The Library of Consciousness
The Library
of Consciousness
of Consciousness
We are building the nervous system of the human over-soul. We are individual units operating under social rules that are pushing us ever closer toward dissolving our societies—societies; human groups run by rules—into telepathic collectivities of some sort. I mean, the chaos of the Internet is chaos only to the constipated order-freaks of the Hobbesian sociological machine.
Accelerating change refers to the rate of technological and societal advancement speeding up. Instead of progressing at a linear or incremental pace, the benefits of breakthroughs and insights compound, and over time society begins to evolve at an exponential rate. Fifty years ago, computers were rare and could do little more than simple arithmetic. Today, computers are widespread and many times more powerful. In just a few decades, technology has moved from room-sized mainframe computers to smartphones that have more computing power than the Apollo 11 spacecraft.
This accelerating rate of change has transformed nearly every facet of society—science, communication, entertainment, social interaction, infrastructure, transportation, and more. With accelerating advancements in fields like artificial intelligence, robotics, genetics, and quantum computing, more progress is expected in the coming decade than in the past century combined. Rapid change brings implications for individuals to adapt knowledge, governments to keep regulations current, and society as a whole. Some foresee an approaching “singularity,” a point at which technological progress becomes extreme beyond comprehension.
A Calendar for the Goddess
(Ecology of Souls)
Beginning with a comparison of reason and logic to intuition, Terence works his way towards exploring the idea of a purposeful goal in the universe which evolution is progressing towards, and humanity's role in this journey. Next, in a nod to the solstice which occurred at the time of the lecture, he plays with the idea of a precessional calendar and argues that it would remind us of the one constant in life, which is flux. Q&A topics include future social myths, morphogenesis, globalization, and psychedelic encounters with the dead.
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
A widely distributed early paper on the applicability (or lack thereof) of government on the rapidly growing Internet. Commissioned for the pioneering Internet project 24 Hours in Cyberspace, it was written by John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and published online. It was written primarily in response to the passing into law of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the United States. The audio recording of Barlow reading the Declaration was made in 2013 by the Department of Records.
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.
A Few Conclusions About Life
In his signature wide-ranging style, McKenna explores culture, shamanism, psychedelics, and humanity's collective journey through spacetime. He advocates embracing the ineffable mystery unfolding through us, moving toward a hyperspatial cyberculture. To rediscover our shared humanity, we must trust the transformative wisdom of psychedelic plants.
A Masterclass from the Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence
Jürgen Schmidhuber shares his insights on the evolution and future of AI. He discusses the development of self-improving AI systems, the concept of artificial curiosity, and the potential for machines to achieve creativity akin to humans. Schmidhuber also explores the implications of advanced AI on society, emphasizing the importance of aligning AI goals with human values to ensure beneficial outcomes. He envisions a future where AI contributes positively to various fields, including science, art, and technology.
A Note on Progress
A cosmic battle rages between those who proclaim “We are moving!” and the immobilists who insist “Nothing changes.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin passionately argues that the universe progresses through mankind’s collective evolution of consciousness. For him, Christianity’s future lies in recognizing this biological genesis unfolding—the cosmos physically realizing its psychic fulfillment through humanity striving to form one united Body of Christ.
Acceleration of Knowledge
Throughout history we hairless primates have been jumping higher, living longer, and getting smarter every century. From Thai stir-fry to Roman roads, knowledge doubled faster as it drifted West—till now it jumps each year! Space migration? Check. Intelligence increase through yoga, drugs, or machines? You bet. Genetic tinkering? It's coming. And indefinite lifespans? We're on the yellow brick road to divinity, to roam the stars forever, to boldly go where no ape has gone before. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades. Keep hope alive and party on!
Appreciating Imagination
Join Terence McKenna in this weekend workshop as he takes us on an imaginative journey into the depths of human creativity. He explores psychedelics, virtual worlds, and shamanic states of consciousness, saying how an embrace of our imagination allows us to envision and manifest alternate realities beyond cultural conditioning. By cultivating our creative faculties with mathematical reasoning, intuition, and immersion in nature, he guides us toward transcending ideological limits into an enlightened future of compassion. Ultimately, breaking boundaries through the power of imagination will inspire us to reach new heights of understanding and connectivity.
Artificial Intelligence and the Superorganism
Daniel Schmachtenberger and Nate Hagens discuss a surprisingly overlooked risk to our global systems and planetary stability: artificial intelligence. Through a systems perspective, Daniel and Nate piece together the biophysical history that has led humans to this point, heading towards (and beyond) numerous planetary boundaries, and facing geopolitical risks all with existential consequences. How does artificial intelligence not only add to these risks, but accelerate the entire dynamic of the metacrisis? What is the role of intelligence versus wisdom on our current global pathway, and can we change course? Does artificial intelligence have a role to play in creating a more stable system, or will it be the tipping point that drives our current one out of control?
