LIC 3.03, VUB, Campus Etterbeek, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium & Online
This is in the new “Learning and Innovation Center” (LIC) building in between the VUB and ULB campuses, on the 3rd floor. If you haven’t been in the LIC yet, to get in you will need to tell at the registration desk that you come for the Noosphere Lab.
📅 June 26, 2026, 10:00 to 17:00 CEST
Organized by the School of Thinking of the Center Leo Apostel at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in collaboration with Human Energy (co-sponsor).
Theme
We usually think of intelligence as something that happens inside individual minds. But what if thinking can also emerge between us?
The concept of the noosphere refers to the global network of interactions—linking minds, technologies, and environments—through which knowledge is continuously created and transformed. It is the realm of ideas that circulate around the globe, in media such as books, magazines, websites, and social media posts. One of its most intriguing yet underexplored capacities is collective thinking: the ability of groups to interactively generate ideas, knowledge, and culture, without centralized control. Such collective thinking can be realized by means of stigmergy: the use of a shared medium to record and elaborate an emergent knowledge structure.
The Noosphere Lab is designed to explore this capacity—not only conceptually, but experientially.
Program
Morning: Concepts and foundations
The lab starts with an introduction to the relevant concepts and theories, presented by experts in the domain. If you are not able to participate in this session, you can still participate in the afternoon exercises, but then we ask you to read the attached text with background information about concepts and procedures, so that you understand what is expected of you.
Karin Verelst — The School of Thinking and transdisciplinary inquiry
Clément Vidal — The noosphere: concept, history, and contemporary relevance
Francis Heylighen — Stigmergy and collective intelligence: coordination without control
Afternoon: Collective thinking in action
Participants engage in two stigmergic exercises:
1. Collective storytelling
Collective thinking via stigmergy can be used for creative projects, to generate imaginative, artistic output. To demonstrate these abilities, we co-create a story in real time within a shared writing environment.
Focus:
creativity and imagination
continuity of narrative
causal and temporal coherence
enrichment of detail and atmosphere
Participants may add, modify, or reinterpret any part of the evolving story so as to make it more interesting, engaging or poetic.
2. Collective knowledge building
We collaboratively develop an encyclopedia-style entry on:
“The power of collective thinking in the noosphere”
Focus:
clarity and structure
conceptual coherence
integration of ideas
references and examples
Why participate?
Experience how collective thinking can be used in practice
Discover the dynamics of self-organizing thought
Explore new forms of inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration
Contribute to a shared creative and conceptual outcome
Format
Open to students, researchers, and the broader public
Participation possible on-site or online
Interactive sessions supported by shared digital platforms: Zoom and Google Doc
Limited number of participants (ca. 30) for full interaction
Join the experiment
You can register here for free.
Registered participants will receive a preparation package with background readings and practical instructions, and a link that allows them to participate in the experiment.
