The Library of Consciousness
The Library
of Consciousness
of Consciousness
In our ‘entropic’ universe, to cease to advance is to fall back.
The noösphere is a philosophical concept that refers to the aggregated sphere of human thought. A combination of the Greek words noûs (mind) and sphaîra (sphere), it was developed in the early twentieth century by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Édouard Le Roy, and Vladimir Vernadsky. They envisioned the noösphere as a stage in the development of the Earth where the power of human cognition fundamentally alters the planet.
In the noösphere model, the development of human intellectual activities increasingly shapes the Earth’s evolution. As human knowledge and social organization advance, we form an integrated global system of consciousness and information. Connections between people multiply through communication technology, media, and globalization. According to the concept, this interconnectivity allows collective thought and knowledge to blossom, and evolution of human cognition and social potential drives us towards ever greater unification as a species. Over time, the noösphere emerges from information exchange, knowledge accumulation, and unified action, shaping the future of the Earth and humanity.
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 Great Event Foreshadowed
The Planetization of Mankind
Teilhard explores the rise of the masses and the socialization of humanity. He predicts a future Earth where human consciousness evolves to its peak, achieving a maximum of complexity and unity through a process of “planetization,” and argues that collective unity is not a threat but a path to personalization and humanization. As we head towards an interconnected world, he challenges us to embrace a sense of evolution and celebrate our shared destiny.
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.
Building The Earth
A visionary and hopeful book on humanity's future relationship to the planet from which it arose, Teilhard outlines a new psychological state of awareness in which individual humans unite into planetary Personhood. Paragraphs are arranged in verse and interspersed with delicate graphic illustrations.
Centrology
An Essay in a Dialectic of Union
Teilhard proposes a guiding hidden rule present in the universe, leading everything from simplicity to complexity and consciousness. He suggests that as cosmic particles evolve, they become more complex and conscious, ultimately converging toward a unifying Omega point. This vision offers a fresh perspective on the universe, blending science and philosophy to reveal a grand, interconnected cosmic journey.
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.
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.
Cosmic Network
Alan takes us from the very small to the very large, explaining the interrelatedness of all things in the universe as a vast network which weaves us into a united yet unnamable divinity.
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.
DMT and Integrated Information Theory
Neuroscientist Christof Koch’s 5-MeO-DMT experience, marked by self-dissolution and “terror and ecstasy,” sparks a deep discussion on consciousness, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), and reality. IIT suggests consciousness is non-computable and may exist beyond individual brains, potentially forming higher-order minds. Koch inquires whether his psychedelic journey was a mere brain state or a glimpse into a universal mind.
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.
Glimpsing the Global Brain
Complex systems theorist Heylighen and evolutionary biologist Wilson discuss a possible phase transition of humanity in which the members of our species become neurons in a planetary brain, utilizing the Internet as a shared exocortex.
Hominization
Introduction to a Scientific Study of the Phenomenon of Man
In one of his earliest writings on the topic, Teilhard de Chardin explores humanity’s unique place in evolution. He argues that humans represent an entirely new phase of life on Earth—the noosphere, or sphere of conscious thought. While physically similar to other primates, humans are revolutionary in their ability to use tools, form global connections, and reflect on their own existence. This self-awareness comes with both great power and great risk, as humans can choose to either advance or resist evolution’s push toward greater consciousness and unity.
Hot Concepts and Melting Edges
A weekend workshop held at Esalen, with the alternate titles of Deeper and Broader Questions and Eros, Chaos, and Meaning's Edge.
How May We Conceive And Hope That Human Unanimization Will Be Realized On Earth?
Amid the depressing spectacle of human chaos, Teilhard sees glimmers of hope for unanimity. Geographic crowding and intellectual cross-pollination compress us, while deeper forces of attraction pull us together—a rekindled sense of shared species-destiny, and for some, a longing for a “universal lover” at the apex of cosmic evolution to which all egos could converge. Might such planetary energies of compression and gravitational yearning ultimately triumph over our instincts for dispersal? Teilhard dares to envision an inexorable trajectory toward an “Omega” unifying human consciousness.
