Reality, self-creation in search of itself.
Futurism, also known as futurology, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the study and forecasting of future possibilities and trends. It draws on insights and methodologies from various disciplines, including science, technology, sociology, economics, and philosophy, to explore how current developments might shape the future. Futurists analyze existing data, trends, and patterns to extrapolate potential scenarios and anticipate the implications of emerging technologies, societal changes, and environmental shifts. They employ a range of forecasting techniques, from quantitative modeling and trend analysis to qualitative scenario planning and speculative fiction, to explore alternative futures and identify strategies for adaptation and innovation.
Futurism serves as a valuable tool for individuals, organizations, and policymakers seeking to anticipate and prepare for future challenges and opportunities. By identifying potential risks and opportunities, futurists help decision-makers develop proactive strategies to navigate uncertain futures and mitigate potential threats. Additionally, futurism fosters critical thinking about the long-term impacts of present-day decisions and actions, encouraging individuals and societies to consider the ethical, social, and environmental implications of their choices. Ultimately, futurism aims to empower individuals and societies to shape their futures intentionally, fostering resilience, innovation, and sustainability in the face of rapid change and uncertainty.
A Crisis in Consciousness
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.
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 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.
A Weekend with Terence McKenna
“Healing the inner elf through trance, dance, and diet”—the session for true McKenna enthusiasts: twelve hours with the bard himself, in which he touches upon practically all of his trademark topics.
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!
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?
Big Historical Foundations for Deep Future Speculations
Cosmic Evolution, Atechnogenesis, and Technocultural Civilization
Big historians are attempting to construct a general holistic narrative of human origins enabling an approach to studying the emergence of complexity, the relation between evolutionary processes, and the modern context of human experience and actions. In this paper Cadell Last attempts to explore the past and future of cosmic evolution within a big historical foundation characterized by physical, biological, and cultural eras of change. From this analysis he offers a model of the human future that includes an addition and/or reinterpretation of technological singularity theory with a new theory of biocultural evolution focused on the potential birth of technological life: the theory of atechnogenesis. Furthermore, he explores the potential deep futures of technological life and extrapolates towards two hypothetical versions of an “Omega Civilization:” expansion and compression.
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.
Collective Intelligence
Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace
The number of travelers along the information superhighway is increasing at a rate of ten percent a month. How will this communications revolution affect our culture and society? Though awed by their potential, we’ve feared computers as agents of the further alienation of modern man: they take away our jobs, minimize direct human contact, even shake our faith in the unique power of the human brain. Pierre Lévy believes, however, that rather than creating a society where machines rule man, the technology of cyberspace will have a humanizing influence on us, and foster the emergence of a “collective intelligence”—a meeting of minds on the Internet—that will validate the contributions of the individual.
Collier's Interview with Nikola Tesla
An interview conducted by John B. Kennedy and published in the January 30, 1926 issue of Collier's magazine.
Conceptions of a Global Brain
an Historical Review
Imagine a giant, intelligent brain made of humanity and its computers—the Global Brain. This idea blends views of society as a living organism, a universal encyclopedia, and an emerging higher consciousness. Global networks like the Internet not only share information but also learn and adapt together. By combining insights from evolution and cybernetics, we can overcome conflicts and build a collective intelligence that makes solving world problems more efficient and creative.
Conscious Evolution
Our Next Stage
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.
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.
Cosmography
A Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanity
An ambitious synthesis of Fuller’s lifetime of interdisciplinary work, spanning geometry, systems theory, design, and cosmology. He outlines synergetic principles underlying natural structures, sustainable architecture like geodesic domes, and humanity’s potential through whole systems thinking and technologies in equilibrium with the universe’s finite resources. Dense but visionary, it encapsulates Fuller’s goal of developing a “Cosmography”—a coordinated model for all knowledge.
The Persistence of Memory
Cosmos, Episode 11
The idea of intelligence is explored in the concepts of computers (using bits as their basic units of information), whales (in their songs and their disruptions by human activities), DNA, the human brain (the evolution of the brain stem, frontal lobes, neurons, cerebral hemispheres, and corpus callosum under the Triune Brain Model), and man-made structures for collective intelligence (cities, libraries, books, computers, and satellites). The episode ends with speculation on alien intelligence and the information conveyed on the Voyager Golden Record.
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.
Culture and Ideology are not Your Friends
Terence McKenna argues that culture and ideology limit human potential, while psychedelic experiences offer a path to expanded consciousness and connection with nature. He sees the universe as evolving towards increasing novelty and complexity, with human society at a critical juncture. McKenna criticizes modern values and institutions, advocating for a return to shamanic practices and plant-based wisdom. He believes psychedelics can rapidly induce the radical shift in perspective needed to address global challenges and unlock humanity's true potential in an accelerating world of technological change.
Determining our Future
Jonas Salk opened the 1975 Lindisfarne Association Conference with a talk proposing that humanity’s becoming conscious of the evolutionary process implies the ability to develop strategies to avoid catastrophe and determine the future.
