I am not sure if this site is the right place to ask this question but I believe this is the closest that stack exchange has to offer, so I am posting it here. The human brain is a complex organ consisting of around 86 billion neurons and trillions of synapse. In addition, the brain is organized into specialized structures that monitor and control certain activities. This scale and structure somehow give rise to the emergent property of consciousness that none of the individual neurons possess. However, this sort of structure and complexity is also seen in society as a whole. If each person could be considered equivalent to a neuron, society has around 7 billion neurons and with the advent of social media, we are more globally connected now than ever before. Humans are also capable of performing astronomically more complex calculations and communication than individual neurons. This seems pretty similar in size to animal brains and far superior in computation and functioning than the human brain. Society also shows large scale organization as people are divided into different professions and sectors.
Therefore, it seems like society as a whole should possess some form of "consciousness" (or some property which we as constituents cannot perceive or understand).
Has this idea ever been researched scientifically within either neuroscience or social science? I could not find any papers on this topic.
In addition, is it a valid idea that could theoretically be supported by established neuroscience and cognitive science?