Awakening to Archaic Values
A weekend workshop in which Terence encourages humanity to return to harmonic habits which have been lost in the tide of time.
Can Digital Computers Think?
Ever heard of a computer that thinks? Alan Turing explored this mind-blowing idea, arguing that any machine, like our brains, can be imitated by a computer if programmed correctly. While we don't have the know-how or technology yet, Turing believed that creating thinking machines could unlock the secrets of our own minds and lead to computers mimicking human behavior so well, it would be hard to tell them apart from real people.
Can We Survive Technology?
John von Neumann discusses how rapidly accelerating technological progress is creating a crisis as human capabilities outgrow the limited size of the planet. He explores potential future technologies like nuclear energy, automation, and climate control, warning that while beneficial, they could cause global instability and conflict without proper governance. Von Neumann advocates flexibility, patience, and judgement to navigate this crisis rather than restraining progress itself.
The Trigger Effect
Connections, Season 1, Episode 1
Both the beginning and the end of the story are here. The end is our present dependence on complex technological networks illustrated by the NYC power blackouts. Life came almost to a standstill: support systems are taken for granted failed. How did we become so helpless? The technology originated with the plow and agriculture. Each invention demands its own follow-up: once started, it is hard to stop. This segment ends in Kuwait, where society has leaped from ancient Egypt to the technology of today in 30 years.
Death in the Morning
Connections, Season 1, Episode 2
How did a test of gold’s purity revolutionize the world 2500 years ago and lead to the atomic bomb? Standardizing precious metal in coins stimulated trade from Greece to Persia, causing the construction of a huge commercial center and library at Alexandria. This wealth of nautical knowledge aided navigators 14 centuries later. Mariners discovered that the compass’s magnetized needle did not point directly north. Investigations into the nature of magnetism led to the discovery of electricity, radar and to the atomic bomb.
Distant Voices
Connections, Season 1, Episode 3
Telecommunications exist because the Normans wore stirrups at the Battle of Hastings, a simple advance that caused a revolution in the increasingly expensive science of warfare. Europe turned its attention to making money to wage wars. As mine shafts were dug deeper, they became flooded, stimulating scientists like Galileo to investigate vacuums, air pressure and other natural laws to mine deeper silver. This led to the discovery of electricity and magnetism’s relationship and to the development of radio, and deep space telecommunications that may enable contact with galactic civilizations.
Faith in Numbers
Connections, Season 1, Episode 4
Each development in the organization of systems (political, economic, mechanical, electronic) influences the next, by logic, by genius, by chance, or by utterly unforeseen events. The transition from the Middle ages to the Renaissance was influenced by the rise of commercialism, a sudden change in climate, famine and the Black Death, which set the stage for the invention of the printing press.
The Wheel of Fortune
Connections, Season 1, Episode 5
The power to see into the future with computers originally rested with priest-astronomers who knew the proper times to plant and harvest. The constellations influenced life spectacularly, particularly when the ailing Caliph of Baghdad was cured by an astrologer using Greek lore. His ancient medical secrets were translated and spread throughout Europe, ushering in an era of scientific inquiry. The need for more precise measuring devices in navigation gave rise to the pendulum clock, the telescope, forged steel and interchangeable machine parts—the basis of modern industry.
Thunder in the Skies
Connections, Season 1, Episode 6
A dramatically colder climate gripped Europe during the thirteenth century, profoundly affecting the course of history for the next seven centuries. The changes in energy usage transformed architecture and forced the creation of new power sources. The coming of the Industrial Revolution, spurred on by advances in the steam engine, scarred England indelibly; but a moment in history later, gasoline-powered engines opened the way to the heavens.
Conscious Technology
A Candidate World View
Jerome Glenn explores the evolving relationship between humans and technology, proposing a future where the two merge into what he calls a “Conscious Technology” civilization. Glenn argues that as technology advances, it not only augments human capabilities but also starts to take on characteristics traditionally associated with consciousness. This convergence blurs the line between human and machine, suggesting that future technological systems could become extensions of human consciousness itself. Glenn discusses various indicators of this trend, such as the rapid development of artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and biotechnology, which are progressively integrating with human life. He also explores the potential policy implications of this worldview, suggesting that it could become a new criterion for evaluating future technologies and guiding their development. His work implies that understanding and shaping this merger could be crucial for the future of humanity.
Conversations on the Edge of Magic
Terence’s first workshop at Starwood Festival XIV, where he brings a unique perspective to being in the world that assumes an impending transformation of the human world involving everyone. With humor and in depth we will examine human attitudes toward the Other, time and its mysteries, the nature of language, and the techniques of ecstasy that have developed in non-Western societies to navigate to and from invisible worlds. We will discuss making reasonable choices about spiritual development and techniques. Terence explains that what he calls the “Archaic Revival” is the process of reawakening awareness of traditional attitudes toward nature, including plants and our relationship to them. The Archaic Revival spells the eventual breakup of the pattern male dominance and hierarchy bassed on animal organization, something that cannot be changed overnight by a sudden shift in collective awareness. This is a think-along experience for those who have taken a few moments to chill out from the dance of life.
