The Development of Universal Consciousness

[Debrule1]

I first like to say that I'm excited that there is a place where people like-minded can share ideas and theories. Most people that hear me babbling on about my theories are either too intoxicated or just don't really care. Is just that certain things seem inevitable to me and are forming around us as we speak and are definitely,in my mind, going to happen within the next 10-20 years (or as fast our government will let us do it). So I'm new here, glad to meet everyone, let's get on to my latest idea.....

First of all, we all agree that the development of technology, as well as our understanding of our own personal brain and DNA, is developing exponentially. It's safe to say that if you are already a member of this website, then you would agree that our brain is basically an amazing computer that we have yet to learn even the most basic things about, such as defining consciousness. I see our brain and artificial intelligence complementing each other in amazing ways over the next few years. But what then? And what does it all mean?

Once upon a time there were individual computers they could talk to each other and message each other and play games on, but they're very limited in there functionality because they weren't connected via the World Wide Web. I'm picturing the human species following the same example. I don't see anything getting in the way of us uploading material into our brains and otherwise "tuning it up". This will come at a expensive price I'm sure ($999.99 for fluent French lol?) until information sharing is available.......sound firmiliar ? Remember music and movies before limeWire? And Internet of sorts would follow only instead of computers it would be with us this would mean telepathy, sharing information, sharing thoughts, emotions, everything (until "signing off"). This would be a breakthrough in humankind and human consciousness and would even require a new calendar (AUC....after universal consciousness?) opposed to BC or AD. But when dealing with 7 Billion Conscious minds connected consciously sharing info, and above all else, sharing emotions, what you would get would be much, MUCH more substantial then the worldwide web. There is a plant that grows on the bottom of the ocean, I'm not really sure of the name, but it sprouts out many smaller versions of itself which all have their own consciousness separate from its beginning body but all connected still. By becoming one conscious and building one consciousness through a technological evolution breakthrough, you would in a sense be creating a God of sorts. Because once we all share 7 billion brains together why would any of us went to go back to our own lonely old body and disconnect, or go "off-line". I think we would meld together in a way of sorts that I couldn't even imagine nor could any one of us lonely brains possibly fathom, but to 7 billion brains it would be common sense. Perhaps that is the point all of this. Perhaps the rest of the universe is just waiting for us to come to a point where we can all come together as one, so that we can join the greater galactic, well, you can use your imagination. Now it was nice that we got to practice integrating hardware first via the computers and the internet, but it did little to evolve mankind. Doing relatively the same thing with out own minds? Creating God? Maybe it's been done before, and that "singular consciousness" divided itself up into billions of souls with human body's to play act some kind of puzzle to bring us back to the "singularity" as I call it. Many religions and philosophies even back up this idea, saying we are all sons of god and we're created in his form. Perhaps we are already molded together on a higher level, only "logged off" and the only ones logged on are the souls living in higher realms, like angels or whatever you want to call them. Maybe we "log on" when we die and he'll is being "logged off" for eternity, as the bible describes it as "disconnected from god (the singularity) for eternity. While it's a given that we will understand our brains as much/more than computers to tune them up, a given that we will connect them as one, what's not a given and what I want to here some theories about is what happens then? GENTLEMEN DISCUSS!!

.

[hypervalent_iodine]

!

Moderator Note

Welcome to the forum, Debrule.

 

Since this isn't suited to philosophy, I am moving your thread to Speculations. Please be aware that your idea, which poses a scientific question, will require adequate explanation of the science behind it as well as evidence of what led you to your idea. With that in mind, I would further advise that you probably want to keep your thread at a distance from the supernatural, God, etc., for the purposes of discussion, as these do not fall under the category of 'adequate explanation' when it comes to your overall idea. We are a science forum, after all.

 

Secondly, please try and break your text up into paragraphs. It's hard enough to have to read a lot of text without it also being a solid wall of words.

 

Finally, do not respond to this mod note in the thread. If you have a problem with it, report it or PM a member of staff.

