Nature Loves Complexity

1998

Workshop
Added 3 weeks ago
01:14:40 8,114 4

A Symbiotic View of Life: We Have Never Been Individuals

2012

For animals, as well as plants, there have never been individuals. This new paradigm for biology asks new questions and seeks new relationships among the different living entities on Earth. We are all lichens.

Article
Added 3 weeks ago
6,699 16

Ubuntu and the Law in South Africa

1998

While difficult to define, the concept of ubuntu is worth preserving and adapting to modern South African society.

Article
Added 6 weeks ago
2,751 6

Reflection of Energy

1952

Published in Revue des Questions Scientifiques, and later in Activation of Energy.

Essay
Added 11 weeks ago
5,323 13

Simulation, Consciousness, Existence

1998

Like organisms evolved in gentle tide pools, who migrate to freezing oceans or steaming jungles by developing metabolisms, mechanisms, and behaviors workable in those harsher and vaster environments, our descendants, able to change their representations at will, may develop means to venture far from the comfortable realms we consider reality into arbitrarily strange worlds. Their techniques will be as meaningless to us as bicycles are to fish, but perhaps we can stretch our common-sense-hobbled imaginations enough to peer a short distance into this odd territory.

Article
Added 12 weeks ago
7,287 10

The Global Superorganism: An Evolutionary-Cybernetic Model of the Emerging Network Society

2002

The organismic view of society is updated by incorporating concepts from cybernetics, evolutionary theory, and complex adaptive systems. Global society can be seen as an autopoietic network of self-producing components, and therefore as a living system or “superorganism”. Published in the Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems.

Research Article
Added 16 weeks ago
20,128 31

The Global Brain as an Emergent Structure from the Worldwide Computing Network

1994

We propose that the existence of a globally and tightly connected network of computer workstations such as the Internet can lead to the emergence of a globally self-organized structure which we refer to as the Global Brain. Published 1995 in The Information Society, Volume 11, Number 1.

Research Article
Added 18 weeks ago
11,592 8

A Crisis in Consciousness

1995

Terence argues that a solution to our collective planetary crisis has emerged, and it lies in a commitment to shamanistic, feminized, cybernetic, and caring forms of being—to take what each of us is in our very best moments and extend it to fill whole lifetimes.

Workshop
Added 19 weeks ago
53:02 6,202 10

Computing Machinery and Intelligence

1950

Computing Machinery and Intelligence is a seminal paper written by Alan Turing on the topic of artificial intelligence. The paper, published in 1950 in Mind, was the first to introduce his concept of what is now known as the Turing test to the general public.

Article
Added 23 weeks ago
11,942 5

The Theory of the Organism-Environment System

1998

In any functional sense, organism and environment are inseparable and form only one unitary system. The organism cannot exist without the environment, and the environment has descriptive properties only if it is connected to the organism. Separation of organism and environment cannot be the basis of any scientific explanation of human behavior. The theory leads to a reinterpretation of basic problems in many fields of inquiry and makes possible the definition of mental phenomena without their reduction either to neural or biological activity or to separate mental functions. According to the theory, mental activity is activity of the whole organism-environment system, and the traditional psychological concepts describe only different aspects of organization of this system.

Research Article
Added 28 weeks ago
31,743 50

Tao Te Ching

506 B.C.E.

Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Te Ching is one of the true classics of spiritual literature. It is a guide to cultivating a life of peace, serenity, and compassion. Through aphorisms and parable, it leads readers toward the Tao, or the “Way”: harmony with the life force of the universe. (This version was translated/interpreted by Stephen Mitchell in 1988.)

Classic Literature
6,523 1 128

Arcology: The City In The Image Of Man

1969

Visionary architect Paolo Soleri challenges us to think of cities as biological entities, and introduces a new urban living philosophy: the arcology, a city-sized organism of a thousand minds designed to exist in harmony with nature. Split into two sections, the book first explains the moral and economic necessity for humanity’s transition to arcological urban landscapes, and proposes that the general purpose of life is aesthetogenesis: the universe progressively complexifying and interconnecting, consciously reshaping itself into compassionate structures. In the second section, Soleri showcases 30 potential arcologies (including one space habitat) through the use of incredibly detailed diagrams, and explains how each was carefully designed to integrate itself economically and ecologically into the world.

Book
42,122 15 23

Spectrum of Love

1969

Lecture
26:54 3,576 3 20

Do You Do It Or Does It Do You?

Alan explores the meaning of personal free will in the context of core tenets in Eastern mythology: how is it possible to control anything when preexisting conditions outside of our influence determine our present situation? It is a realization of the hidden unity behind our apparent diversity and a relinquishing of obsessive control that enables us to unlock a pathway leading out of the conundrum and towards a celebration and reverence of life.

Seminar
02:37:23 19,089 24 19

Out Of Your Mind 01: The Nature of Consciousness (Part 1)

1969

Seminar
01:02:39 8,134 9 17

The Joker

One of Alan’s most popular seminars, and for good reason—in The Joker, listeners will find out why every society needs fools in order to remind itself not to take life so damn seriously.

Seminar
03:08:18 20,436 15 17

Out Of Your Mind 02: The Nature of Consciousness (Part 2)

1969

Seminar
01:03:55 8,270 16 16

Mr. X

1969

Written under the pseudonym Mr. X to avoid the heavy social stigma associated with marijuana consumption at the time, Carl Sagan documented his personal experiences with cannabis in this essay in order to dispel common misconceptions about the drug. It was later published in the 1971 book Marihuana Reconsidered by Lester Grinspoon. Sagan enjoyed cannabis on a regular basis for the rest of his life, but never spoke of it publicly.

Essay
2,946 7 15

Essential Lectures 07: Work and Play

1972

Alan Watts swirls an orange on a string and shoots an arrow high into the air before explaining why the art of living is being paid to play–and to the extent that we feel compelled to work and survive, life becomes a drag.

Television Episode
28:39 3,517 5 15

The Psychedelic Explosion

Alan talks about the upcoming revolution in which Western society will have to come to grips with the existence of the psychedelic/mystical experience, and how to integrate it into our culture in a productive, fulfilling, and responsible manner. Included are personal recollections of DMT and LSD trips experienced by Watts himself, why the utilization of psychedelic drugs should be seen as a tool, his vision of a psychedelic campus for guided mystical experiences, and why prohibition is doomed to failure.

Lecture
03:51:11 27,706 26 14