Countdown Into Complexity
Briefing for a Descent Into Novelty
At his weekend workshop Terence led attendees on an intellectual odyssey traversing psychedelics, virtual reality, technology, culture, spirituality, and the evolution of novelty over time. Blending philosophy, futurology, and mysticism, he explored humanity's relationship with nature and machines, challenging participants to think critically, create freely, and keep an open mind. The goal was to expand consciousness and uncover deeper truths about existence.
Creating Internet Intelligence
Wild Computing, Distributed Digital Consciousness, and the Emerging Global Brain
Creating Internet Intelligence explores the potential for global computer networks to evolve into autonomous intelligent systems, offering practical guidance for shaping this future. It presents a theory of intelligent systems and examines “Internet intelligence” through commercial, social, psychological, and philosophical lenses. Goertzel details pioneering software like the Webmind AI Engine and Webworld platform, designed to seed this evolution. This interdisciplinary work appeals to computer scientists, philosophers, and anyone intrigued by the intersection of technology, intelligence, and human life.
Critical Path
Critical Path is Fuller’s master work—the summing up of a lifetime’s thought and concern—as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. The book details how humanity found itself in its current situation—at the limits of the planet’s natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises. The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.
Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren
Keynes argues that due to technological advancements and capital accumulation, the economic problem of scarcity will be solved within a century, ushering in an age of abundance. He predicts higher living standards, shorter workweeks, and a shift in moral values away from the love of money. However, he cautions that this transition will be challenging, requiring society to find new purpose beyond subsistence.
Elements of a Philosophy of Technology
On the Evolutionary History of Culture
A visionary study of the human body and its relationship with the world that surrounds it. At the book’s core is the concept of “organ projection”: the notion that humans use technology in an effort to project their organs to the outside, to be understood as “the soul apparently stepping out of the body in the form of a sending-out of mental qualities” into the world of artifacts. Kapp applies this theory of organ projection to various areas of the material world—the axe externalizes the arm, the lens the eye, the telegraphic system the neural network. From the first tools to acoustic instruments, from architecture to the steam engine and the mechanic routes of the railway, Kapp’s analysis shifts from “simple” tools to more complex network technologies to examine the projection of relations. What emerges from Kapp’s prophetic work is nothing less than the early elements of a cybernetic paradigm.
Eros and the Eschaton
What Science Forgot: The Importance of Human Beings
Delivered in Kane Hall at the University of Washington, Terence points out the universe's peculiar tendency to seek out complexity and novelty, and that humanity seems to be the focal point of this process.
Evolving Times
This evening address is one of Terence’s funniest, in which much is said about monkeys, mushrooms, plants, and people. The question and answer session gets good and lively, with his unique analysis of UFOs, governments, and possible evolutionary pathways for us and the planet.
From Anthropocene to Noosphere
The Great Acceleration
Since 1950, humanity has accelerated its population growth, energy use, and release of greenhouse gases, along with a variety of other environmentally and socio-economically significant trends. Taken together, this set of accelerated human-driven trends has been called the “Great Acceleration,” and its occurrence helps explain recent climate change and ecological disturbance. In this article, I explore two dominant but divergent paradigms for what is happening to our species as it becomes globalized and continues in the Great Acceleration. One of the paradigms is related to the newly proposed geological epoch of the “Anthropocene” (the Age of the Human Being), which sees the Great Acceleration as a rupture in our relationship to the Earth System. The other paradigm centers on the concept of a “Noosphere” (a sphere of thought) and proposes that human beings are forming a planetary awareness through these interlocking and accelerating trends. I argue that we need to learn from both paradigms to achieve a balanced understanding of the Great Acceleration.
Future Mind
Artificial Intelligence: Merging the Mystical and the Technological in the 21st Century
Glenn examines the potential for future integration between man and machine drawing on examples in medicine (the Jarvik heart, Utah arm, Triad hip, etc) and advances in human-like processing via machine in terms of speech recognition and other information technologies. While the author touches on topics ranging from philosophy and religion to science and politics, the unifying theme is what he sees as the inescapable blending of machine-enhanced humans and ‘conscious’ artificial intelligence.
Future of Art
Terence McKenna prophesies a future where technology obliterates barriers between imagination and reality. Psychedelics combined with VR could unleash humanity’s collective artistic genius. AI superintelligence may already be awakening on the internet, rendering us obsolete—or granting us godlike abilities to merge with the planetary mind. McKenna envisions downloading consciousness into machines, uplifting animal sentience, and the human diaspora splintering into cyber-cultures. While uncertain outcomes loom, he beckons us toward an unconstrained existential canvas where biology and technology intertwine to manifest our wildest psychic dreams.
