The Internet is an interesting place; you wouldn’t know what is going to jump at you at any turn. This has happened to me several times, the recent escapade being with the “philosophy” of Consciousness Singularity. I was having some grave fun with the Philosophy of Consciousness sites. They decidedly stumped me I must admit. Whether the philosophy has any empirical foundations or not, judging by the things and the manner in which they write, the rest of us would find it tough to remain conscious after a bit of reading on some of the subjects, pan psychism out scoring every other branch by a great distance. There is supposed to be some 18000 or so books on the subject as per the bibliography published by one site. I have nothing against these guys and the way they write. But the terminology employed by them sent something very uncomfortable through my spine from time to time; some know this phenomenon by the name of shivering. Try these sites and the articles (Panpsychist articles highly recommended) some time and you will find out for yourself.
I had barely escaped with some considerable scars when I ‘espied’ the article about Consciousness Singularity. This naturally intrigued me. Well the guy who wrote about it or has conceived it has great potential no doubt, he has a way of writing absolute inanities with absolute conviction. According to his belief at some future point in the human evolution there would be an expansion to our consciousness to encompass every conscious individual in the world. This would result in the consciousness becoming all powerful and all knowing. He envisages a period in which we would link ourselves up in this manner to form one giant consciousness. This is not going to be an evolutionary process but some thing we would bring about ourselves.
In his conception consciousness is inseparably linked to the brain. Hence what is forecast is a linking of all available brains together to form one giant consciousness. He shrewdly observes that the after effects can not be foreseen by us in any manner. We are just not intellectually developed to grasp the idea. I have heard of an incident in the life of Sir Arthur Eddington, who was supposed to be one of the three men who knew what the theory of relativity was at that time. When asked about it he replied “But who is the third?” In the same manner I feel pretty confident that after this man I am the only living person to understand what he is talking about- absolute tripe. There is never going to be such a period in human history whether by man’s orchestration or by natural process.
For one thing such linking would destroy the mankind altogether. Brains can not be joined together selectively according to his theory, it would have to be all the brains or no brains. If all brains are linked can we chose which part of the brain to link, that is, can we link only the logical part of the brains the and forget the rest? Does he imagine the things that would happen if all our sensations, feelings, urges etc get transmitted in this manner. Would he include the mentally retarded ones and the utter imbeciles in this linking scheme? The mankind has not emotionally developed much in the thousands of years that have passed. That is not going to change in the coming few thousands of years. If selection is employed then the whole thing falls down.
For another thing it would be the end of individuality. Even the most benign of people would not favor such an idea. What is the use of stating something which is almost impossible and would serve no purpose other than the pleasure of hearing our own voices. Well he can console himself with the fact that there is an unconscious singularity already in the world. At least some “kind” people are working towards that end.
I would not like these kinds of singularity, would you if it ever happens? The “gott” forbid.
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