or periods of focused attention by large numbers of people.
Art Bell: Somewhere in Time
Art was excited during this show to see results (view graph) from Princeton University over a mass consciousness experiment [MCE] he conducted the night before [on his talk radio show].
[This is the] Random Number Generator Experiment Graph of results from Thursday's (10-18-01) experiment. Provided by Dean Radin.
Gulf Oil Spill + 2012 = A Raising of Human Consciousness
The latest science informs us that Human consciousness and the physical world can no longer be regarded as distinct, separate entities. This was demonstrated anecdotally years ago by late-night radio talk show host Art Bell, who conducted a series of mass consciousness experiments [MCEs] in the 1990s. Art asked his million-plus person audience to all focus at the same moment on a clock he had placed in his studio, and to imagine that the clock would slow down. Indeed, the clock lost time. At other times he had his audience focus on bringing rain to particular cities. It rained each time. He stopped the experiments after his audience steered a hurricane away from its expected path, only to have it veer into another populated area and do damage. These experiments became known as the ‘Art Bell' Effect.
Amit Goswami
Amit Goswami is a theoretical nuclear physicist and member of The University of Oregon Institute for Theoretical Physics since 1968, teaching physics for 32 years. ... In contrast to materialistic conventional science, he claims that universal consciousness, not matter, is the ground of all existence, in congruence with mystic sages. ... Once the assumption that there is an objective reality independent of consciousness is put aside, the paradoxes of quantum physics are explainable, according to Goswami.
OK, maybe that's too mystical for you. So, getting back down to Earth, there are various other ways a tweet could make a difference:
* an idea that is inspiring or illuminating or comforting
* a reference to something, such as a book, an organization, a movement, etc
* advice or information that is helpful for individuals to make the most of their lives
* important information that people should know about their world
* advocacy of a belief
* a call to action
My post from yesterday may provide some inspiration too: It will soon be Friday 11/11/11 11:11 am.
Though several tweets may come to your mind, this hypothetical opportunity allows only one to be sent. Of course, you could choose to skip the opportunity too. In one of the quotes that I copied above, it was mentioned that Art Bell conducted MCEs (mass consciousness experiments) a few times on his radio show, with impactful results for bringing rain to areas suffering from drought. Yet, it had unintended consequences, and so he stopped doing these experiments out of fear of accidentally causing serious harm.
So, to tweet or not to tweet, and what to tweet, and why this one and not another tweet, and to what end this tweet, and whatever else you'd like to tweet about the idea of a sending the whole world a tweet.