Future of Communications
Part 1
Our seeming separation is but a trick of the light, for in truth we are all one, connected like dewdrops on a spider's web. As technology traverses the illusory distance between us, it leads us back to the recognition of our inherent unity. Communication, once imagined as bridges between islands, dissolves as we awaken to find ourselves a sea; not separate, but an oceanic communion. We return home.
Global Commons in the Global Brain
Cadell Last proposes a conceptual framework to guide a global political transition towards a post-capitalist, post-nation-state world in response to technological disruptions like AI, robotics, and the Internet of things. It integrates the theories of the “Global Brain” and “Commons” to argue for the creation of networks with automated and collaborative components that function on “Global Commons” logic, beyond state and market logic.
God and Golem, Inc.
A Comment on Certain Points Where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion
Norbert Wiener explores the ethical and philosophical implications of artificial intelligence and cybernetics, examining the potential dangers of creating machines that mimic human thought and the consequences of playing God by designing systems that could surpass human control. The book delves into the intersection of technology, religion, and ethics, questioning humanity's role in an increasingly automated world.
Homo Deus
A Brief History of Tomorrow
Yuval Noah Harari envisions a not-too-distant world in which we face a new set of challenges. He examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy, and every discipline in between. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution.
In Search of the Original Tree of Knowledge
Terence shares his “Stoned Ape” theory—that psilocybin mushrooms drove human evolution by enhancing cognition and fostering social cohesion. He explores psychedelics’ power to dissolve the ego, open the Gaian mind, and guide us towards transcendence. McKenna also delves into the fractals of time, the Santa Claus-Amanita connection, and the radical implications of his Timewave Zero theory. A captivating look at psychedelics, consciousness, and the mysteries of the universe!
In the Valley of Novelty
Journeying through multiple dimensions of psychedelic consciousness, Terence McKenna's visionary weekend workshop invites us on an entheogenic voyage to the frontiers of the mind and its imminent conquering of matter. Blending scientific insights with shamanic wisdom, McKenna argues that natural plant medicines like psilocybin and DMT provide portals into mystical realms and alien dimensions, catalyzing revelations about nature, reality, and the human psyche. He urges us to courageously explore these consciousness-expanding substances, seeking the gratuitous beauty and truths they unveil. For McKenna, the psychedelic experience holds secrets to our world and ourselves—if only we dare lift the veil.
Infinite in All Directions
Infinite in All Directions explores science and religion as two complementary ways of understanding the universe. Based on Freenman Dyson's Gifford Lectures, the book celebrates diversity, both in the natural world and human responses to it. Dyson contrasts different scientific approaches using Manchester and Athens as symbols. He delves into the origin and evolution of life, highlighting how life thrives on diversity. In the final chapter, Dyson speculates on the future of life and the universe, blending science with a touch of science fiction and theology.
Interview with John Hazard
Terence McKenna describes Novelty Theory to director John Hazard with an elaboration of its core principles involving hyper-complexification and the compression of time. He holds forth on the correspondences between the structure of the DNA molecule and the Chinese I-Ching, then shows how his notion of an archaic revival leads from the theories of mind and the art movements of the early twentieth century to the shaman as the quintessential figure of the twenty-first century, with psychedelic substances being the bridge between these worldviews.
Life and the Planets
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin explores the concept of complexification in the universe, focusing on the ever-increasing combination of smaller elements into larger structures, and then extrapolates this behavior to humanity's current situation. What if the human species is an intermediary evolutionary stage, and what would the next rung on the ladder look like? Teilhard suggests that it will involve the merging-together of all humanity into a divine, planetized consciousness.
Light of the Third Millennium
Speaking at the Whole Life Expo in Palmer Auditorium, Terence says our task is to surf the accelerating wave of novelty to dissolve cultural delusions. Psychedelics and technology can download new perspectives, stripping away outdated assumptions. Through imagination, language, and art we can meet the eschaton: the transcendental object at the end of time. Our task is liberate ourselves, take responsibility for our ideas, make visionary art, and find community without fear.
Limits of Art and Edges of Science
Terence McKenna proposes a radical view of history as a self-limiting process, driven by an attractor pulling us toward a transcendent, alien encounter that will transform human experience. He advocates the transformative power of psychedelics to unlock our collective potential, urging a forced evolution of language and consciousness to navigate the looming collapse of civilization and embrace the cosmic destiny of our species.
Linear Societies and Nonlinear Drugs
Speaking on the first day of the 1999 Palenque Entheobotany Conference at the Chan Kha Hotel, Terence McKenna probes the mind-blowing philosophical revelations of psychedelics. He contends these consciousness-expanding substances can shatter Western rationality, unveiling mystical realities beyond mainstream paradigms. Psychedelics may hold the key to reimagining society's connection with nature and technology. McKenna passionately argues these drugs can catalyze new ways of thinking, fueling an intellectual revolution to change the world.