 

[Moontanman]

I first like to say that I'm excited that there is a place where people like-minded can share ideas and theories. Most people that hear me babbling on about my theories are either too intoxicated or just don't really care. Is just that certain things seem inevitable to me and are forming around us as we speak and are definitely,in my mind, going to happen within the next 10-20 years (or as fast our government will let us do it). So I'm new here, glad to meet everyone, let's get on to my latest idea.....

First of all, we all agree that the development of technology, as well as our understanding of our own personal brain and DNA, is developing exponentially. It's safe to say that if you are already a member of this website, then you would agree that our brain is basically an amazing computer that we have yet to learn even the most basic things about, such as defining consciousness. I see our brain and artificial intelligence complementing each other in amazing ways over the next few years. But what then? And what does it all mean?

Once upon a time there were individual computers they could talk to each other and message each other and play games on, but they're very limited in there functionality because they weren't connected via the World Wide Web. I'm picturing the human species following the same example. I don't see anything getting in the way of us uploading material into our brains and otherwise "tuning it up". This will come at a expensive price I'm sure ($999.99 for fluent French lol?) until information sharing is available.......sound firmiliar ? Remember music and movies before limeWire? And Internet of sorts would follow only instead of computers it would be with us this would mean telepathy, sharing information, sharing thoughts, emotions, everything (until "signing off"). This would be a breakthrough in humankind and human consciousness and would even require a new calendar (AUC....after universal consciousness?) opposed to BC or AD. But when dealing with 7 Billion Conscious minds connected consciously sharing info, and above all else, sharing emotions, what you would get would be much, MUCH more substantial then the worldwide web. There is a plant that grows on the bottom of the ocean, I'm not really sure of the name, but it sprouts out many smaller versions of itself which all have their own consciousness separate from its beginning body but all connected still. By becoming one conscious and building one consciousness through a technological evolution breakthrough, you would in a sense be creating a God of sorts. Because once we all share 7 billion brains together why would any of us went to go back to our own lonely old body and disconnect, or go "off-line". I think we would meld together in a way of sorts that I couldn't even imagine nor could any one of us lonely brains possibly fathom, but to 7 billion brains it would be common sense. Perhaps that is the point all of this. Perhaps the rest of the universe is just waiting for us to come to a point where we can all come together as one, so that we can join the greater galactic, well, you can use your imagination. Now it was nice that we got to practice integrating hardware first via the computers and the internet, but it did little to evolve mankind. Doing relatively the same thing with out own minds? Creating God? Maybe it's been done before, and that "singular consciousness" divided itself up into billions of souls with human body's to play act some kind of puzzle to bring us back to the "singularity" as I call it. Many religions and philosophies even back up this idea, saying we are all sons of god and we're created in his form. Perhaps we are already molded together on a higher level, only "logged off" and the only ones logged on are the souls living in higher realms, like angels or whatever you want to call them. Maybe we "log on" when we die and he'll is being "logged off" for eternity, as the bible describes it as "disconnected from god (the singularity) for eternity. While it's a given that we will understand our brains as much/more than computers to tune them up, a given that we will connect them as one, what's not a given and what I want to here some theories about is what happens then? GENTLEMEN DISCUSS!!

.

 

 

The speed of light would pretty much prohibit that wouldn't it?

[Gees]

Debrule 1:

 

You have considered some interesting ideas, but I doubt that you will get much discussion on them here. Your idea of relating consciousness to computers and the internet is very much like Daniel Dennet's explanation in his book, Consciousness Explained. I have not read Dennet's book, but you might find it interesting, and it may even answer some of your questions.

 

Philosophers have long studied the concept of consciousness, and tried to determine if it comes to us or from us and whether or not it is universal. But there are very few people here, at this forum, who understand philosophy, so you will not get your discussion here. If you send me a PM, I will be happy to recommend some Philosophy forums that may better suit your purposes.

