Today’s muse, there is no real example in our natural world, of ourselves. We create machines to transport ourselves, we create memory enhancements, we mess with the reproductive systems of ourselves and other species, we have taken unto ourselves the role of "King/Queen" of the planet. Aren’t we quite the upstarts.
Individually, especially as we age, we seem to begin to understand that we are not "above" this system, we are part of it, no matter how much we think we are in control, even the largest ego has to come to the understanding it is not powerful enough to transcend the system of its birth. So there is a natural ebb and flow of life, that we all come to grips with, and is written and talked about in countless ways, religious/spiritual, philosophical and scientific.
What interests me is that this system of individual gnosis that we are all forced to deal with by the end of our individual lives, seems strangely absent from the species i.e., the human collective, the human species ego, seems unbridled, almost out-of-control. What is going on here?
- Does our almost unique tool making ability foster this collective hubris?
- Is there a collective human species evolution occurring, one that scientists have yet to quantify, and are we in the equivalent of adolescence?
- Or, are we simply at the top of the food chain, and is this the result of having no real predators (other than ourselves of course)?
- Are we really out-of-control, or is this hyperkinetic human collective energy really a means to some unseen end or a part of some unseen evolutionary process?
One final thought, I try and monitor the latest goings on in human tool building, and I often look to the work of MIT’s Media Lab, they have something called the MIThril project:
"The goal of the MIThril project is the development and prototyping of new techniques of human-computer interaction for body-worn applications. Through the application of human factors, machine learning, hardware engineering, and software engineering, the MIThril team is constructing a new kind of computing environment and developing prototype applications for health, communications, and just-in-time information delivery."
Of course the researchers call themselves the MIT Borglab, but this does pose an interesting question, are we as a species being "accelerated" to create a new "species", in a non-traditional way because there is a some kind of planetary level need that we do not yet see. We often think of our species as causing great pain to our planet, and perhaps even destroying it, but what if we are actually in the process of evolving, or creating, a species that may be able help? Or maybe the earth is "hatching" itself, and we are the new born.
Hi Kts Cultural Muse, Some of your questions are the answers themselves. Hyperkinetism that you describe and is observable perhaps is the process that facilitate and guide the process of evolution. Yes I think with the techonlogy and knowledge we have acquired a scenario would soon come that we have to share the planet with the inteligences and machines and bots and borgs we create. This necessarily would be a bad thing, One does not have to view the hypekynetism and manipulation of the environment as a quest to achieve control over things though for some this may very well be the driving force behind it. But the never ending and ongoing manipulation of the environment is probably a result of a desire to harmonise with the nature and blend with it to become one with it, and in that sense we sure are in our infancy. Hope that maeks sense now
Hello Ruchira,
I like your take on the desire to harmonize, though personally, I am reluctant to labels things as "good" or "bad". This area is for me, a fascinating subject, and one I hope we see more of here, and in greater human discourse.
I believe the dialogue itself (consciousness) has tremendous value. I try, in my own thinking and writing, not to "pigeonhole" myself (and others); we process so much information that I think we tend to cut it down into manageable size by labeling everything, which is understandable, and makes us, in some ways, more comfortable. But I think it also tends to stifle true creative and ego-minimized discourse.
Feel free to check out CulturalMuse.com too, if you like this kind of discussion.
kts
Thnx for the reply kts, Yeah you are right about good and bad I suppose. I out it hat as I thought you were referring to the hyperkinetism with somewhat negative sentiments. Well then negative sentiments are not bad. THey are just one pole of the things….
I think I checked your site out but couldn't read it in detail. Would do that sometime. Are you associated to Daniel Greenwood by any chance…? MIThrill Project sounds interesting especially health care applications… i feel there is so much potential there and unexplored territories to charter….. in this quest of harmonising with the environment. I used to coin the term called 'Matterrealism' as opposed to Materialism ( which could be regarded as the thirst, desire and the quest to be on the top of the food chain by acquiring as much material wealth as possible). Matterealism means the exploration of hte material world and facilitation of the expresion of energy through the material world in such a way that we could harmonise and blend with it one day….. pretty abstract I know.. but most realities we have created I suppose had started so… !
Nice knowing you here on intent.com
~ R ~