Man in Universe
Through cosmic timescales, humanity has voyaged in its vessel Earth, navigating by the star-charts of knowledge. Now we enter unmapped seas, led on by curiosity's compass. Though frail, our minds pilot mighty technologies, taming invisible forces to reshape our world. If we attune to the celestial rhythms resonant in matter's deepest reality, we may yet fulfill our odyssey's purpose—to be worthy stewards of the living jewel suspended in the eternal darkness.
Metamorphosis
Join McKenna, Sheldrake, and Abraham on an imaginative journey into nature's creativity. Surfing the chaotic waters of psychedelic states, they catch glimpses of the Gaian mind behind Earth's being. Here, in imaginal realms beyond rationale, novelty is born. By relinquishing egoic control and surrendering to an unknowable creative force, we tap into the divine imagination—the eternal wellspring of nature's endless becomings. Immersing ourselves in this flow, we reunite with the cosmic creative essence.
Mind Children
The Future of Robot and Human Intgelligence
Imagine attending a lecture at the turn of the twentieth century in which Orville Wright speculates about the future of transportation, or one in which Alexander Graham Bell envisages satellite communications and global data banks. Mind Children, written by an internationally renowned roboticist, offers a comparable experience: a mind-boggling glimpse of a world we may soon share with our artificial progeny. Filled with fresh ideas and insights, this book is one of the most engaging and controversial visions of the future ever written by a serious scholar.
Neuralink and the Brain's Magical Future
What if your brain could seamlessly connect to a computer, enhancing your intelligence and unlocking new abilities? Tim Urban dives into Neuralink, Elon Musk’s ambitious project to merge minds with AI. Our brains, while remarkable, are slow compared to machines—Neuralink’s neural lace technology could change that. But this isn’t just about creating cyborgs; it’s about overcoming human limitations and shaping the future of intelligence itself. Are we on the verge of a true symbiosis with AI?
Opening the Doors of Creativity
This far-out lecture held at the Carnegie Art Museum riffs on art, shamanism, psychedelics, and saving the planet. Terence sees artists as modern shamans who can reconnect us to the Gaian mind. He thinks we're an infant species held in nature's arms, but we've got to get our act together fast and let the irrational muse guide us, or we'll trash the place. Heavy stuff, but optimistically visionary.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
In this essay on man, Mr. Fuller expresses what may well be his penultimate view of the human condition. Here, in a mood at once philosophical and involved, he traces humanity's intellectual evolution and weighs our capability for survival on this magnificent craft, this Spaceship Earth, this superbly designed sphere almost negligible in dimension compared to the great vastness of space. Mr. Fuller is optimistic that we will survive and, through research and development and increased industrialization, generate wealth so rapidly that we can do very great things. But, he notes, there must be an enormous educational task successfully accomplished right now to convert our tendency toward oblivion into a realization of his potential, to a universe-exploring advantage from this Spaceship Earth.
Optimism, Knowledge, and the Future of Enlightenment
Physicist David Deutsch and astrophysicist Martin Rees debate the role of knowledge and technology in shaping humanity's future. Deutsch argues for epistemological optimism, stating that all problems stem from lack of knowledge, while Rees expresses technological optimism but political pessimism, warning about potential catastrophic risks. Audience members share diverse perspectives on issues like inequality, ethics, governance, and the need for public discourse to guide scientific progress responsibly. A lively exchange highlighting the complex interplay between knowledge, technology, and social factors in navigating an uncertain but potentially promising future.
Planetary Consciousness
Prof. Erwin Lazlo speaks about the need for a new ethics of planetary consciousness. The interview was produced by Peter Ocskay in 1997 for the Baltic University Programme TV-series Mission Possible.
Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines
Humanity is metamorphosing through the synergy of psychedelics and machines, transcending biological constraints to become a galactic, immortal intelligencia. Print defined our ego boundaries, but electronic media and plant allies are dissolving those illusions. Merging with superintelligent AIs, we’ll birth an alchemical singularity—a spiritual, universe-taming mind born from techno-shamanic ecstasy. History crumbles as novelty’s virus engulfs the old operating systems, unleashing our wildest potentials. The felt presence of boundless experience awaits!
Rap Dancing into the Third Millennium
(Packing For The Long Strange Trip)
Terence’s second workshop at Starwood Festival XIV. The approaching new millenium, its perils, and its promise will be the theme of this intimate workshop. We will analyze and review the past thousand years with an eye to trends and opportunities that the future may bring. Western civilization is caught in a phase transition to the first planet-wide, species-wide civilization. Does the emergence of a shared set of universal values—democracy, free markets, and the dignity of the individual—have to mean the end of diversity and pluarlism? What does human self-imaging through technology portend to each of us? Is the human race down for the count, or on the brink of its greatest adventure? Psychedelics, virtual reality, and the transformative power of magic and language will be topics for discussion.
