Human Energy Podcast

Alignment for a Major Evolutionary Transition: The Future of Humanity & AI - Global Salon Series - Shack15 at the Ferry Building, San Fransisco, CA

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0500

The San Francisco Salon gathered leading thinkers to explore a central question of our era: How do we align humanity, technology, and the planet as we enter a major evolutionary transition?
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This salon convenes leading voices in evolutionary science, the future of tech, and human potential to explore how humanity and AI might co-evolve toward unprecedented global cooperation. Together, we’ll examine the frontiers of human and machine intelligence, the pathways toward alignment at both biological and societal levels, and the role of leadership, ethics, and cooperation in shaping our collective future.

Hosted by Human Energy, the evening wove together evolutionary science, cooperation theory, cognition, and AI through perspectives from Terry Deacon (UC Berkeley), Athena Aktipis (Cooperative Futures Institute), Peter Fenton (Benchmark Capital), and Nichol Bradford (Human + Tech Week).
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Through conversation and community, this salon will surface insights into how humanity can navigate unprecedented technological change while deepening connection, resilience, and purpose.

Held at SHACK15 at the Ferry Building on November 11th, 2025. This salon is part of the Human Energy Global Salon Series. An intimate and by invitation only experience.

This event is made possible through catalytic sponsorship by Benchmark.

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Cosmic Consciousness Exploring the Noosphere's Role in Astrophysics and Astrobiology | Youssef Moulane | N2 2024

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Zkpb4ktHdIk

Integrating Complexity and Modes of Knowledge for Inter-Globals Collaboration | Tomás Veloz | N2 2024

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Tomás Veloz's Presentation:

Integrating Complexity and Modes of Knowledge for Inter-Globals Collaboration

In the face of exponential technological advancements and profound global challenges, the need for a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the noosphere—our collective consciousness—has never been more urgent. As a person born and raised in the Global south (Chile) and being an interdisciplinary researcher building collaborations for nearly 15 years between the Globals not only in science, but also in technology and the arts, this talk seeks to explore how we can ethically and effectively guide the evolution of the noosphere, putting special emphasis in the so-called "wicked problems" and the importance of an effective dialogue between the Globals to solve them.

Wicked problems can only be represented in a multifaceted and incomplete way (inter/transdisciplinary), they have a multilevel, processual, and complex adaptive nature (non-objectual), and consciously experiencing them is transformative (enactive). These features of wicked problems make the construction of knowledge about them an endeavor that i) cannot be only circumscribed to academic and dominant circles, and ii) cannot be understood without the consideration of all parties (and levels) involved. The latter calls for a revision of the normative views (Global North/Western) about what it means to build knowledge and to perform decision making and action.

In the first part of this talk I will elaborate on the above-mentioned features of wicked problems and present a proposal of a model of noospheric knowledge construction that does not conform to knowledge hierarchies validated by academia and that it is participatory by default. In the second part of this talk, I will review some experiences both as an academic and director of a non-profit living working between Chile and Belgium and bridging multiple organizations between the Global North and South. As a result of these experiences, I will propose a framework for interdisciplinary and international collaboration, emphasizing how different types of knowledge—theoretical, practical, and experiential—can converge to ethically steer the future of the noosphere. The talk will end highlighting the importance of inclusivity and the role of the Global South in shaping the future and resilience of global consciousness.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7oRgfkS4yz4

Noosphere and a Politics of Humanity | Souleymane Bachir Diagne Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s thought-provoking presentation at N2 2024 challenges us to rethink the noosphere as more than a natural evolution of global consciousness. While building on the scientific and theological foundations of Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, Diagne highlights the critical need to address political and cultural divides—especially the inequality between the Global North and South. Drawing on the works of L.S. Senghor, Diagne presents a vision of the noosphere that celebrates cultural convergence and equity, urging us to work against structural injustices to realize its full promise. This talk bridges science, ethics, and politics to illuminate the path toward a shared humanity.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne Presentation:

Noosphere and a Politics of Humanity

The emergence of the noosphere as a "thinking layer of the biosphere" presupposes an emergence of cosmopolitanism out of the tribal fragmentation of the human kind. Noosphere must be a politics of humanity.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rgNBow3Wu_A

AI reframed as an organic evolutionary process fueled by human creativity | Parham Pourdavood | N2 2024

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Parham Pourdavood's Presentation:

AI reframed as an organic evolutionary process fueled by human creativity

Debates surrounding the nature of artificial intelligence (AI) often revolve around whether AI is evolving into an independent intelligent entity with agency or if it remains a form of algorithmic mimicry, destined to remain disconnected from the organic principles that govern cognition and life. A closer examination suggests that while AI systems lack agency and the essential organic principles needed for selfhood and cognition, they operate according to a logic that mirrors a principle within organisms—namely, the dynamic compression and decompression of information. Just as compressed genetic information is utilized and decompressed by cells through novel interactions—ultimately giving rise to the development of cognition and agency at the collective scale of the organism—technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) can be viewed as compressed forms of humanity’s behavioral patterns, which, when creatively interpreted and utilized, could afford the development of identity and agency at a planetary scale. From this perspective, an ethical framework emerges in which AI serves as a tool for amplifying human perspective, imagination, collaboration, and self-reflection, while offering an organic model and precedent for a harmonious relationship between the embodied, intuitive nature of living beings and their abstract, compressed representations. This vision echoes Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the “collective memory of the human race” as an organic phenomenon, where the liberation of human creativity through automation might enable a novel evolutionary process on a planetary scale.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XtitqrYcvW4

Beyond Individualism: The Organic Dynamics of Digital Sociability and the Guild Model | Olivier Servais | N2 2024

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Iu5Y_G4nrqg

Human Energy for Work & Life: Cultivating Agency, Connection, and Purpose in the Age of AI - Global Salon Series - Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:00:00 -0400

Join us for an immersive evening of dialogue, connection, and insight at Human Energy's New York City Salon, recorded live at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus on June 12, 2025. This salon is part of the Human Energy Global Salon Series.
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This salon, title Human Energy for Work & Life: Cultivating Agency, Connection, and Purposes in the Age of AI brings together leading thinkers in science, business, psychology, and AI. Together, we'll consider how human energy—our capacity for resilience, adaptability, and connection—can be cultivated in the face of today’s complex personal and planetary challenges. Through conversation and community, we’ll explore the science of human connection, prosocial AI, the role of leadership in complexity, and the emerging paradigms reshaping how we live and work.

