Global swarm is in some ways a more apt metaphor for modern, 'wired' life than is global village or global network . Ironically, the individual inhabitants of the 'global village' seem to be in a position only to think and act locally, rather than globally, and putting their faith in the hope that their individual blind wanderings will nevertheless, through communion with others, lead to knowledge on the level of the swarm. Swarm intelligence and positive power Peirce's theory of the dialogic nature of knowing emphasizes that it is not some 'thing' or state but rather a form of doing, as expressed in his pragmatic maxim. Knowing, which requires collaborative interaction, is an exercise in power and control rather than some objective debate or discussion about what the world is like among swarming semiotic agents. Power is not primarily repressive, but productive.
Power is analyzed as coming from the bottom up.
Disciplining technologies are attractive because they offer increased levels of expertise or skills in exchange for submission to group consensus about the status of 'reality'. The interpretive skills involved in the family's table, culinary and conversational etiquette provide the individual with tools for 'doing their knowing' both in the family circle and outside it and hence promise enhanced control and power.