The Global Superorganism (2002)
Francis Paul Heylighen is a Belgian cyberneticist investigating the emergence and evolution of intelligent organization. He presently works as a research professor at the Free University of Brussels, where he directs the transdisciplinary research group on "Evolution, Complexity, and Cognition" and the Global Brain Institute. He is best known for his work on the Principia Cybernetica Project, his model of the Internet as a global brain, and his contributions to the theories of memetics and self-organization. He is also known, albeit to a lesser extent, for his work on gifted people and their problems.
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Date
April 26, 2022
Format
Discussion
Duration
01:30:39
Views
35
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis Heylighen collaborated with Shima Beigi on a research paper about the noosphere’s response to the global crisis, titled Collective Consciousness Supported by the Web: Healthy or Toxic?
Date
September 29, 2021
Format
Discussion
Word Count
10,973
Duration
01:19:03
Quotes
14
Views
237
Complex systems theorist Heylighen and evolutionary biologist Wilson discuss a possible phase transition of humanity in which the members of our species become neurons in a planetary brain, utilizing the Internet as a shared exocortex.
Date
2018
Format
Research Article
Word Count
12,142
Reading time
≈ 1 hour
Views
62
We approach the problem of the extended mind from a radically non-dualist perspective. The separation between mind and matter is an artefact of the outdated mechanistic worldview, which leaves no room for mental phenomena such as agency, intentionality, or feeling. We propose to replace it by an action ontology, which conceives mind and matter as aspects of the same network of processes. By adopting the intentional stance, we interpret the catalysts of elementary reactions as agents exhibiting desires, intentions, and sensations. Autopoietic networks of reactions constitute more complex super-agents, which moreover exhibit memory, deliberation and sense-making. In the specific case of social networks, individual agents coordinate their actions via the propagation of challenges. The distributed cognition that emerges from this interaction cannot be situated in any individual brain. This non-dualist, holistic view extends and operationalises process metaphysics and Eastern philosophies. It is supported by both mindfulness experiences and mathematical models of action, self-organisation, and cognition.
Date
2021
Format
Research Article
Word Count
2,383
Reading time
≈ 13 minutes
Quotes
3
Views
77
The world-wide web has been conceptualized as a global brain for humanity due to its neural network-like organization. To determine whether this global brain could exhibit features associated with consciousness, we review three neuroscientific theories of consciousness: information integration, adaptive resonance and global workspace. These theories propose that conscious states are characterized by a globally circulating, resonant pattern of activity that is sufficiently coherent to be examined and reflected upon. We then propose a correspondence between this notion and Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the noosphere as a forum for collective thinking, and explore some implications of this self-organizing dynamics for the evolution of shared, global understanding.
Date
1995
Format
Article
Views
9
This paper explores Turchin’s metasystem transition concept in social systems, analyzing collective evolution principles and competitive/synergetic configurations. It highlights how similar systems engage in negative sum competition, hindering group optimization, and suggests shared controls to foster cooperation. Examples like multicellularity and human sociality illustrate this transition. However, ongoing competition among cooperators yields ambivalent sociality and weak integration. The study reviews social control mechanisms’ strengths/weaknesses and acknowledges the complex optimization challenges in societal evolution, suggesting a long, challenging path to global integration.
Date
August 1993
Format
Article
Word Count
627
Reading time
≈ 3 minutes
Quotes
2
Views
12
Could human consciousness transcend biological limits and merge with advanced technology to achieve a form of cybernetic immortality? In Heylighen’s vision, our essence suvives through evolving hybrid systems, preserving individuality while fostering unprecedented connectivity. This integration doesn’t diminish our humanity but amplifies it, allowing us to explore the cosmos and push the boundaries of existence. While not everyone may choose this path, those who do could shape the destiny of our species and the cosmos.
Date
January 2017
Format
Research Article
Word Count
5,624
Reading time
≈ 31 minutes
Quotes
9
Views
18
The Global Brain paradigm views the emerging global information network connecting humans and technology as a nervous system for Earth’s social superorganism. This special issue surveys opportunities and challenges in developing this potentially more intelligent, synergetic system. Contributions explore political, economic, and philosophical aspects, aiming to guide the transition towards a sustainable society empowering diversity.
Date
2002
Format
Research Article
Word Count
4,874
Reading time
≈ 27 minutes
Quotes
11
Views
64
The global brain can be conceived most fundamentally as a higher level of evolution, the way humans form a higher level of organization that evolved out of the animals. Although the analogy between an organism and a society can be applied even to primitive societies, it becomes clearly more applicable as technology develops. As transport and communication become more efficient, different parts of global society become more interdependent. At the same time, the variety of ideas, specializations, and subcultures increases. This simultaneous integration and differentiation creates an increasingly coherent system, functioning at a much higher level of complexity.
Date
2002
Format
Research Article
Word Count
20,128
Reading time
≈ 1.9 hours
Quotes
31
Views
290
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”.
Date
March 23, 2000
Format
Article
Word Count
588
Reading time
≈ 3 minutes
Quotes
4
Views
17
Society can be viewed as a multicellular organism, with individuals in the role of the cells. The network of communication channels connecting individuals then plays the role of a nervous system for this superorganism, i.e. a “global brain.”
Date
1996
Format
Article
Word Count
5,170
Reading time
≈ 29 minutes
Quotes
10
Views
132
If society is viewed as a superorganism, communication networks play the role of its brain. This metaphor is developed into a model for the design of a more intelligent global network. The World Wide Web, through its distributed hypermedia architecture, functions as an “associative memory”, which may “learn” by the strengthening of frequently used links. Software agents, exploring the Web through spreading activation, function as problem-solving “thoughts”. Users are integrated into this “super-brain” through direct machine interfaces and the reciprocal exchange of knowledge between individual and Web. (Published in Cybernetics and Systems ’96, p. 917–922.)
Valentin Turchin
A Dialogue on Metasystem Transition
Valentin Turchin explores the theory of metasystem transitions through a conversational approach, examining how new layers of control emerge when individual systems combine into a larger, integrated system. These transitions, Turchin argues, are the key moments in evolution—like stepping stones in both biological and cultural development. By viewing evolution as a series of these transformative quanta, he reflects on past evolutionary leaps and speculates on what they could reveal about the future path of universal evolution.
Ben Goertzel
World Wide Brain
Ben Goertzel says the Internet is evolving towards a “global Web mind”–an emergent, distributed intelligence surpassing human capabilities. This development, grounded in complexity science, could solve AI’s scalability issues and merge humanity with technology. While potentially solving global problems, it raises concerns about individual freedom. Drawing parallels with spiritual concepts like the noösphere and collective unconscious, this evolution is seen as inevitable and transformative. As we nurture this new form of life, we stand at the threshold of a profound shift in human consciousness and global interconnectedness.