HOST:

Sheila Hassell Hughes
CEO, HUMAN ENERGY
Professor and Former Dean of Liberal Arts, Saint Mary’s College of California

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Cornelia C. Walther
Director, POZE, a global alliance for systemic change that benefits people and planet
Wharton AI & Analytics Visiting Scholar

Raj Sisodia
FEMSA Distinguished University Professor and Chairman,
Conscious Enterprise Center, Tecnológico de Monterrey

James A. Coan
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Virginia Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Virginia

David S. Wilson
Human Energy Advisory Board Member
SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University

Learn more:
https://www.humanenergy.io/events/fordham-salon

The Human Mind: An Homage (or Love Letter) | Natasha Vita More Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RFHzLW2isA8

"Raison d’État" and collective conscience: borders from the perspective of the noosphere | N2 2024

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

In this compelling presentation, Montassir Sakhi revisits Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the noosphere through the lens of the Global South. He explores the tensions between universalism, colonial legacies, and contemporary inequalities, emphasizing the urgent need to address borderization and systemic division. By integrating critical perspectives, Sakhi challenges us to envision a truly unified human spirit grounded in justice and inclusion.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Montassir Sakhi's presentation:

"Raison d’État" and the collective conscience: thinking about borders from the perspective of the noosphere

How can the theories and concepts developed in the noosphere paradigm help us to rethink the tragedy that is currently taking place around the closing of the borders of the global North? More precisely, how can global concepts that are based on the idea of humanist and universalist reason help us today to question border policies that are based on repressive measures?

This talk analyses how concepts such as "the new man" (Fanon, 1961), "oceanic feeling" (Freud, 1930) and “collective consciousness” (de Chardin, 1955) are challenged by the new "Raison d'État" (Foucault, 1978) that has emerged since the birth of modernity. The aim is to see how this Raison is reinvented in post-colonial times through the phenomenon of the border and its central mechanisms (visas, detention centres, expulsions, etc.). In the work of the three thinkers mentioned above, and in an approach that could be called "revolutionary noosphere", the aim is then to rediscover an awareness of and an overcoming of public policies that are both national and imperial, based on the practice of borderisation. This talk will provide an opportunity to draw on ethnographic research currently being carried out in Morocco with families and groups at risk of disappearance in Europe's borderlands, mainly the Mediteranean Sea. Their experiences will be used to describe both the repression of Europe's borders and the solidarity forged in collective struggles. This talk will show how these solidarities today constitute spaces that can be compared to the "collective consciousness" to which the noosphere invites us.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kQVo-1YGKnY

The Business of the Noosphere | Michael Pirson Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Michael Pirson Presentation:

The Business of the Noosphere

What if the business of business wasn’t business but the Noosphere? What does that even mean? Business has been a driving force of the economy, politics, and society for better or worse. In this session we explore the paradigmatic foundations of business and organizations at large to become a lever of Noospheric progress. We also highlight the possibility and potential of leadership of business and organizations to create a world that works for everyone.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5p6sZ_TNvcs

What is human energy? An investigation into life, experience and evolution | Michael Jacob | N2 2024

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Discover how human energy, creativity, and the Noosphere are interconnected in Michael Jacob's compelling N2 2024 presentation.

Drawing on the visionary work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jacob explores the concept of "meta-aliveness" and how our individual and collective energy drives conscious evolution. From the hidden creativity of cells and brains to the transformative power of imagination, this talk bridges science, poetry, and mystery to illuminate humanity's role in shaping the future. Watch to learn how embracing the unknown can unlock the noosphere's full potential.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Michael Jacob's presentation:

What is human energy? An investigation into life, experience and evolution

Human energy is the vital link between our personal, individual lives and the living, evolutionary potential of the noosphere. This presentation will move beyond abstract conceptualizations of human energy that describe it as a physical, biological, and moral force, to incorporate experiential knowledge in the service of conscious evolution.

Conscious evolution is how the noosphere enables evolvability: the capacity to increase the probability of an evolutionary outcome. As a fuel for evolvability, human energy reflects a natural extension of biological processes that utilize surplus metabolic energy for adaptive evolution. This latent energy leverages serendipitous interactions within biochemical, neural, and social networks to constellate innovative pathways. As a result of this creative energy, organisms are more than literally “alive” (surviving) but are “meta-alive,” (flourishing and evolvable). This presentation explores the radical hypothesis of human energy: when we feel metaphorically alive, the noosphere is biologically alive.

Nonetheless, biological descriptions are insufficient to capture the felt experience of human energy. Making meaning of this experience, which often takes the form of a vital calling in one’s life, requires biology and poetry. What emerges from this creative process cannot be predicted, but is nourished through the energy of the arts, music, and literature (the humanities). I propose that through our human energy, we are creatively called to participate in the noosphere and awaken it to life. This work and its scholarly support requires us to build a transdisciplinary bridge between the biological sciences and the humanities.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hoFR86Tzemo

Awe and Wonder: Gateways to Planetary Consciousness | Marouane Jaouat Presentation N2 24

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/V-3JzGjJPCs

Fear and loathing in the network: the paradox of social media & collective well-being | Johan Bollen | N2 2024

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Johan Bollen Presentations

Fear and loathing in the network: the paradox of social media and collective well-being

Modern life is marked by a strange paradox: we are now more socially connected than ever which is an important condition for human thriving, yet the prevalence of mental health disorders has increased sharply. Mental health disorders are now one of the world’s leading causes of disability. This is particularly the case for our youth. Suicide rates for young adults are now considered very high, a source of great concern. How can the most socially connected generation since the dawn of humanity also be its most anxious and depressed? In my talk I will revisit some of the evidence pointing towards the involvement of social media in this paradox. While social media platforms provide an unprecedented opportunity to establish meaningful social connections across geographical and socio-cultural boundaries, they are marked by several characteristics which may drive the present rise in mental health disorders. Since young adults are online practically continuously, they may be most exposed to these effects. I will discuss how network effects such as assortativity and the friendship paradox may conspire against our mental health. In addition, I will look at the interaction between cognitive distortions and the psycho-linguistic effects of online social networks. Evidence is pointing towards online social networks serving as vectors for the diffusion and propagation of a mode of thinking and communicating that is quite common among individuals with internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety. We have analyzed large-scale text databases and shown marked increases of markers of cognitive distortions in books and other content. Finally, I will highlight some fascinating relations between cognitive distortions and societal polarization which may be fueling political and societal dysfunction in the West.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Noosphere, Technosphere, Biosphere: What Futures? | Isabelle Delannoy Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Isabelle Delannoy's Presentation:

Noosphere, Technosphere, Biosphere: What Futures?

In 1926, when Vladimir Vernadsky introduced the concepts of the geosphere, biosphere, technosphere, and noosphere, he viewed them as the five successive levels of evolution on Earth, each one creating the next and, in turn, being modified by it: the physical sphere generates the living sphere, which in turn, through humans, generates the technosphere, which in turn generates a sphere of global thought, and each of these manifestations produces its effects on the previous ones. Through this conceptualization, he presented the first systemic vision of how the Earth functions.

Today, as the biosphere undergoes the greatest extinction crisis in its history, and as the majority of human populations who are its victims are not responsible for it, Vernadsky’s concepts provide a powerful framework for thinking about and understanding our contemporary problems. What thoughts and technologies are in conflict with the biosphere to the point of destroying it? What is their history, where do they originate, where are they received, and at what level do they spread? How do they evolve? We argue that two scenarios are currently possible and emerging: one is the development of a way of thinking and techniques in harmony with the biosphere, and the other is a scenario where the technosphere and noosphere persist without the persistence of the biosphere.