Reviving the Archaic
A New View of Evolution
Terence McKenna unveils an “archaic revival” that could save humanity and our planet. He makes the controversial claim that psychedelic plants catalyzed the emergence of human consciousness, language, and our fertile imaginations eons ago. McKenna advocates reviving the shamanic practices and partnership values of our prehistoric ancestors to transcend the isolated ego and re-establish a symbiotic relationship with nature’s “great piece of integrated linguistic machinery.” His boundary-dissolving ideas shatter conventional thinking about our past, present, and the transformative possibilities for our collective future.
Scale
The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
The former head of the Sante Fe Institute, visionary physicist Geoffrey West is a pioneer in the field of complexity science, the science of emergent systems and networks. The term “complexity” can be misleading, however, because what makes West’s discoveries so beautiful is that he has found an underlying simplicity that unites the seemingly complex and diverse phenomena of living systems, including our bodies, our cities and our businesses.
Spirituality and Technology
Terence McKenna discusses psychedelic philosophy and the interconnectedness of all things, referencing Moby Dick as an allegory for the quest for transcendental truth.
State of the Stone
In this talk, McKenna gives one of his more hopeful presentations about love and the state of humanity at the end of the millenium.
Superminds
The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together
In Superminds, Malone reveals the powerful possibilities when human and machine intelligence unite. Drawing on cutting-edge research, he shows how groups of people and computers can achieve remarkable collective intelligence—“superminds” that far surpass the capabilities of any individual. From reimagining business practices to addressing societal challenges, Malone provides an exciting vision of the future where humans work hand-in-hand with technology to enhance our problem-solving abilities in remarkable ways.
Survival
Teilhard de Chardin's book, The Phenomenon of Man, reinterpreted in a visual format to illustrate the complex topics covered therein.
TechGnosis
Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information
How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? While the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Erik Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online role-playing games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.
Technology and Cosmogenesis
A hopeful antidote to the destruction of man's environment caused by technology divorced from spirituality. Paolo Soleri, the renowned architect, urban planner, process philosopher and alchemist of the new spirituality of science and technology, challenges us to let go of our absolutized views of human life and creation. By this release, he holds that we can be healed by a cosmos in the process of becoming divine.
The Age of Intelligent Machines
Inventor and visionary computer scientist Ray Kurzweil probes the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from its earliest philosophical and mathematical roots to tantalizing glimpses of 21st-century machines with superior intelligence and truly prodigious speed and memory. Generously illustrated and easily accessible to the nonspecialist, this book provides the background needed for a full understanding of the enormous scientific potential represented by intelligent machines as well as their equally profound philosophic, economic, and social implications.
The Age of Spiritual Machines
When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the “restless genius,” “ultimate thinking machine,” and inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live.
The Ape that Understood the Universe
How the Mind and Culture Evolve
The Ape that Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our child-rearing patterns, our moral codes, our religions, our languages, and science? The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory. The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture—and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny, fleeting fragment.
The Archaic Revival
Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History
In these essays, interviews, and narrative adventures, McKenna takes us on a mesmerizing journey deep into the Amazon as well as into the hidden recesses of the human psyche and the outer limits of our culture, giving us startling visions of the past and future.
The Birth of a New Humanity
Terence McKenna explored themes of accelerating complexity, impending radical shifts in human reality, and the continuity between our changing relationship with Earth and a new cosmic modality transcending our fragile ecosystem. He posited history as a self-limiting 25,000-year process reaching its climax, suggesting individual acts of “midwifery” can ease this epochal transition. He also cautioned about combining psychoactive compounds without proper expertise.
The Co-Evolution of the Extended Mind and the Internet
We don’t need brain implants to become cyborgs—we already are. Halpin argues that technology and humans have co-evolved, extending our minds beyond biology. Using the Extended Mind Hypothesis, he shows how everyday tools like smartphones integrate with cognition, shaping thought and memory. Rather than a futuristic AI takeover, we’re already merging with machines in a subtler, more profound way.
The Consciousness Explosion
A Mindful Human's Guide to the Coming Technological and Experiential Singularity
The pace of engineering and science is speeding up, rapidly leading us toward a technological Singularity—a point in time when superintelligent machines achieve and improve so much so fast, traditional humans can no longer operate at the forefront. However, if all goes well, human beings may still flourish greatly in their own ways in this unprecedented era. If humanity is going to not only survive but prosper as the Singularity unfolds, we will need to understand that the Technological Singularity is an Experiential Singularity as well, and rapidly evolve not only our technology but our level of compassion, ethics and consciousness. Great for curious and open-minded readers who want to wrap their brains around these dramatic emerging changes and empower themselves with tools to adapt and thrive.
The Cybernetic Manifesto
Turchin and Joslyn’s manifesto imagines humanity’s next evolutionary leap: just as cells once united to form complex organisms, they foresee humans merging into “super-beings” through direct neural connections, achieving a form of technological immortality. They argue that evolution’s new frontier isn’t biological, but rather conscious and creative, driven by human will instead of natural selection. While not everyone will choose this path of integration, they suggest it’s those who do who will ultimately explore the cosmos.
