The Computational Boundary of a “Self”: Developmental Bioelectricity Drives Multicellularity and Scale-Free Cognition

2019

All epistemic agents physically consist of parts that must somehow comprise an integrated cognitive self. Biological individuals consist of subunits (organs, cells, and molecular networks) that are themselves complex and competent in their own native contexts. How do coherent biological Individuals result from the activity of smaller sub-agents?

Research Article
Added 3 days ago
15,248 6

Light of the Third Millennium

1997

A presentation held during the Whole Life Expo at Palmer Auditorium.

Workshop
Added 5 weeks ago
01:21:54 9,550 12

Building The Earth

1965

A visionary and hopeful book on humanity's future relationship to the planet from which it arose, with paragraphs arranged in verse and interspersed with delicate graphic illustrations. Published posthumously ten years after Teilhard's passing.

Book
Added 8 weeks ago
3

Nature Loves Complexity

1998

Workshop
Added 13 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 13 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 16 weeks ago
2,751 6

Reflection of Energy

1952

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

Essay
Added 21 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 22 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 26 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 27 weeks ago
11,592 8

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 123

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 53

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

1969

Seminar
01:02:39 8,134 9 27

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 27

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 25

Out Of Your Mind 03: The Web Of Life (Part 1)

Seminar
56:16 6,308 6 21

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

1969

Seminar
01:03:55 8,270 17 20

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

1966

Aimed specifically at young people, this hour-long, soft-spoken piece explores Leary's early research into LSD in New York and Mexico, how new ideas spread throughout society over the course of generations, his vision of a future society in which the psychedelic experience is revered and respected, the effects of marijuana, and how seekers can launch their own journey to tune in, turn on, and drop out of the modern rat race.

Speech
59:28 4,855 8 19

Conscious Evolution: Our Next Stage

2015

Presented at the 2015 International Forum on Consciousness, Barbara explored the ideas of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the possibilty of humanity gradually giving birth to a new planetary-scale consciousness, which she called Homo universalis.

Lecture
01:00:26 7,392 6 16

Essential Lectures 12: Conversation With Myself

1971

While walking in a field above Muir Woods, Alan Watts points to humankind's attempts to straighten out a wiggly world as the root of our ecological crisis.

Television Episode
27:59 3,122 13 13