Isabelle Delannoy is the CEO and co-founder of L’Entreprise Symbiotique, a professor affiliated with CNAM, and the author of L’économie symbiotique, régénérer la planète, l’économie et la société, Actes Sud, 2017.

This talk will be presented in French.

Original French Translation:

Noosphère, Technosphère, Biosphère : quels futurs ?

Quand en 1926, Vladimir Vernadsky émet les concepts de géosphère, biosphère, technosphère et noosphère, il les envisage comme les cinq niveaux d’évolution successifs de la Terre, chacune créant la suivante et étant en retour modifiée par elle : la sphère physique engendre la sphère vivante qui elle-même via l’humain engendre la technique qui elle-même engendre une sphère de pensée globale et chacune de ces manifestations produit ses effets sur les précédentes. Par cette conceptualisation, il énonce la première vision systémique du fonctionnement de la Terre.

Aujourd’hui, alors que la biosphère vit la plus grande crise d’extinction que nous connaissions de son histoire, et que la majorité des populations humaines qui en sont les victimes n’en sont pas les responsables, les concepts de Vernadsky fournissent un cadre puissant pour penser et comprendre nos problèmes contemporains. Quelle pensée et quelles techniques entrent en conflit avec la biosphère au point de la détruire ? Quelle est leur histoire, d’où sont-elles émises, où sont-elles reçues et à quel niveau diffusent-elles ? Comment évoluent-elles ? Nous défendrons que deux scénarios sont aujourd’hui possibles et en émergence : celui du développement d’une pensée et de techniques en accord avec la biosphère et celui d’une Terre où technosphère et noosphère persistent sans la persistance de la biosphère.

Isabelle Delannoy est dirigeante et cofondatrice de L’Entreprise Symbiotique, professeure affiliée au CNAM et autrice de L’économie symbiotique, régénérer la planète, l’économie et la société, Actes Sud 2017.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Teilhard’s Noosphere: Why Evolution and Religion Belong Together | Ilia Delio Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 26 May 2025 11:00:00 -0400

In this insightful talk, theologian and Teilhardian scholar Ilia Delio explores the profound connections between science, religion, and the noosphere. Drawing on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's groundbreaking ideas, she discusses the intrinsic relationship between matter, consciousness, and the spiritual energy driving evolution. Delio emphasizes the need for a holistic understanding of science and religion as complementary forces shaping the future of humanity and the planet. Her thought-provoking perspective invites us to consider a new, unified vision of knowing and being in the emerging noosphere.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Ilia Delio's Presentation:
Teilhard’s Noosphere: Why Evolution and Religion Belong Together

The Noosphere is our present reality of complexified matter and global consciousness. Scientists mapping the Noosphere show grids of interconnections that reveal a formative pattern of a higher-ordered collective. Teilhard de Chardin envisioned this pattern almost a century ago, but he saw that emerging complexified wholeness cannot be adequately sustained without religion. He did not conceive religion as a confessional set of doctrines but the depth dimension of all reality, the search for ultimate meaning, and the state of being grasped by ultimate concerns. “Religion and evolution,” he said, “are destined to form one single continuous organism, in which their respective lives prolong, are dependent on, and complete one another.” Religion is the biological response to the emergence of spiritual energy. His sense of religion, therefore, is experiential and supports faith in the future. The true function of religion is to sustain and spur on the progress of life. In his view, no one religion can satisfy the religious spirit of the earth and its evolution towards Omega. If religion is a biological phenomenon, what is religion on the level of emerging Noosphere? Science has significantly advanced the Noosphere but without a rebirth of religion, the future is fragile.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eXvhtRwF294

Swimming in the Noosphere | Gregory Stock & Sadie Stock Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 19 May 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FKIItB8-y5c

Business & Leadership in the Noosphere: Dee Frewert, Amine Belemlih, Giuseppe Orlando, Nawal Chraibi | N2 2024

Mon, 12 May 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/t2tA5A0o_Ww

Wonder and Awe in the Noosphere | Francis Heylighen Presentation N2 24

Mon, 05 May 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tQIcr8kGgPw

Evolution and Future of the Noosphere: Francis Heylighen, Shima Beigi, Gregory Stock, Michael Jacob - N2 2024

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PKUuO1q73_g

Democracy, Technology, and Modernity in the Noosphere: Raphaël Liogier, Lorenzo Marsili, Shima Beigi - N2 2024

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Watch: https://youtu.be/DkJMd63Z2j0

The Noosphere Narrative: Bridging Anthropocene, Gaia & Technological Singularity for Global Progress - Clément Vidal - N2 2024

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Clément Vidal's Presentation:

The Noosphere Narrative: Bridging the Anthropocene, Gaia and the Technological Singularity for Planetary Progress

Narratives for our global future are dominated by the Anthropocene, the Gaia hypothesis, or the technological singularity. However, these narratives paint a biased picture and fail to offer a consistent and hopeful vision for our future. We argue that the noosphere can offer a synthesis of these narratives, and introduce new concepts to this end. A key idea of the Anthropocene is the great acceleration, creating destructive and out-of-control dynamics, that we propose to counter with a great regulation to stabilize Earth systems. A central insight of the Gaia hypothesis is the discovery of feedback loops between the geosphere and the biosphere. We argue that feedback from humans and the noosphere should be included into this picture, forming a broader “Anthropogaia”. The technological singularity advocates often have a blind faith in the salvatory potential of technology. We argue that this potential should serve more a planetary vision, and less transhumanist themes and hopes. The noosphere can also be framed as the first planetary major evolutionary transition, and usefully described with living systems theory to identify and tackle global challenges. In sum, we argue that the noosphere is a unique vision and narrative that invites systemic action to tackle global challenges, while providing a positive and consistent evolutionary outlook into the future.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/r5pGwrdRaVU

Synergy, Sustainability, and African Agriculture | Bruno Gérard Presentation N2 2024

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Bruno Gérard's Presentation:

Synergy, Sustainability, and African Agriculture

African agriculture stands at a critical juncture, shaped by dynamic drivers of change including rapid urbanization, demographic growth, and climate pressures. While agriculture remains the backbone of livelihoods for millions, its low-input, subsistence-based systems are increasingly unsustainable. These challenges are exacerbated by resource constraints, erratic rainfall, and degraded soils, which hinder productivity and resilience. The need for transformation has never been greater.

Opportunities lie in adopting sustainable intensification approaches that enhance productivity without degrading natural resources. Digital tools, mechanization, and innovations in plant genetics offer practical solutions to close yield gaps and improve resource efficiency. However, these require a robust enabling environment, including improved market systems, access to credit, and secure land tenure. Moreover, strategic investment in higher education is essential to equip the next generation of agricultural leaders and researchers with the skills to innovate and adapt to the continent’s unique challenges.

