Why do we say that the sum of knowledge is now organized by the cosmos and not the circle? Because instead of a one-dimensional text or even a hypertext network, we now have a dynamic and interactive multidimensional representational space. Instead of the conjunction of image and text, characteristic of the encyclopedia, the cosmopedia combines a large number of different types of expression: static images, video, sound, interactive simulation, interactive maps, expert systems, dynamic ideographs, virtual reality, artificial life, etc. At its extreme the cosmopedia contains as many semiotics and types of representation as exist int he world itself. The cosmopedia multiplies nondiscursive utterances.
— Lévy, Pierre. Collective Intelligence. Mankind’s Emerging World in Cyberspace. Trans. Bononno, Robert. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1997.