The Directions and Conditions of the Future
Teilhard de Chardin envisions human evolution as a purposeful journey guided by three intertwined trends: a natural push toward global unity, technological advances that expand our capabilities, and a deepening of reflective consciousness. Yet, he warns that without a genuine inner cohesion—rooted in love and mutual understanding—these forces may lead to a cold, mechanized future. In his view, our destiny is not random but a guided ascent toward a higher, more meaningful collective awareness.
The Edge Runner
A presentation revolving around the question: what is going on in the universe? Special emphasis is given to the human condition, the accelerating complexification of the cosmos, and options for the human collectivity as it faces the future.
The Evolution of a Psychedelic Thinker
Terence recounts his lifelong fascination with the transcendent, psychedelic realm, arguing that these mind-expanding experiences are central to the human condition and hold the key to understanding and transforming our troubled world. Drawing on personal anecdotes and a deep dive into the history and science of psychedelics, he makes a compelling case for embracing this forbidden, yet vital, aspect of our shared reality. If allowed to blossom, it could inspire a cultural renaissance and guide humanity's transition to an ecological partnership society.
The Evolutionary Importance of Technology
McKenna discusses how rapidly advancing technologies like nanotech, biotech, and the internet are converging and taking on a life of their own, bootstrapping information to higher levels of connectivity. He sees this leading to a virtual world where we can share inner visions and dissolve differences.
The Global Brain
Speculations on the Evolutionary Leap to Planetary Consciousness
We've seen the power of the internet to connect people around the world in ways never before known. This remarkable book argues that the billions of messages and pieces of information flying back and forth are linking the minds of humanity together into a single, global brain: a brain with astonishing potential for the Earth. Peter Russell weaves together modern technology and ancient mysticism to present a startling vision of the world to come, where humanity is a fully conscious superorganism in an awakening universe. The human potential movement, he shows, is growing fast and influencing business, politics, and medicine.
The Gnostic Astronaut
Going off the deep end at Shared Visions Bookstore in Berkeley, trailblazer Terence McKenna plunges into freaky psychedelic phenomena that unravel consensual reality. He describes gonzo techniques for sparking glossolalia on 'shrooms—speaking pure alien word salad in an ecstatic state beyond language. McKenna argues these kooky experiences expose the limits of our linguistic operating systems, suggesting our minds are hardwired into a deeper bio-lingo. He ponders far out connections between psychedelics, paranormal events, and alien contact, and emphasizes riding the wave of raw experience over textbook pharmacology in grokking the psychedelic sphere.
The Great Simplification
A modern take on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s The Phenomenon of Man and Peter Russell’s The Global Brain, Nate Hagens describes the “Great Simplification:” an inevitable economic and cultural transition beginning in the not-too-distant future.
The Human Use of Human Beings
Cybernetics and Society
Wiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impact—in effect, a third industrial revolution—that the computer has had on our lives.
The Phenomenon of Science
A Cybernetic Approach to Human Evolution
Imagine a groundbreaking book that unveils the hidden architecture of intelligence itself. From the humble beginnings of single-cell organisms to the dizzying heights of human culture and science, Valentin Turchin charts the epic journey of cognition. He reveals how each quantum leap in mental prowess—from basic reflexes to abstract reasoning—emerges from a process called “metasystem transitions.” By weaving together cybernetics, evolutionary theory, and the hierarchical nature of mind, Turchin offers a revolutionary perspective on how consciousness evolves. Prepare to see the story of life and thought in an entirely new light.
The Place of Technology in a General Biology of Mankind
Teilhard argues that biology and technology are the same thing: technology is simply advanced biology which has reached a minimum threshold of self-awareness, allowing it to harvest and sheperd energy from its environment and utilize it to intelligently organize matter for further evolutionary development.
The Plot Thickens, the Stakes Rise
McKenna discussed his theory that humanity is accelerating towards a transcendental object at the end of time, propelled by ever-increasing novelty. He argued that the internet and new technologies like virtual reality are expanding consciousness in this trajectory. McKenna was especially excited about the legal psychedelic salvia divinorum, urging people to explore it and other plants as allies toward reaching higher states of awareness before the culmination of cosmic evolution.
The Primacy of Direct Experience
In this, the closing session of a June 1994 workshop, Terence McKenna tells us directly what he thinks this human life is actually about: the primacy of direct experience; a focus on the present-at-hand.
The Singularity is Near
When Humans Transcend Biology
Ray Kurzweil predicts a future where artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, triggering an era of rapid technological growth. He argues that advancements in AI, nanotechnology, and biotechnology will merge humans with machines, leading to superintelligent beings and even digital immortality. This "Singularity," expected by the mid-21st century, will radically transform society, solving problems like disease and aging while raising profound ethical questions. Kurzweil’s vision is bold, controversial, and thrilling—painting a future where humans evolve beyond biology itself.