By leveraging transformative opportunities while addressing entrenched barriers, African agriculture
can transition from subsistence to sustainability. This transformation must prioritize integrated research and development, policy alignment, and cross-sector collaboration to meet growing food demands and enhance livelihoods. With bold and coordinated efforts, the continent can achieve resilient, inclusive, and sustainable food systems, contributing to long-term economic growth and environmental stewardship.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aCeANFRJZa8

The Hemispheric Nous: Making Global Distinctions against the Backdrop of the Noosphere - Boris Shoshitaishvili N2 2024

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

In this thoughtful presentation, Boris Shoshitaishvili’s N2 2024 explores the evolution of the noosphere concept from its origins with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadsky to its relevance in today’s world.

He examines how their hopeful vision of planetary unity and progress contrasts with the complex realities of the 21st century, including climate change, disinformation, and societal polarization. Boris highlights the need to rethink the noosphere’s narratives, advocating for a pluralistic approach that acknowledges global inequalities and opens up diverse pathways for the future. Through examples from philosophy, history, and contemporary theory, he reimagines the noosphere as a contested and dynamic space for political and ecological action.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Boris Shoshitaishvili's presentation:

The Hemispheric Nous: Making Global Distinctions against the Backdrop of the Noosphere

The noosphere is, in part, the proposition that human affect, reason, and technology interact on a planetary scale to form a single sphere encompassing all of Earth: a sphere of nous, or shared mind. The concept implies spatial continuity, wholeness, coverage, and participation-a sphere being the geometrical figure whose every surface point is equidistant from its center. It suggests that each human being should have a comparable opportunity to shape this shared domain. Given these themes, pairing the noosphere with the term “Global South” is an important provocation. Among other associations, “Global South” focuses attention on inequities in the human world: between a set of communities located (mostly) in the southern hemisphere and another (mainly) in the northern hemisphere. This loosely geographical demarcation of South and North is a successor framework to the earlier system that divided the world into “developing” and “developed”. That binary itself followed the Cold War-era tripartite division of human communities into a “first”, “second”, and unaligned “third” world. In this talk, I consider how this history of attempts to represent sociopolitical and economic divisions in the human world exists in tension with the singular “sphericity” typically assumed in discussion of the noosphere. If the noosphere is an aspirational planetary vision, then injustices and inequities separating human communities are planetary fissures-divisions in planetary nous. I argue that to fully take account of these fissures requires rethinking nous in a different direction from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadksy's early theories of the noosphere.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Mhx1IsgprRU

Phenomenon and Thought | Boris Cyrulnik's Presentation at N2 2024

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0400

In Dialogue: From the Noosphere to the Metamind — Charting a New Era of Global Consciousness - N2 2024

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 11:00:00 -0400

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

Abre Fournier and Brian Swimme Presentation:

In Dialogue: From the Noosphere to the Metamind — Charting a New Era of Global Consciousness

Humanity is approaching a significant transformation—a shift in consciousness that will reshape our understanding of the self and our place in the universe. The Metamind—the emergence of the “conscious” dimension of the Noosphere —marks a pivotal event in our evolutionary journey, comparable in significance to the emergence of the human self or self-consciousness. In dialogue with Brian Thomas Swimme, who will discuss the evolution of reproductive imagination and the discovery of our participation in the larger order, Abre Fournier introduces her Metamind theory, which she puts forward as a radical leap in the evolution of human consciousness. By both engaging with a new noospheric ecology of planetary intelligence facilitated by advancements in technology and communication, and breaking through the conventional boundaries of the self by transcending individualistic perspectives of everyday consciousness, we are poised to enter a new era of expanded perception and awakened potential. The emergence of the Metamind, and its individuated form the Metaself, marks a pivotal shift in human consciousness at both personal and global scales. Indeed, moving to the conscious Metamind is the dawn of a profound transformation in the four billion years of biological and consciousness evolution. This presentation will emphasize how understanding and embracing this shift will be crucial for humanity and our planet’s ecosystem as we confront the real possibility of ecosystemic collapse. The talk will feature Abre G. Fournier speaking in person, with Brian T. Swimme joining via video stream.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/62LwFJV-cCI

Sheila Hassell Hughes N2 2024 Opening Remarks

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 11:00:00 -0400

In this talk, Sheila Hassell Hughes, COO of Human Energy, shares the organization's journey from its founding in 2017 by Ben Kacyra to its current initiatives, focusing on the noosphere. Human Energy works to inspire hope and purpose in a rapidly changing world through education, research, and dissemination, including events like the N2 conference. Sheila reflects on her personal connection to the mission, emphasizing its transformative impact on students and young people. She highlights the organization's tracks in education, ethics, and engagement while inviting participants to connect via Discord for continued collaboration.

The N2 2024: The Noosphere & the Global South conference explored the intersection of technology, society, and the noosphere—the sphere of human thought and collective consciousness. Hosted by Human Energy and UM6P, this year’s event brought together leading thinkers, visionaries, and innovators to discuss solutions to the challenges posed by the techno-social era. Through engaging presentations and collaborative dialogue, N2 2024 aims to inspire actionable insights and transformative change.

N2 2024: The Noosphere & The Global South took place on December 16th - 18th in Ben Guerir, Morocco 🌐

The N2 Conference looks to deepen our present understanding and future vision for the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity especially in regard to its influence on the biosphere and in relation to evolution.

N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.

We invite you to join the conversation and keep watching more N2 2024 presentations on this channel. Subscribe for updates and insights as we continue to explore the transformative potential of worldview, technology and the noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io/

What the video: https://youtu.be/tW7XXZYZ7vo

CONVERGENCE TO A UNIFIED HUMANITY Convergence in the Modern Stage of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

When we reflect on fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution, we can see the way convergence is one of the most fundamental dynamics. In fact, the deepest meaning of the universe can be pointed at with a three word sentence: Convergence ignites novelty.

By considering an example from the early universe, we can see how the power of convergence relates to our human situation today, especially with regards to the emergence of the noosphere.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:
• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

THE STUPENDOUS POWER OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE - Story of the Noosphere

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In today’s video, we examine cerebralization, the process by which Earth is becoming ever more mind-like, during the modern era of humanity through the construction and launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Our day to day lives are immersed within this powerful process of cerebralization, as well as other dynamics that have led to the emergence of the noosphere. We can come to understand and evaluate our lives in terms of these dynamics and see how we are participating in one or several of this movements.

When we do, everything changes. A new context becomes available to reflect on the meaning and purpose of one's life. We are supported in any effort to direct our actions to well being of humanity and the Earth community as a whole.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:
• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for futur

COSMIC EVOLUTION MANIFESTING AS HUMANITY Heredity in the Modern Stage of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

The planetary mind is on the verge of creating new human forms. Hereditary traditions that have, over many millennia, given birth to hundreds of diverse human forms, are now entering the process of creative dialogue with one another.