Dreaming Awake at the End of Time
Join Terence for an eclectic think along the deconstruction of the deepening worldwide weirdness. With his characteristic hope and humor, McKenna examined time and its mysteries, the nature of language, the techniques of ecstasy, high technology and virtual cyberspace, the role of hallucinogenic plants in shamanism and the evolution of human cultures, and the foundations of postmodern spirituality.
The More It Changes
Essential Lectures, Program 9
Alan Watts speaks on our fascination with reproduction through media, and on the far out notion that human beings may just be one star's way of becoming another star!
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.
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.
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.
Having Archaic and Eating it Too
Feeding back to the psychedelic community of Los Angeles, Terence McKenna delivers colorful and astounding visual transformations. He weaves a galactic tapestry of art-tickled articulations of the history and future of psychedelic alchemy, the government/ culture clash, and the surging general ordering of chaos from UFOs to archaic shamanism. This recording will amuse anyone interested in subjects ranging from eco-tourism to techno-junkies.
Human Civilization and AI
Musk and Rogan discuss the existential risk of uncontrolled artificial intelligence. They explore possibilities for regulation and oversight, the potential for human-AI symbiosis through brain-computer interfaces, and the philosophical implications of advanced AI surpassing human intelligence.
Human Metasystem Transition (HMST) Theory
This article proposes a theory of human evolution termed Human Metasystem Transition (HMST), suggesting that major transitions in human organization have been facilitated by the emergence of new information media and energy sources. It posits that the current convergence of the Internet and renewable energy could catalyze a fourth metasystem transition, leading to a global superorganism with compressed spatial and temporal dimensions of human interaction.
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.
Industrial Society and Its Future
The Unabomber Manifesto
The anti-technology essay by Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. His manifesto contends that the Industrial Revolution began a harmful process of natural destruction brought about by technology, while forcing humans to adapt to machinery, creating a sociopolitical order that suppresses human freedom and potential.
Interview with Erik Davis
The final recorded interview of Terence McKenna, conducted by Erik Davis for Wired magazine.
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.
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-Computer Symbiosis
This visionary paper imagines a future where humans and computers work together in perfect harmony. Licklider describes a world of machines amplifying human intelligence, handling tedious tasks as we focus on creative thinking. He explores the challenges of achieving this symbiosis, from memory and language barriers to input-output interfaces. The paper paints an exciting picture of a partnership that could revolutionize problem-solving and decision-making, ultimately leading to unprecedented intellectual breakthroughs.
Metaman
The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism
In this visionary book, Gregory Stock gives us a new way of understanding our world and our future. He develops the provocative thesis that human society has become an immense living being: a global superorganism in which we humans, knitted together by our modern technology and communication, are like the cells in an animal's body. Drawing on impressive research, Stock shows this newly formed superorganism to be more than metaphor: it is an actual living creature, which he has named Metaman, meaning beyond and transcending humans.
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?
Neurosphere
The Convergence of Evolution, Group Mind, and the Internet
According to Donald Dulchinos, the real action on the Internet isn’t in the realm of commerce. It is, plain and simple, in the realm of religion. But not exactly that old-time religion. This book is about the spiritual impact of our increasing ability to communicate quickly and with enhanced evolution. It's about our search for meaning, our hunger for a glimpse at humanity's future development in which, frighteningly or excitingly, the trend is clearly toward increasing integration of telecommunications and information technology with the body itself. Electronic prosthetics, direct neural implants, and the brain's control of electronic and mechanical limbs move the boundary that used to exist between human and machine to some undefined frontier inside our bodies, our brains, and, perhaps, our minds.
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.
Reasons and Persons
Challenging with several powerful arguments some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity, Parfit claims that we have a false view about our own nature. It is often rational to act against our own best interests, he argues, and most of us have moral views that are self-defeating. We often act wrongly, although we know there will be no one with serious grounds for complaint, and when we consider future generations it is very hard to avoid conclusions that most of us will find very disturbing.
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.
Simulation, Consciousness, Existence
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.
Technium Unbound
What comes after the Internet? What is bigger than the web? What will produce more wealth than all the startups to date? The answer is a planetary superorganism comprised of 4 billion mobile phones, 80 quintillion transistor chips, a million miles of fiber optic cables, and 6 billion human minds all wired together. The whole thing acts like a single organism, with its own behavior and character—but at a scale we have little experience with. This is more than just a metaphor. Kevin Kelly takes the idea of a global superorganism seriously by describing what we know about it so far, how it is growing, where its boundaries are, and what it will mean for us as individuals and collectively.
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.
Technology as Extension of Human Faculties
Marshall McLuhan, Ernst Kapp, and David Rothenberg have each written book-length studies developing theories of technology as an extension of bodily and mental faculties: tools act as prosthetics, amplifying the reach of arms or legs; computers extend memory, calculation, and other cognitive capacities. Philip Brey analyzes these extension theories and asks if the metaphor is valid. Do technologies truly stretch out innate human abilities, or is this mere rhetorical flair? Brey investigates whether there is a substantive sense in which gadgets and gizmos can be seen as extensions of natural human organs. As we increasingly integrate tech into our lives, addressing this question becomes pressing: where does the human end and the technical begin? Brey dives into this ambiguous intersection of person and product.