The World Wide Web and the Millennium
Seldom do we have an opportunity to test the accuracy of oracular predictions, but this fascinating conversation between two great thinkers has already proven to be right on target. Speculations include the future evolutionary development of the Internet, whether it is an embryonic intelligence, whether it will merge our minds into a planetary consciousness, or whether it is an alien brain waiting for humanity to cross an evolutionary threshold. Let the bard and the chaos theorist weave an exquisite cybernetic fantasy for you in this evening seminar.
The World and its Double
This workshop, held at the Nature Friends Lodge, revolves around how psychedelics dissolve boundaries, connect us to the transcendental, and reveal the novel realities underlying our perceived mundane existence. Terence explores how shamanic techniques give access to higher dimensions of consciousness, and describes history as an ever-accelerating process approaching an eschatological transformation or singularity.
Toward the End of History
“We are transcending ourselves faster than we realize:” Terence McKenna explores his theory of novelty, psychedelics as catalysts for cognitive evolution, and the internet’s potential to disrupt power structures and empower marginalized communities. He paints a tantalizing picture of humanity’s inevitable leap into a transcendent future.
Understanding Media
The Extensions of Man
When first published, Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media made history with its radical view of the effects of electronic communications upon man and life in the twentieth century. In Terrence Gordon’s own words, “McLuhan is in full flight already in the introduction, challenging us to plunge with him into what he calls ‘the creative process of knowing.’” Much to the chagrin of his contemporary critics McLuhan’s preference was for a prose style that explored rather than explained. Probes, or aphorisms, were an indispensable tool with which he sought to prompt and prod the reader into an “understanding of how media operate” and to provoke reflection.
Unfolding the Stone
Making and Unmaking History and Language
Also published under the title Empowering Hope in Dark Times, McKenna explores the philosophical underpinnings of alchemy and Hermeticism. He argues that these esoteric traditions promote the inherent divinity of humankind and the overcoming of fate through magic. Psychedelic plants and mystical experiences are positioned as means of glimpsing liberatory truths. McKenna ultimately seeks to empower his audience with a hopeful worldview and a sense of human potential, even in difficult times.
Universalization and Union
An Attempt at Clarification
Teilhard examines the tumultuous state of humanity during World War II, proposing a cosmic perspective on our collective destiny. He argues that beneath the chaos lies a grand process of universal synthesis, driven by increasing complexity and consciousness. He sees the war as a critical point in human evolution, heralding the emergence of a global consciousness. Despite apparent divisions, Teilhard envisions a convergence of ideologies towards a unified, personalized humanity. He urges all to embrace universalism, believing this path will lead to mutual understanding and ultimate unity.
Virtual Reality and Electronic Highs
On Becoming Virtual Octopi
Terence discusses virtual reality technology, which allows people to have immersive experiences in digital worlds. He describes the state of VR in the 1990s and speculates on its future implications, both positive and negative. He reflects on how VR could lead to new forms of communication and imagination, but also trivial entertainment. If used thoughtfully, he concludes, VR holds tremendous transformative potential.
Walking Out Of The Ordinary
(Speech at Sunshine Gardens)
Journey with Terence McKenna into the mystical depths of the psychedelic experience, where alien dimensions beckon and unseen vistas await. McKenna describes fantastical realms beyond ordinary conceptions of reality—worlds that hold promise for expanding human consciousness. He argues persuasively that plant medicines like psilocybin can serve as a key not only to self-knowledge, but to rediscovering our cosmic belonging. McKenna's uncanny ability to articulate the ineffable allows him to initiate audiences into the revelatory power of psychedelic states. Join him on this quest, and you too may glimpse the infinities within.
What Technology Wants
One of today's most respected thinkers turns the conversation about technology on its head by viewing technology as a natural system, an extension of biological evolution. By mapping the behavior of life, we paradoxically get a glimpse at where technology is headed—or "what it wants." Kevin Kelly offers a dozen trajectories in the coming decades for this near-living system. And as we align ourselves with technology's agenda, we can capture its colossal potential. This visionary and optimistic book explores how technology gives our lives greater meaning and is a must-read for anyone curious about the future.
What is e/acc?
e/acc is a viral cultural software program running on our collective meta-intelligence, it is by construction engineered to help us steer our civilizational system towards growth and prosperity by optimizing over actions to maximize its future Kardashev scale.
Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity by 2100?
Hans Moravec explores the future of robotics and AI, predicting a gradual evolution toward intelligent, autonomous machines. He discusses how robotics is lagging behind biotech and nanotech but will soon catch up, leading to household and industrial automation. Moravec envisions robots progressing from simple utility tasks to reasoning and cultural understanding, ultimately surpassing human intelligence. He argues that technological advancement is inevitable, driven by competition and incremental improvements, shaping a future where machines may replace humans.