It is in the synergies generated by deepening relations among all human communities that new and vibrant contexts are put into place. Over time the creative relationships in these new contexts will bring forth a million new human forms.

You may already be one of them.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:
1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:
• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (
https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/
).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

THE NOOSPHERIC NOURISHMENT OF MODERN TRADE Trade in the Modern Stage of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

With so many real problems besetting our Earth community, any talk of an
emerging planetary mind can seem naive. Already in the first half of the 21st century, pessimism has captured a great many.

To avoid the temptation of depression and despair, we need to take in the larger arc of history. In the modern era, trading networks exploded and changed the fabric of human life.

A keen appreciation of what trade has bequeathed to us will strengthen our faith in progress.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:
1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:
• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (
https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/
).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

DIALOGUE AS THE PATHWAY TO EARTH'S DREAM Communication in the Modern Stage of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

Interested in participating in the central creative energy of our solar system?

You can through intentional engagement with the emergence of the noosphere.

In this episode, we explore how modern communication networks offer a powerful avenue to Earth’s mind.

Our electronic communication systems are on the verge of becoming a central nervous system for the Earth community. Tools and technology are readily available for global conversation. The essential next step is a planet-wide dialogue on what constitutes true human happiness. The quest to address human happiness can and will unite our species.

You can begin the process now. If you are interested in participating in the central creative energy of our solar system, ask yourself this crucial question: What activities bring me a deep sense of fulfillment?

---
Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:
1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:
• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (
https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/
).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific a

Time-Developmental Consciousness - Story of the Noosphere

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

The greatest discovery in all of modern science came in the 20th Century. We now know we live not in a fixed cosmos, but in a cosmogenesis -- a universe in the midst of its development.

This discovery leads to a profound transformation of human
consciousness. We move from our former conviction that the universe is static and unchanging to the amazing realization that we -- as humanity, and as universe -- are developing into something new.

This emerging form of consciousness, called time-developmental consciousness, is regarded by some scholars as the most significant transformation of consciousness in 2 million years of human existence.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (
https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/
).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

A Hundred Thousand Year Experiment - Story of the Noosphere

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

A hundred thousand year experiment, carried out by the Earth Community, makes clear that major stages of humanity's development were set from our origin.

The experiment took place when Homo sapiens began to flow north out of Africa. Some veered to the west and populated Europe. Others turned right and crossed over into the Americas.

The key point is that for a hundred thousand years, the humans heading for Europe had utterly no contact with the humans trekking toward the Americas. And yet when they met, a hundred thousand years later, in the sixteenth century, they found that they had evolved through profoundly similar stages.

This suggests that humanity’s evolution has a cosmic significance, one we are only now beginning to understand.

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy:
https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme
https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy http://humanenergy.io/

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The Magnificent Power of Paper - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

The universe created stars. galaxies, and life, and that same creative energy is at work in humans. In this film we investigate how early modern humans discovered a way to enhance the creativity flowing through them.

Through the invention of readily accessible paper, modern humans were able to capture novel creative potencies, fixing new ideas to paper before they vanished. Henceforth, humans could complexify their thinking because they could build former thoughts into current thoughts.

This gave birth to an upwelling of art and music, to new designs for government and architecture, to new visions of what it meant to be a human.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

Pythagorean Dreams - Story of the Noosphere

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

The special nature of human consciousness is bringing forth a planet that is ever more mind-like. We call this the process of cerebralization.

Is this work coming from the universe?

Or are we on our own here?

Are we just a meaningless speck in the midst of a trillion galaxies?

Or are we here to construct a planetary mind?

Similar questions have haunted humans from the beginning. In this video, we discuss one of the most fascinating speculations concerning this question that comes from the world of science. Fair warning, this idea will ask you to stretch your mind. But it provides a radical new understanding of our existence as humans, one we think you'll enjoy considering.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of

Money and Wealth - Story of the Noosphere

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

Money was invented during the classical era of humanity and inaugurated a new era of human evolution. Money was such a powerful new invention we are only now beginning to understand its deeper meaning.

In today's episode, we look at the way in which trade networks, during the classical period of humanity, participated in the building of the noosphere.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientation.

The Universe is Thinking - Story of the Noosphere

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

When we think, who is thinking? What is the origin of our thoughts?

In Classical civilizations, the answer given was "the soul," understood to be a power inside our body. Contemporary cognitive science has extended this idea to larger units of space and time.

In this episode, we investigate the way the dynamics of heredity enable the rise of the noosphere and expand our common understanding of what it is to be a thinking being.

---

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The Extraordinary Realm in Classical Civilization - Story of the Noosphere

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

As humans deepened their relationships during the classical period, they became aware of an extraordinary realm beyond that of people and things, a realm they pointed to with a great many names: Paradise, the Transcendent, the Tao, Jehovah, Heaven. This was an untouchable realm. An unseeable realm. And yet a realm of such great force it changed the structure of all human societies.

In this episode, we investigate the way population dynamics in the Classical stage of humanity deepened our access to the extraordinary realm and enabled the rise of the noosphere.

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The Universe Aims at Harmonious Convergence - Story of the Noosphere

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In this episode, we look art the way in which the convergence of hunter-gatherer bands into the great civilizations of the Classical period of humanity enabled the construction of the noosphere.

Like cells converging together and giving birth to complex ecosystems, this process of complexification and convergence is still underway underway in the human story.

Through this story, we can see that we are en route to a harmonious convergence of humanity as a whole.

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐
---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

Written Language and the Mind of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

Beginning six thousand years ago, humans discovered written language, a form of communication that would enhance the ongoing construction of the mind of humanity.

In this episode we examine the way classical civilizations developed the power of written language and how this contributed to the emergence of the noosphere.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

Pythagorean Dreams - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

Zarathustra and the New Leap in Being - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In this episode we investigate how transformation and expression of self-consciousness in the Classical stage of humanity contributed to the development of the noosphere.

For thousands of years, whenever humans spoke of profound matters, they quoted the words of the Gods. Athena, the Olympian Goddess said this. Ra, the Egyptian Sun God, said that. Such statements from sacred scriptures were regarded as eternal, unalterable, perfect. What mattered, for the order of society, was obedience to these pronouncements.

Then, a man came forward. He had a different way of talking that changed the world forever. His name was Zarathustra, one of history’s earliest individuals to express their internal sense of self-consciousness.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Pyramids and Flying Insects: Tools, Technology, and Evolution - Story of the Noosphere

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In this episode we investigate how development of tools and technology in the Classical stage of humanity contributed to the development of the noosphere.

Humanity's development of tools and technology have given us perspective and power to intimately engage with the planet. We are now a planetary power filled with potential energy.

One of the persistent challenges of life is maintaining our zest and directing our energy. This is especially true of the early twenty-first century when so much chaos reigns. It is vital that we understand the larger meaning of the chaos and thus avoid despair. We catch a glimpse of this meaning when we understand that we are bringing forth the noosphere.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for tuning in! 🌐

Cosmic Law of Love: Deepening of the Individual and Community - Story of the Noosphere

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In this episode we investigate how increase in population in the Neolithic stage of humanity contributed to the emergence of the noosphere through the deepening bonds with one another.