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 Ascent of Humanity
An Essay on the Evolution of Civilization from Group Consciousness Through Individuality to Super-consciousness
Gerald Heard presents a novel view of history and civilization as the evolution of human consciousness, moving from collective group awareness to individual self-consciousness and beyond. Heard argues that primitive humans were deeply connected to their communities and less aware of individuality, while modern humans are highly self-conscious but separated from their unconscious minds and one another. He suggests that further progress requires advancing towards "superconsciousness," where individuals bridge these divides.
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 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. The aim of The Consciousness Explosion is to help curious and open-minded readers wrap their brains around these dramatic emerging changes-and empower readers with tools to cope and thrive as they unfold.
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 Global Brain
Peter Russell’s award-winning video explores the idea that the Earth is an integrated, self-regulating living organism, and asks what function humanity might have for this planetary being. It suggests that we stand on the threshold of a major leap in evolution, as significant as the emergence of life itself, and the essence of this leap is inner spiritual evolution. Moreover, Russell maintains that it is only through such a shift in consciousness that we will be able to manage successfully the global crises now facing us.
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 High Frontier
Human Colonies in Space
Gerald K. O’Neill presents his visionary plan for human space colonization in the post-Apollo era. The book details three designs for rotating space habitats that could house millions of people near Earth-Moon Lagrange points. O’Neill proposes using lunar materials, launched via mass drivers, to construct these colonies. The habitats would feature Earth-like gravity, solar power, and agricultural areas. He presents space colonization as both technologically feasible and economically beneficial through ventures like solar power satellites.
The Houseboat Summit
An extended conversation between Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder on the problem of whether to “drop out or take over,” conducted on Alan Watts’ houseboat in 1967.
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 Living Machine
Warren McCulloch, a pioneering neurologist and mathematician, discusses his lifelong quest to understand the nature of numbers and human cognition. He explores the parallels between the human brain and complex computing machines, emphasizing the brain’s unique “anastomotic” structure. McCulloch ponders the future of artificial intelligence, suggesting that machines might one day surpass and outlive humans. His ideas blend mathematics, theology, and neuroscience, painting a thought-provoking picture of consciousness, technology, and the potential evolution of intelligence beyond human form.
The Omega Point as Eschaton
Answers to Pannenberg's Questions for Scientists
Frank Tipler presents an outline of the Omega Point theory, which is a model for an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, evolving, personal God who is both transcendent to spacetime and immanent in it, and who exists necessarily. The model is a falsifiable physical theory, deriving its key concepts not from any religious tradition but from modern physical cosmology and computer science; from scientific materialism rather than revelation. Four testable predictions of the model are given. The theory assumes that thinking is a purely physical process of the brain, and that personality dies with the brain. Nevertheless, he shows that the Omega Point theory suggests a future universal resurrection of the dead very similar to the one predicted in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The notions of “grace” and the “beatific vision” appear naturally in the model.
The Phenomenon of Man
Visionary theologian and evolutionary theorist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect, and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile religion with the scientific theory of evolution. In this timeless book (whose original French title better translates to “The Human Phenomenon”), Teilhard argues that just as living organisms sprung from inorganic matter and evolved into ever more complex thinking beings, humans are evolving toward an “omega point”—defined by Teilhard as a convergence with the Divine.
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 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.
Turning the Head, or Turning On
Talking to an audience at San José State University, Alan Watts recounts the first time he tried consciousness-altering substances after meeting Aldous Huxley. He argues that Western society largely isn’t ready for the mystical experience which can be triggered in these mental states, but nonetheless advocates for them, as they may arouse positive transformation in the human collectivity.
USA 2000
Abstraction or Reality?
Beginning with his prophecy that the United States of America will no longer exist in the year 2000, Alan introduces us to a possible utopia which he discerned in his vision of the future. Topics include automation, guaranteed universal incomes, the confusion of money with wealth, changing work ethics, and the grim necessity of our learning how to sensuously enjoy luxury if we want to avoid total destruction.
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.
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.
What is the Noosphere?
Planetary Superorganism, Major Evolutionary Transition, and Emergence
Picture Earth evolving a new layer—not of rock or life, but of thought and technology. This “noosphere” is like a planetary brain emerging through our global networks, satellites, and collective intelligence. The paper explores how this mysterious transformation could represent Earth’s next evolutionary leap, potentially leading to planetary consciousness or even contact with other cosmic minds. It’s happening right now, though we’re still figuring out how to guide this planetary metamorphosis.
World as Play
Watts presents a core Eastern philosophy of the world as a dramatic illusion, and that it exists for no other reason except to be experienced in a playful manner.