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 Defence of the Hivemind Society
The idea that humans should abandon their individuality and use technology to bind themselves together into hivemind societies seems both farfetched and frightening—something that is redolent of the worst dystopias from science fiction. In this article, we argue that these common reactions to the ideal of a hivemind society are mistaken. The idea that humans could form hiveminds is sufficiently plausible for its axiological consequences to be taken seriously. Furthermore, far from being a dystopian nightmare, the hivemind society could be desirable and could enable a form of sentient flourishing. Consequently, we should not be so quick to deny it. We provide two arguments in support of this claim—the axiological openness argument and the desirability argument—and then defend it against three major objections.
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.
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.
Lucifer and Ahriman
We live in critical, apocalyptic times. In these five lectures, given just after the end of the First World War and in the midst of trying to effect the social-political life of his times with the movement for a threefold social order, Steiner focuses on the vital task of developing a right orientation toward the spirit: a free spiritual life. With great compassion and understanding he shows how humanity must walk a conscious middle path between the two “tempting” powers of Lucifer and Ahriman. He tells of the incarnation of Lucifer in the third millennium BCE, from which flowed not only the wisdom of paganism but also the intellectual consciousness we enjoy today. Ahriman is shown to be approaching humanity through phenomena such as materialism, nationalism, and literalism in preparation for his incarnation in the millennium now opening. It must not be thought, however, that these two powers work apart: on the contrary, they work more and more together. Our task is to hold them in balance, continually permeating the one with the other. Doing this requires a new form of conscious spirituality.
Macrocognition
A Theory of Distributed Minds and Collective Intentionality
Bryce Huebner develops a novel approach to distributed cognition and collective intentionality, arguing that genuine cognition requires the capacity for flexible, goal-directed behavior enabled by integrated representational systems. It posits that collective mentality should be ascribed where specialized subroutines are integrated to yield group-relevant, goal-directed behavior. The approach reveals that there are many kinds of collective minds, some more akin to those of honeybees or cats than humans. It challenges traditional notions of collective intentionality, suggesting that groups are unlikely to be "believers" in the fullest sense, shedding new light on questions of collective intentionality and responsibility.
Malcolm’s 100× Vision
Malcolm Ocean paints a picture of a future where human collaboration reaches new heights, imagining a world in the 2030s where small groups of people achieve profound synchronicity, forming “collective brains” capable of solving complex problems. These groups are part of larger networks that tackle global issues, create innovative products, and foster personal growth. Ocean envisions a society where work is deeply fulfilling, financial security is guaranteed, and human potential is maximized through trust, emotional coherence, and shared consciousness. It’s a hopeful glimpse into a world of enhanced human connection and capability.
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.
Man's Place in Nature
The Human Zoological Group
In this book Teilhard expounds the evolutionary history of the Earth, the arrival of the human species, and its destiny in the far future. He identifies certain threads of recurrence in evolution's past, and uses these laws of recurrence to project the most probable future destiny of the planet. Teilhard's ingenious conclusion is that evolution is in fact involuting on itself, meaning that the future (like the past) is one of convergence and synthesis, heading towards a single unity he calls the Omega Point.
Manifesto on the Spirit of Planetary Consciousness
Our future is in our hands. László's manifesto calls on each of us to embrace creativity, diversity, and responsibility to evolve society toward stability and sustainability. By shifting our individual and collective values to recognize how we all depend on and impact each other, we can build a peaceful world where all people thrive. It starts with transforming our own minds and spirits.
Merging Minds
The Conceptual and Ethical Impacts of Emerging Technologies for Collective Minds
A growing number of technologies are currently being developed to improve and distribute thinking and decision-making. Rapid progress in brain-to-brain interfacing and swarming technologies promises to transform how we think about collective and collaborative cognitive tasks across domains, ranging from research to entertainment, and from therapeutics to military applications. As these tools continue to improve, we are prompted to monitor how they may affect our society on a broader level, but also how they may reshape our fundamental understanding of agency, responsibility, and other key concepts of our moral landscape.
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.