This can be seen as an expression of the cosmic law of love.

Love is the foundational dynamic for the universe's development. The elements of the universe are seeking to bond in order to deepen their creativity, which we see even at the level of gravity. Atoms attracted to each other give birth to stars and planets.

It is the same at the human level. Our attraction might have different names – fascination, allurement, love – but the dynamism is the same. Union differentiates. That is, union with things that one is not gives birth to who one truly is.

Pursuing what we love enables the universe to advance. If a new world is to be born, it is crucial that we follow our unique fascinations.

--

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

Obsidian and Circulatory Networks: How Relationships Energize the Noosphere - Story of the Noosphere

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere.

In this episode, we show how trading networks during the Neolithic stage of humanity advanced the emergence of the noosphere.

With the advent of humans, a new form of animal interaction, called trade, was initiated on planet Earth. By examining the power of trade networks, we get a clear view of the way trade has led to greater intelligence and ever deepening harmony throughout humanity. In doing so, trade provides the means and energy for humanity to develop into a planetary community.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

Steps Toward Planetary Intelligence: Humanity's Role in the Development of Earth's Mind - Story of the Noosphere

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere

Throughout the three billion years of life on Earth, the mysterious power we call intelligence has deepened and spread. We are now in the midst of an irruption of this intelligence, an emergence so vast we refer to it as a global brain. It amounts to a transformation of the evolutionary process itself.

Join us as we investigate cerebralization, a condition that gave rise to the noosphere, in the Neolithic stage of humanity.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Singing the Universe into Being: Ritual and Creation of a Global Community - Story of the Noosphere

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores humanity today is in great need of a pathway into harmonious global community. In this episode, we investigate the way in which Neolithic humans constructed a particularly powerful mode of communication -- the ritual -- as a powerful means for meeting this challenge.
---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Cave Art and Symbolic Imagination: Awakening of Planetary Consciousness - Story of the Noosphere

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores how over the last million years, the human mind has been assembled through a series of awakenings. One of the most powerful awakenings is that of symbolic imagination. Coming to understand the evocation of symbolic imagination can help us navigate our present moment, where we are witnessing and participating in the awakening of planetary consciousness.

In this episode, we celebrate the noosphere's invention of a new form of memory involving the symbolic imagination. Humanity participates in the creation of the noosphere through symbolic imagination an advanced form of consciousness richly developed in the neolithic era.

---

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Synergy and Creative Relationships: The Power of Collaborative Consciousness - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the creative power of synergy that emerges through the union of two or more entities. The power and presence of synergy permeates every level of the universe. Here we explore examples of synergy at the quantum, celestial, and biological levels. Our hope is that a deeper and more detailed relationship to the universal power of synergy will help further connect and energize the synergistic relationships in your day-to-day life. Through our deepening relationships, the noosphere is arising.

----

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Telling Time with Stonehenge: How Tools Enable Deep Engagement with the Present Moment - Story of the Noosphere

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the power of humanity’s ever-deepening relationship with time through the tools they create. In this episode, we examine the discovery of the year in the Neolithic stage of humanity.

Knowing what time it is has been a source of knowledge and a cause for celebration throughout human history. In this video, we add to the lineage of humanity’s discovery of time. Through modern tools, we have discovered a new dimension of time – the movement of the universe throughout its development.

Knowing the pattern of the universe’s development throughout time enables us to understand our time now. Our time now is a strong moment in the universe’s creativity. A major emergence is taking place, the appearance of a planetary mind, the noosphere.

Our role and responsibility is to bring forth a healthy, positive, and functional noosphere in all its power. One that enables the full potential of each individual, humanity, and the Earth community as a whole.

----

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

Sex and Soil: Cultural Heredity within the Seed of Earth - Story of the Noosphere

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the wonder of seed and topsoil and cultural heredity, the process through which Neolithic humans formed an intimate relationship with life's principles and dynamics.

Neolithic insights, modern science, and the emergence of the noosphere have allowed humans to have an intimate and detailed understanding of the developmental dynamics that animate the cosmos. Through our relationship with these dynamics, we can sense the direction of the universe's development and even glimpse humanity's purpose within the grand precession of the story of the universe. We can suspect that the dynamics of the Milky Way galaxy are cosmic soil and Earth (and Earth-like planets) are the seeds.

Within this context, we can see that it is humanity's role and responsibility to ensure the health of our planet and positive development of its noosphere to best contribute to our galactic garden.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Neolithic #Seed #Soil #CulturalHeredity #HumanEnergy

The Great Reversal: Diversification and Convergence - Story of the Noosphere

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the beginnings of life's turn from diversification to convergence in the Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
2. Tools
3. Self-Consciousness
4. Communication
5. Population
6. Trade
7. Cerebralization
8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

The Story and The Campfire: Symbolic Language's Planetary Power - Story of the Noosphere

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the development of heredity in the Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
2. Tools
3. Self-Consciousness
4. Communication
5. Population
6. Trade
7. Cerebralization
8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

Becoming One Another: Trade in the Paleolithic Era of Humanity - Story of the Noosphere

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the development of trade in the Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
2. Tools
3. Self-Consciousness
4. Communication
5. Population
6. Trade
7. Cerebralization
8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/our-mission/

#Noosphere #Compassion #Paleolithic #SymbolicConsciousness #HumanEnergy #CosmicEvolution #Science

Neotenic Consciousness: Humanity's Childlike Kind-Hearted Core - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the development of self-consciousness in the Paleolithic stage of humanity.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade

To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientation.

The Third Story of the Unive

Cosmic Conversations: Symbolic Language & Scientific Symbols - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the development of communication in the Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity

The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools

Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness

Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication

A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population

A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization

The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence

To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)

• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)

• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)

• Modern (1,400 CE - present)

• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientation.

Acceleration of Evolution: Fire, Humanity, and Building a Planetary Mind - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores the development of tools in the Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientat

Odyssey of Homo Erectus: Human Population, Diversity and the Noosphere - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores how increase in magnitude and diversity in population led to the emergence of the noosphere. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

–––

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientation.

The Third Story of

A Brain of Brains: Human Cerebralization in the Paleolithic Stage - Story of the Noosphere

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0500

This episode is from our YouTube series Story of the Noosphere and explores cerebralization in Paleolithic stage of humanity. Part of the Story of the Noosphere series.

Presented by Human Energy: https://HumanEnergy.io

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share the love. Subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified of new content by Human Energy. It is people like you who keep us going.

As a word, "noosphere" is a loose synonym for three different meanings: the history and destiny of Homo sapiens; an emerging planetary nervous system, an emerging superorganism.

