Portrait of Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Computer Scientist
Born: June 8, 1955

Tim Berners-Lee is a British computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, a revolutionary system that transformed how information is shared and accessed globally. Born in London, he studied physics at the University of Oxford. In 1989, while working at CERN, Berners-Lee proposed a system for managing information using hypertext, which led to the development of the first web browser and server in 1990. He launched the first website in 1991.

Berners-Lee’s vision was to create a universal information medium accessible to everyone, which he achieved by making the web’s foundational technologies—HTML, HTTP, and URLs—available royalty-free. In 1994, he founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to establish open web standards, ensuring its ongoing evolution and accessibility.

In addition to his technical contributions, Berners-Lee has been a vocal advocate for internet freedom, privacy, and data sovereignty. He has received numerous accolades, including a knighthood in 2004, the Turing Award in 2016, and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2021. His ongoing work includes initiatives like the Solid project, aimed at decentralizing web data and empowering individuals with control over their online information.

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Mentioned in 3 documents

Francis Heylighen and David Sloan Wilson

Glimpsing the Global Brain

Complex systems theorist Heylighen and evolutionary biologist Wilson discuss a possible phase transition of humanity in which the members of our species become neurons in a planetary brain, utilizing the Internet as a shared exocortex.

Shima Beigi and Francis Heylighen

Noospheric Consciousness

The world-wide web has been conceptualized as a global brain for humanity due to its neural network-like organization. To determine whether this global brain could exhibit features associated with consciousness, we review three neuroscientific theories of consciousness: information integration, adaptive resonance and global workspace. These theories propose that conscious states are characterized by a globally circulating, resonant pattern of activity that is sufficiently coherent to be examined and reflected upon. We then propose a correspondence between this notion and Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the noosphere as a forum for collective thinking, and explore some implications of this self-organizing dynamics for the evolution of shared, global understanding.

Francis Heylighen and Marta Lenartowicz

The Global Brain as a Model of the Future Information Society

The Global Brain paradigm views the emerging global information network connecting humans and technology as a nervous system for Earth's social superorganism. This special issue surveys opportunities and challenges in developing this potentially more intelligent, synergetic system. Contributions explore political, economic, and philosophical aspects, aiming to guide the transition towards a sustainable society empowering diversity.