 

Regarding the supernatural; religion picks and chooses which "supernatural" that it wants to recognize, modern philosophy seems to be scared of it, and science won't even acknowledge it, so be careful to not fling this word around. (chuckle)

 

G

[Moontanman]

Debrule 1:

 

You have considered some interesting ideas, but I doubt that you will get much discussion on them here. Your idea of relating consciousness to computers and the internet is very much like Daniel Dennet's explanation in his book, Consciousness Explained. I have not read Dennet's book, but you might find it interesting, and it may even answer some of your questions.

If you haven't read it how can you justify asserting what the book says?

 

Philosophers have long studied the concept of consciousness, and tried to determine if it comes to us or from us and whether or not it is universal. But there are very few people here, at this forum, who understand philosophy, so you will not get your discussion here. If you send me a PM, I will be happy to recommend some Philosophy forums that may better suit your purposes.

Read that as "not many people agree with me on what philosophy is or should be...

 

Regarding the supernatural; religion picks and chooses which "supernatural" that it wants to recognize, modern philosophy seems to be scared of it, and science won't even acknowledge it, so be careful to not fling this word around. (chuckle)

 

G

How can science recognize something that cannot be measured Gees?

[DevilSolution]

Having control of your own biochemistry would be awesome, from a scientific perspective we've got to understand we can only process so much data (visual, audio, conceptual etc) and over stimulation would probably be detrimental. I'm not exactly how sure how an organism would react to itself in such a light.

[tar]

Debrule1,

 

There is a generational difference (baby boomer, genx, geny, millenials) amoungst the various consciousnesses that make up the 8 billion currently on the planet. There are religious and philosophical differences, there are intelligence differences, level of knowledge and introspection, leaders and followers...already.

 

Technological advances on how brains can connect and share information will not result in an automatically good or workable situation. Everybody is not going to want to do what you want to do. That is to say, if you are unhappy about something going on in the collective consciousness...will you be allowed to "disconnect"?

 

As Moontanman suggests, the speed of light insulates us from two way communication in a reasonable, workable time frame, from things in this universe that are more than say 100 yrs away. It would be difficult to be a pen pal with somebody that was contacted by your dead grandfather, who responds to you, and you answer back to their grandchildren. People might get a little impatient and choose rather to talk to their next door neighbor.

 

Also, consider the Borg on star trek. The captain did not wish to remain a Borg, and chose rather to be disconnected from that particular common mind. I don't think that your vision of the future is going to pan out, in a total love, John Lennon imagine type of way, primarily because to be a human, requires a certian focal point, a sense of unique position in space and time, that is by it very nature separate from everything else, yet connected to, and reliant upon it.

 

Plus, there are stupid things that happen with unattended technology, when a particular actual combination of events is not forseen or planned. Unintended consequences. Let's say for instance, your life savings is in Bitcoin, and you lose the key. Or somebody decides to create a subnet collective consciousness, and only allow people with IQs over 130 to join, and your's is 129, so you decide to create a subnet collective consciousness for people under 130, but find the collective consciousness cloud server is controlled by the people in the above 130 group, and they won't give you access, and you are not smart enough, or rich enough, or knowledgable enough to build your own servers.

 

We may well find criminal behavior or hurtful behaviour accentuated right along with loving and sharing behavior, by any advances in the technology that can link minds. And even if 90 percent of us are trustworthy and kind, it would only take a few numbnuts to foul up the works.

 

Or one misguided soul to fly a digital plane full of people, into a digital World Trade Center.

 

Additionally, there is, and has been a tendency for technology to raise new moral questions, that it takes time to talk out and work through. Lets say for instance that our collective consciousness takes a vote, and decides the place would work better if there were only 5 billion people alive on the Earth, at a time and started selecting the kind and number of people that should be allowed to reproduce, and who should get the most bandwidth on the braingrid, and so forth...we would pretty much, most likely wind up with some of the same kinds of problems we currently have, with powersharing, and eliteism and so-forth, it would just be operating on a different level.

