SpaceweaverTue, Jun 10, 2008 Wikipedia about the Noosphere:
In the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere can be seen as the "sphere of human thought" being derived from the Greek νούς ("nous") meaning "mind" + σφαίρα (sfaira) meaning "sphere", in the style of "atmosphere" and "biosphere". In the original theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere...
For Teilhard, the noosphere is best described as a sort of 'collective consciousness' of human-beings. It emerges from the interaction of human minds. The noosphere has grown in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. As mankind organizes itself in more complex social networks, the higher the noosphere will grow in awareness. This is an extension of Teilhard's Law of Complexity/Consciousness, the law describing the nature of evolution in the universe. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, added that the noosphere is growing towards an even greater integration and unification, culminating in the Omega Point—which he saw as the goal of history.
I find Teilhard de Chardin's vision of the Noosphere, highly resonating with the mind habitat you write about. In the grand evolutionary scheme, I see very clearly the emergence of the Infosphere as the new vehicle of the Mind. At the moment it might seem remote and perhaps insubstantial, for how could a vast network of lifeless machines, as much as it is fascinating become alive, how much less conscious? However, as I try to see beyond the confinement of our immediate conceptual horizon, I see an intelligent pattern that evolves, and right here right now, this pattern is us. Us, as the individual minds that we are, us as the collective human mind that we are, and us as in the emergence of a conscious intelligent universe.
The whole complex story of our species can be told in the succession of images that we carried, the way we envisioned ourselves and the way we envisioned our future. Most influential of all was and still is, is the way we answered, mostly implicitly and rarely explicitly, the question: What is a human? What is the essential meaning of being human?
It seems that we are about to give new answers to this very question. We are about to reinvent ourselves and reshape our reality according to a far reaching vision. For me, doing just this, being just this, is the essentiality of being human.
In the course of human history, many visions that man has had about herself came and went. Yet, there is one thread, one vision that is ever present and ever recurrent. Some called it mankind’s perennial philosophy (Huxley, Leibnitz to name a few), others refused to give it a name at all. It spells that there is high common factor to all things, immanent and transcendent; that this common factor is consciousness, and in it, there is an infinite potential of creativity and intelligence. And most important perhaps, is that this factor being universal is accessible to all.
Why do I mention this here? Because in the grand scheme, the emergence of the Infosphere as the new habitat of our minds, and the consequent emergence of the Noosphere, are driven by the same profound emotional drive that resonates with and is shaped by this vision. The truthfulness of this philosophy is the truthfulness of dreams and visions. We desire the universe to be like that, not more not less. It is a dream that we have, and such persistent dreams being our true habitat will emerge eventually as our reality.
The Infoverse is a stepping stone, we shape it with the stuff of dreams to become our new habitat, for a while… Until a moment comes where the whole universe becomes home.
Wikipedia about the Noosphere:
I find Teilhard de Chardin's vision of the Noosphere, highly resonating with the mind habitat you write about. In the grand evolutionary scheme, I see very clearly the emergence of the Infosphere as the new vehicle of the Mind. At the moment it might seem remote and perhaps insubstantial, for how could a vast network of lifeless machines, as much as it is fascinating become alive, how much less conscious? However, as I try to see beyond the confinement of our immediate conceptual horizon, I see an intelligent pattern that evolves, and right here right now, this pattern is us. Us, as the individual minds that we are, us as the collective human mind that we are, and us as in the emergence of a conscious intelligent universe.
The whole complex story of our species can be told in the succession of images that we carried, the way we envisioned ourselves and the way we envisioned our future. Most influential of all was and still is, is the way we answered, mostly implicitly and rarely explicitly, the question: What is a human? What is the essential meaning of being human?
It seems that we are about to give new answers to this very question. We are about to reinvent ourselves and reshape our reality according to a far reaching vision. For me, doing just this, being just this, is the essentiality of being human.
In the course of human history, many visions that man has had about herself came and went. Yet, there is one thread, one vision that is ever present and ever recurrent. Some called it mankind’s perennial philosophy (Huxley, Leibnitz to name a few), others refused to give it a name at all. It spells that there is high common factor to all things, immanent and transcendent; that this common factor is consciousness, and in it, there is an infinite potential of creativity and intelligence. And most important perhaps, is that this factor being universal is accessible to all.
Why do I mention this here? Because in the grand scheme, the emergence of the Infosphere as the new habitat of our minds, and the consequent emergence of the Noosphere, are driven by the same profound emotional drive that resonates with and is shaped by this vision. The truthfulness of this philosophy is the truthfulness of dreams and visions. We desire the universe to be like that, not more not less. It is a dream that we have, and such persistent dreams being our true habitat will emerge eventually as our reality.
The Infoverse is a stepping stone, we shape it with the stuff of dreams to become our new habitat, for a while… Until a moment comes where the whole universe becomes home.