Have the organizers of today's Virtual March on Washington read Howard Rheingold's book SmartMobs? It is possible, but more likely is that Howard saw the signs on the interwall before us. Although, if I remember correctly his prediction was, that the Christian Coalition is so organized, that they will be the first ones to use these techniques. Thinking about it, they probably do, just below my radar screen.
You will be able to ask Howard Rheingold all about it at our next Futurist Salon, where he will introduce the book as well as answer questions. You can also check the SmartMobs weblog. Mark your calendar: Friday the 21st of March Barnes and Noble bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center San Mateo 7-9pm. (Map although the star is slightly misleading, the store is right at the El Camino across the Caltrain station.)
Equally interesting will be our April Futurist Salon:
"Genetic and evolutionary computation" will be the theme that Mike Korns will prepare.
His companies Korns Associates/Invest by Agent live and breath these things, see this excerpt from their webpage: "...R&D company that develops and uses sophisticated agent technology to build artificial intelligence applications for securities analysis and stock ranking"
The basis will be the book Emergence from Steven Johnson. If you are really interested in this area Mike also suggested "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World" by Kevin T. Kelly. He will use these books as an intro to what's happening in the world of self-programming software. Can't wait.