 

Take "Hunger Games" as an indicator of what kind of situation might develop. There most likely would be some disenfrancised group or another revolting AGAINST the Borg... or at least finding a "better way" to live, without it.

 

AND the thought about evolution that I did not complete, was that evolution itself, in the physical, brain chemistry, organism structure sense, takes generations to achieve, and can not keep up with a logoristically accellerating technology. I for instance am not very good at multi-tasking. I have enough trouble remembering where I left the hammer...I don't think I could handle the thoughts and emotions of 8 billion others, with all these unfamiliar hormones and ideas and wills and desires coming into my consciousness simultaneously. And I am rather sure, that NOBODY is built for that.

 

Regards, TAR2

Just pick the person in the world you hate the most, and consider having to share your consciousness with that individual, and millions of others of "like mind" as that... doesn't sound to me like a completely workable situation.

At least now, when the Jehovah Witness rings the door bell, you can choose not to answer.

 

And who wants to be mind linked with rapists and mass murderers and insane people, and bigots and drug addicts, and liars and thiefs and so forth?

[tar]

Now that the original post is listed under speculations, and the original poster's persona has been banned for inappropriate, deceiptful behavour, and the topic retitled to be approached from a more general, objective viewpoint, I would like to add this...

 

The development of Universal consciousness is probably ruled out by the extent of space and time, as one portion of the current universe, has no way to instantly acknowledge or embrace or become "one" with that which is occurring elsewhere, or that has already occurred, or that has not yet occurred...other than in the kind of ways, already that the universe has of interacting...over time and space.

 

So with "universal" in the total sense subtantially ruled out, the discussion might be better addressed or held in that locally universal sense that we use the word. As in "universal grammar" or universally accepted...meaning basically within the universe of humans that any one of us has contact with, knowledge of or is within some actual causal distance of. In this regard it might be better thought of as a "collective consciousness" we are considering the development of, which is a possible consideration, as opposed to an overacrhing, impossible singular type mind or consciousness...which does not seem, under the circumstances of the universe being such as it is, to be possible, in any way other than is already manefest.

 

And at this level of considering universal consciousness, I would argue that the developement of such is already underway and apparent in the human species, and has exhibited itself in the forms of the ways we collectively interact and behave, hope and dream...already.

 

Things such as the secrets of the Vedas, religious tenants, the idea of all being part of, and responsible to one God or set of universal physical principles, rules, morays, conventions, and even the development of the scientific community and peer reviewed collective knowledge...point to the fact that such collective consciousness, as is possible, is already underway, We already are aware, or conscious of others, and have built and mantained and adjusted institutions and instituted procedures and protocols to work together in a collective fashion.

 

We already have language and use it, to share and record our collective experiences. Our minds are already thusly linked.

 

Technology itself though is a tool. It can not be created without human judgement, or used without human judgement, or be used in such a way, as to negate human judgment, or replace human judgement...or there would be no human reason for it to exist.

 

Got an iPad mini for my 60th birthday, so I could join the 21st century. Put the Tango app on and had to give it rights to my e-mail contacts, and had to turn on "location" to use it. It was then able to call my daughter's phone, which also had the Tango app on it...it was a little creepy, as that I never gave it my daughter's phone number... and a bunch of pictures of people I do not know or have any reason to know, came up on my daughter's screen.

 

I have not yet caught up with the 21st century, and am of the opinion that technology that puts more things under your control, also puts many more things out of your control. This is not necessarily a workable and desireable situation...but we will see how it goes.

 

Regards, TAR2

[tar]

And who is not currently racking their brain to come up with the perfect presents to give their loved ones...that will show them how much they are considered welcome to everything you have? This "connection" between people, is already apparent, and palpably so, in the Holiday season that is upon us, here in the U.S.

[Moontanman]

And who is not currently racking their brain to come up with the perfect presents to give their loved ones...that will show them how much they are considered welcome to everything you have? This "connection" between people, is already apparent, and palpably so, in the Holiday season that is upon us, here in the U.S.

BAH Humbug...