Noospheric Consciousness
Integrating Neural Models of Consciousness and of the Web
The world-wide web has been conceptualized as a global brain for humanity due to its neural network-like organization. To determine whether this global brain could exhibit features associated with consciousness, we review three neuroscientific theories of consciousness: information integration, adaptive resonance and global workspace. These theories propose that conscious states are characterized by a globally circulating, resonant pattern of activity that is sufficiently coherent to be examined and reflected upon. We then propose a correspondence between this notion and Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the noosphere as a forum for collective thinking, and explore some implications of this self-organizing dynamics for the evolution of shared, global understanding.
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.
Psychedelics and Mathematical Vision
Through visions and swirling fractal forms, three trailblazers embarked on a cosmic journey to the furthest frontiers of consciousness. Seeking to map the mathematical landscapes glimpsed in psychedelic states, they pondered perplexing philosophies and disputed the deepest quandaries of science and spirit. Though technology promises portals to enchanted realms of pattern and meaning, can cold silicon chips ever capture the warmth of Gaia's embrace?
Reawakening our Connection to the Gaian Mind
In a passionate plea, McKenna urges us to embrace psychedelic experiences as a means to dissolve boundaries, connect with the Gaian mind, and find the vision necessary to address the ecological crises threatening our planet. Advocating a radical shift towards eco-consciousness, he calls for a global community built on love, responsibility, and reverence for the wisdom of nature.
Reflection of Energy
Teilhard de Chardin sees human reflection as an evolutionary force escaping entropy's grasp. Emerging from life's intrinsic complexity, reflection leads mankind on an irreversible journey of deepening interiority. Through convergence and collective self-reflection, we approach a sacred point of supreme arrangement and unity. Teilhard argues that to fully encompass life's mystery in science, the reflection of energy must join conservation and dissipation as key principles. Understanding reflection's role illuminates both human destiny and the cosmos' underlying divinity.
Reflection on the Compression of Mankind
In this compressed world, humanity feels the squeeze. But despair not! This pressure cooker of co-reflection may be evolution's secret recipe for elevating consciousness. As we rub elbows and neurons, a tantalizing possibility emerges on the horizon: a cosmic convergence of minds, a "conspiration" of monads. Will this psychic attraction be our salvation, harmonizing the restless billions? The thinking earth must choose: chaotic crush or convergent release. Intriguing times ahead!
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.
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 Anthropic Cosmological Principle
Since Copernicus, science has moved humanity from the center of Creation. However, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle suggests that intelligent observers determine the Universe’s structure. Its radical form asserts that intelligent life must emerge and never die out. Cosmologists John Barrow and Frank Tipler explore the Principle’s implications, from the definition of life to quantum theory. Covering fields like philosophy and astrophysics, this work connects the existence of life with the vast cosmos, engaging a broad audience.
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 Atomism of Spirit
Teilhard de Chardin argues that human plurality mirrors the multiplicity of atoms and stars. Just as matter progresses in complexity from subatomic particles to living cells, so consciousness evolves through increasing unification, culminating in the “Omega point”—supreme consciousness and union.
The Biosphere and the Noösphere
A general intellectual outlook of one of the most remarkable scientific leaders of the early twentieth century, focusing on a predicted historical and planetary phase transition in which humanity becomes a united force. Published in American Scientist Vol. 33, No. 1.
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 Convergence of the Universe
In examining cosmic drift, Teilhard illuminates humankind's role in the universe's inexorable convergence. We stand at an evolutionary precipice, our dawning self-reflection nurturing new heights of consciousness. To embrace this transformation, we must unite, reassess our core values, and pursue collective actualization. Teilhard's vision beckons us to become active participants in cosmogenesis, threads consciously weaving the tapestry of existence. His ideas challenge us to forge an enlightened path, infinite possibilities awaiting our cosmic citizenship.
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 Formation of the Noösphere
A Biological Interpretation of Human History
The noösphere is the sum-total of mental activity which emerges out of a complex biosphere, and in this essay Teilhard describes how our planet is growing its very own mind.