Throughout this series, we explore the conditions that gave rise to the noosphere:

1. Heredity
The transfer of genetic and cultural information from parents to offspring, generation to generation.

2. Tools
Instruments and technological devices that aids in accomplishing tasks.

3. Self-Consciousness
Conscious of one's own acts or states as belonging to or originating in oneself : aware of oneself as an individual.

4. Communication
A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.

5. Population
A body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common, the total of particles at a particular energy level.

6. Trade
To exchange (something) for something else, typically as a commercial transaction.

7. Cerebralization
The developing capacity of a species to form an idea, mental image or understanding something.

8. Convergence
To come together and unite in a common interest or focus.

Across five different stages of humanity:

• Paleolithic (300,000 - 11,000 years ago)
• Neolithic (11,000 years ago - 3,000 BCE)
• Classical (3,000 BCE - 1400 CE)
• Modern (1,400 CE - present)
• Future

This series of short films explores the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a superorganism, called the noosphere. As we deepen our understanding of this noosphere we begin to discover a collective sense of meaning and purpose that will help us address our global challenges.

Our series is narrated and hosted by Brian Thomas Swimme (https://storyoftheuniverse.org/) and produced by Human Energy (http://humanenergy.io/).

Human Energy was founded to share a new scientific and cosmic story introducing the Noosphere as a source of meaning for future generations in our globalizing world.

The project addresses the challenges of unprecedented technological and social change which, together with the scientific picture of an aimless universe, have created a crisis of orientation.

The Third Story of the Universe (

Complex Adaptive Systems, the Noosphere, and Artificial Intelligence - Tomas Veloz - N2 Conference 2023

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Tomas Veloz
Centre Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Complex Adaptive Systems, the Noosphere, and Artificial Intelligence

In this presentation, we will explore formal conceptualizations of key elements required to understand the Noosphere aiming at a scientific perspective that bridges to artificial intelligence. Examples of these concepts are contextuality, feedback, self-organization, emergence, agency, resilience, autonomy, affordance, and goal-directedness. While these concepts are drawn mostly from the domain of complex adaptive systems, they have different interpretations and mathematical descriptions in different domains, which requires further analysis for their proper application to the Noosphere. Hence, we will establish connections between well-established paradigms in the study of emergence and the evolution of autonomous agency in life sciences, and the technically and conceptually distinct realm of artificial intelligence, which, while epistemically interrelated, often appear disconnected. Our envisioned trajectory anticipates a fusion of agency evolution and artificial intelligence within a non-anthropomorphic, yet biologically-inspired, framework of cognition. From here, we will propose avenues for how these ideas could be applied to deepen our understanding of the noosphere, enabling us to tackle both technical and societal challenges more effectively at the individual and collective levels.

Learn more about Human Energy and the N2 Conference 2024 on our website.

Purposeful AI between Biosphere and Noosphere - Stefan Leijnen - N2 Conference 2023

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Stefan Leijnen
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Purposeful AI between Biosphere and Noosphere

Artificial intelligence developed within the machine learning paradigm is capable of producing models of unbounded complexity, far beyond the scope of human understanding. Deep learning, attention networks and foundation models have pushed subsequent shifts in this capacity, scaling up model size, data usage and computing power to a point where this complexity has become both a bug and a feature. This has driven human developers and users towards progressively relying more on blind trust, humility towards perceptions of self-autonomy and problems of control.

A common assumption in the machine learning paradigm is that the objective function (the purpose towards which the model optimises) is provided by a human, securing some level of human control of the AI. However, purpose may emerge not only at the level of human individuals but also in collective, mechanical or hybrid organisations.

AI brings radical innovations to our affordances for interacting with large datasets, such as ChatGPT vs. prompt-based internet search. Interfaces will continue to co-evolve with our use of this technology, exploring and transforming human-machine integrated thought and consciousness through existing and new (e.g. neural) interfaces.

In order to help guide these innovations, we need to develop a framework for understanding the emergence and regulation of purpose in living, artificial and hybrid organisations, i.e. in and between biosphere and noosphere. Using this framework, technology can be designed that allows humans to retain and attain the reigns of control as we continue to delegate autonomy and purpose to machines and other organisations.

Learn more about Human Energy and the N2 Conference 2024 on our website.

Traversing Spheres through Story: Indigenous Resources in Louise Erdrich’s Fiction for Thinking About the Noosphere - Sheila Hassell Hughes - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Sheila Hassell Hughes
Saint Mary’s College of California

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

There are four layers above the earth and four layers below. Sometimes in our dreams and creations we pass through the layers, which are also space and time. In saying the word nindinawemaganidok, or my relatives, we speak of everything that has existed in time, the known and the unknown, the unseen, the obvious, all that lived before or is living now in the worlds above and below.” So begins one of Louise Erdrich’s many novels that weave together Ojibwe and white settler history in the US. This presentation explores Indigenous and feminist resources in Erdrich’s fiction and memoir for thinking about space, time, and the noosphere. Focusing on fundamental relationality, the art of story, and the ongoing presence of the past, I consider her theorization of “traversal,” rather than “transcendence, as a way forward (and back).

Learn more about Human Energy and the N2 Conference 2024 on our website.

Humanity, the Universe, and the Noosphere: an Evo-Devo Story - John Smart - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Presented by John Smart as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at University of California, Berkeley

JOHN SMART
FORESIGHT SPEAKER, CONSULTANT, AUTHOR
John Smart is a global futurist, foresight consultant, and entrepreneur. He is CEO of Foresight University (Ann Arbor, MI and Los Gatos, CA), a foresight training consultancy. He is also founder of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, a nonprofit focused on understanding and describing human adaptiveness in a world of accelerating technological change.

John’s expertise is in foresight development. His mission is to help leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams to develop best-in-class foresight process, master the Eight Skills of Foresight and Action, and achieve more adaptive futures for themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

Learn more about Human Energy and the N2 Conference 2024 on our website.

Exploring the African philosophy of Ubuntu in relation to global governance/citizenship and the Noosphere. -

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Heinrich Volmink
Ubuntu Global Network
University of the Witwatersrand
Stellenbosch University

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Focus/background: Ubuntu is an African philosophy which broadly translates to mean “a person is a person by virtue of other people” or “I am because we are.” It is thus an ethic that strongly relates to interconnectedness and empathy. In early post-Apartheid South Africa, Ubuntu was championed by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu to help guide the transition to democracy. While the value of Ubuntu for national peace-building is evident, the question of its utility in global governance and (cosmopolitan) citizenship formation needs to be explored, especially in relation to the Noosphere.

Scope/format: A presentation in two parts. Part 1 will provide an overview of Ubuntu and then describe a research-based framework for the application of Ubuntu to global governance and citizenship. Part 2 will describe the example of the Ubuntu United Nations, a global initiative linked to the Ubuntu Global Network, that may provide important lessons for global affairs and the Noosphere.

