Hello Quality Focussers,
David L.Thomas wrote in answering my request to
give a more detailed discription of his
imagination of the 'gobal brain':
Johannes:
And I felt that
question was always very close to the giant in
chapter 17 of lila, which I couldn't get out of my
mind for so long.The resulting idea was the
'global brain'. Seeing billions of people
communicating via world wide information networks
( just like we do!). I would call every man inside
this network a neuron, the network the synapses of
that brain.
DLT:
>To get a glimpse of what the "Global Brain" might
be like the best source now
>is science fiction. "The Bohr Maker" by Linda
Nagata frames a scenario that
>would be technologically possible in a 100 years
or so. Basic components are a
>implanted wireless computer/cell phone, with
brain controllable input &
>output, and real time communication with
virtually reality capabilities to
>people and computers who are similarly equipped.
Throw in a global satelite
>network with full spectrum imaging, a little
artifical intelligence,make it a
>human right to have certain basic services for
"free" and you have the makings
>of the "Global Brain" with unintented
consequences enough to jump a level or
>cripple the first four.
IMO, a new level (L5), and I can see it in other
Focussers posts too, a new level is just coming!
Evolution of Quality doesn't asks us to come with
it, neither it is dependent on us (human beings).
So when L5 is coming of age, when the time has
come (sounds a bit religious, isn't it), so to
say, the evolution in terms of higher Quality,
chooses the creature to carry this out, assumingly
the one with the highest mature in every concerns.
It is right, that man is the carrier of the
intellectual level, thus likely to play a mighty
role in the ongoing of the evolution of quality.
It is going to happen to us! It is not like:
'Well, what about building a nice little L5 today,
there are a few hours left with nothing to do!'.
What is irritating in some of your posts too, is
that slightly anthropocentric point of view. Man
is NOT the creator of the beginning of the first
primitive organism (that's obvious, I guess), nor
is he the creator of any other level. From
nowadays point of view, man is the highest form of
evolution, but what can we say about, what's going
to happen in the future. Man is not necessarely an
active part of the next level and what's coming
afterwards. You may say: ' yes, of course this is
obvious!'. But the way the discussion comes out by
now, it is looking to me quite much that way.
In that sense, I want my post to be seen! We may
not conciously work in a direction of global
communication, we may not even see it, that we are
part of something very big, very new. It has not
to be seen as technocratic, planned communication
DLT is describing in his post. I don't think,
that some sort of underclass human being is
serving a powerful technocratic comitee! Again
there is the system! There is no system in the
sense of a secret organisation, which is doing bad
things to us, it is just a kind of metastructure,
coming amidst of our societys, it is something
different, something bigger than man itself.
Pirsig tells us about this in chapter 17. He uses
the well known (to us) metaphor of the two red
blood cells asking each other: 'Will there ever
be a higher form of evolution than us?' (Chp
17-PB,pg250/HB,~ pg220).
Bodvar:
I don't agree at all, with your opinion, that this
is only a metaphor. More about this later.
But the way people communicate via internet seems
to me much different of the communication we used
to have before internet has come. People get to
know about many other people, especially what
they(others) think. Strictly speaking, the get to
know other people almost exclusively by their
thinkings. They get to know about other peoples
value patterns. What is not getting exchanged
between them, is smell of their body, colour of
skin, knowledge of their social status, knowledge
of the amount of money they have, the way the are
clothed and things like that (one could count up a
lot more of that kind). Communicating via internet
gives a lot more space to real, important
(intellectual) messages, than it is possible in
reality. What I was counting up before, is merely
part of the social level, but it is no
contradiction to my argumentation. We are not at
the end of the intellectual level, we are not in
the middle of it, we are at the beginning of it.
Roughly I would estimate in the sense of
scientific (SOM) thinking (these are our tools, we
have no others, or do you have?), the time that
has gone since the beginning of the intellectual
level is less, than the time that is left until
the intellectual level ends up. It won't be a
sharp or sudden transition to L5, that's clear.
But nevertheless it could be seen in hindsight.
It's going to be obvious afterwards. L5 is no
impossibility of thought, indeed, no matter if we
can recognize it or not. Therefore everything we
do in specualating about L5 is a bit of science
fiction, I may say. So I see no reason in not
evolving 'exotic' ideas. I don't consider my ideas
more exotic, than the idea of the integration of
subconcious processes into rational thinking,
which is truely an important approach in thinking
about L5.
DLT:
I must admid my last post not being a thoroughly
elborate, but I claim the right to make spontanous
proposals like that. I had the slightly feeling,
you did not answer me request seriously. If that
is the case, I interpret your answer in the sense
of: ' Don't bother me with your childtalk!'. What
we are doing here is always a little bit like
brainstorming, and I may remind you of one of the
principles of brainstorming: Be Fair! :-)
So long, JoVo
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:03:36 BST