The Global Brain as a Model of the Future Information Society
The Global Brain paradigm views the emerging global information network connecting humans and technology as a nervous system for Earth's social superorganism. This special issue surveys opportunities and challenges in developing this potentially more intelligent, synergetic system. Contributions explore political, economic, and philosophical aspects, aiming to guide the transition towards a sustainable society empowering diversity.
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 Grand Option
Teilhard explores the choices facing humanity as it undergoes the process of socialization, and examines four paths: pessimism, optimism with withdrawal, individualistic pluralism, and convergent unity. He argues for the path of convergent unity, where socialization leads not to loss of individuality but to differentiation and personalization within a unifying whole, fulfilling humanity’s evolutionary trajectory toward higher consciousness.
The Human Rebound of Evolution and its Consequences
This essay follows Teilhard's train of thought on the aftermath of a potential fusing-together of humanity.
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 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 Rise of the Other
“Never has the earth vibrated with more spiritual intensity”—Teilhard de Chardin sees our current global conflicts as growing pains of human evolution. He envisions our increasing interconnectedness not as a threat, but as a path to higher consciousness. As we develop a “sense of man” and universal love, we may transcend our struggles, forming a unified superorganism—the next leap in cosmic evolution.
The Social Superorganism and its Global Brain
Society can be viewed as a multicellular organism, with individuals in the role of the cells. The network of communication channels connecting individuals then plays the role of a nervous system for this superorganism, i.e. a “global brain.”
The Third Story of the Universe
Brian Swimme explores the concept of the noosphere.
The Transformation and Continuation in Man of the Mechanism of Evolution
How does humanity fit into evolution's arc? Teilhard de Chardin argues that we represent not an endpoint, but an intensification of evolution's complexity and consciousness. As technology and social bonds grow, he sees not disaster but hope—perhaps mankind is evolving toward an “ultra-hominization,” a perfected global mind.
The Ultimate Unity for Thought is the Society of Minds
This lofty philosophical treatise passionately argues that the pinnacle of thought and being is a divine society of free spirits in fellowship, whose joyful self-realization through mutual service and growth comprises the final purpose of all creation. Our supreme hope is participation in this Community of Minds.
The Vision of a Better World
Two visionaries, Tom Munnecke and Barbara Marx Hubbard, engage in an uplifting dialogue exploring the emergence of human creativity and consciousness. They trace inspirations from mentors like Jonas Salk, who recognized futuristic possibilities in Hubbard, and Buckminster Fuller, who affirmed humanity's potential. Together they shine light on the crisis of our times as the birth pangs of a new civilization, calling us to connect with the creativity arising globally. Their exchange weaves threads of hope and positivity, envisioning a future where all people actualize their gifts in service of our world.
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.
This View of Life
Completing the Darwinian Revolution
It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly—to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.” In a series of engaging and insightful examples—from the breeding of hens to the timing of cataract surgeries to the organization of an automobile plant—Wilson shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical tool kit for understanding not only genetic evolution but also the fast-paced changes that are having an impact on our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: If we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales—from the efficacy of our groups to our well-being as individuals to our stewardship of the planet Earth.
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.
Ways of Being
Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
What does it mean to be intelligent? Is it uniquely human, or shared with other beings—animals, plants, machines? As AI advances, it becomes a strange, even alien force, challenging our place in the world. Meanwhile, other intelligences—natural systems we’ve overlooked—reveal their agency and complexity. In Ways of Being, James Bridle explores these intelligences through biology, physics, and art, urging us to rethink our technologies and societies for a more equitable coexistence with the nonhuman world. Bold and thought-provoking, it’s essential for our survival.
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 Wide Brain
The Emergence of Global Web Intelligence and How it Will Transform the Human Race
Ben Goertzel says the Internet is evolving towards a “global Web mind”–an emergent, distributed intelligence surpassing human capabilities. This development, grounded in complexity science, could solve AI’s scalability issues and merge humanity with technology. While potentially solving global problems, it raises concerns about individual freedom. Drawing parallels with spiritual concepts like the noösphere and collective unconscious, this evolution is seen as inevitable and transformative. As we nurture this new form of life, we stand at the threshold of a profound shift in human consciousness and global interconnectedness.