Methods: Part 1 will be based on past research conducted at the University of Warwick by the presenter that used qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews and analysis of themes. Part 2 will discuss a case study on the first cohort of the Ubuntu United Nations (2021) which included over 600 delegates from more than 180 countries.

Conclusion: This presentation will provide both theoretical and practical considerations of the application of the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which can yield important insights for building a new global ethic in relation to Noopolitik.

Learn more about Human Energy and the N2 Conference 2024 on our website.

0 comments

The Noosphere and the Harmony of the Spheres: Bringing Techno-, Info-, and Biospheres into Planetary Alignment - Boris Shoshitaishvili - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Boris Shoshitaishvili from the Berggruen Institute presents his talk at the N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California Berkeley.

The Noosphere and the Harmony of the Spheres: Bringing Techno-, Info-, and Biospheres into Planetary Alignment

The noosphere is an early (and enduring) paradigm of human "planetary identity" that goes beyond some of the limitations of traditional cosmopolitan thought thanks to its suite of scientific, philosophical, and poetic resonances—such as its analogy to the geochemical system of Earth spheres; its emphasis on mind (noos); and its associations with the ancient "harmony of the spheres". But given the noosphere concept's utopian flavor from its origins in Teilhard and Vernadsky's theories, noosphere thought today runs up against a profound mismatch with context: We are increasingly recognizing that human planetary presence contributes to the creation of other, non-utopian, and "out-of-human-control" planetary spheres—specifically, the "technosphere" and the "infosphere". So a 21st century vision of the noosphere can no longer effectively serve as a utopian eschatology, as the concept had originally. But the noosphere idea still has real value today: as a framing concept for ongoing efforts at harmonizing the technosphere and infosphere with each other and with the biosphere.

Learn more about Human Energy and or N2 Conference at or website.

From Noosphere to Omega Point: Schelling, Grof, and the Experiential Birth of the Cosmic Christ - Ayeh Kashani - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Ayeh Kashani
California Institute of Integral Studies

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

From Noosphere to Omega Point: Schelling, Grof, and the Experiential Birth of the Cosmic Christ

This presentation explores the evolutionary trajectory from the Noosphere to the Omega Point: intertwining the insights of Friedrich Schelling with the transformative experiences articulated by Stanislav Grof.

Schelling's focus on the primacy of experience, as opposed to Hegel's purely rational perspective, portrays the emergence of the Absolute or God not merely as a rational process but as an embodied lived experience. Looking to Grof, whose work on Holotropic states and the perinatal process offers a methodology for actualizing these evolutionary experiences, the presentation emphasizes the pivotal role of direct experience in manifesting the birth of the Cosmic Christ within the finite realm.

By integrating philosophical arguments with Grof's methodologies, this talk resonates with the conference themes of "Theology & Spiritual Engagement of/with the Noosphere" and "Philosophy & Ethics of/for the Noosphere." It endeavors to build a bridge between rational comprehension and experiential realization, guiding us closer to the Omega Point.

Learn more about Human Energy on our website.

The Noosphere and its Experiential Evolution: A Look at History and Future Perspectives. - Wolfgang Leidhold - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Wolfgang Leidhold
Professor of Political Science at the University of Cologne (Germany)

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

The Noosphere and its Experiential Evolution: A Look at History and Future Perspectives.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin first conceived the concept of the noosphere in 1923 and later positioned it in his theory of cosmogenesis, running from the geosphere via the biosphere to the noosphere. In my talk, I elaborate on the dynamics of this evolution, taking a closer look at the transition from the present state of the noosphere into the next turn in experience. Brian inspired me to bring together Teilhard’s ideas, Brian's reflections, and mine. I want to present the results here. In my view, the noosphere passes through an experiential evolution, which leads from the Paleolithic to the present day. As I have shown in my book on "The History of Experience" (2023), the noosphere went through nine transformations so far. At each new stage, the way we consciously participate in reality (i.e. the structure of experience) changed, beginning with the transition from intuitive information processing to conscious perception, reaching its preliminary climax with the discovery of consciousness and the unconscious. This raises the question: Has the evolution of experience already reached its end with the recent transition? The answer is no - there is no reason to think so. But where does the journey go now? Brian and I both think that today we are on the threshold of another dimension of experience. The outlines of this next transformation are something Brian and I want to consider and flesh out in dialogue.

Learn more about Human Energy at our website.

Noogenesis: Human + A.I. Agents Iterating toward Collaborative Intelligence - Zann Gill - N2 Conference 2023

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 13:00:00 -0400

Zann Gill
A founder of GAIL (Generative AI Lab & Library). Former Research Scientist/ Program Developer at NASA.

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Noogenesis: Human + A.I. Agents Iterating toward Collaborative Intelligence

Two extreme views contend in the A.I. debate: First: A.I. will drive the human species extinct. Second: A.I. will be a great equalizer and enabler. Human perception of the extinction hypothesis was fact checked by Melanie Mitchell: 50% of AI researchers believe there’s a 10% chance that AI will drive the human species extinct. Those now in control fear AI as “an alien gone out of control.” In contrast, the global open source community models collaborative autonomy, a distributed indie network rapidly iterating, innovating, and evolving, a noosphere emerging to empower humanity. As a grad student, I was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s pre-Internet concept for World Game, designed to be played in university gymnasia, where a 75 foot Dymaxion Map of the world was laid out as a gameboard on the gymnasium floor. When the public Internet made a global, persistent “gameboard” possible, I started earthDECKS, where DECKS stands for Distributed, Evolving Collaborative Knowledge System and also evokes “decks” of story cards in a human - machine iterative learning loop that can manifest collaborative intelligence, the 21st century incarnation of what Teilhard de Chardin called the noosphere and Buckminster Fuller called World Game. With the surge of A.I., I saw the missing puzzle piece to grow and evolve a global platform to track local progress toward addressing the grave crises of life on Earth today. A.I. is a bandwagon with momentum to drive a collaborative intelligence initiative, attracting global attention, mobilizing fear to kickstart action and motivating construction of a next generation social network to support collaborative intelligence, using A.I. to scale.

Learn more about Human Energy on our website.

Beyond Sovereignty and Submission: The complex role of the modern individual within the noosphere - Ari Makridakis - N2 Conference 2023

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Beyond Sovereignty and Submission: The complex role of the modern individual within the noosphere

Presented by Ari Makridakis as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at University of California, Berkeley

Alongside the emergence of the noosphere, the modern period has witnessed the birth of another, radically new planetary power: the autonomous, psychological individual. In this presentation, I will explore the relationship between these two titanic forces, asking what role sovereign, self-oriented individuals are meant to play in the creation of the noosphere.

Within the academic community, this relationship is described in wildly different ways. In one camp, thinkers such as Brian Swimme proclaim that the rise of the noosphere depends crucially on the unique sensitivities and personal passions of self-empowered individuals. From this perspective, the flourishing of the modern individual self and that of the noosphere would appear to be synergistic — and even mutually implicated — processes. According other scholars, however, the modern self's ever-increasing fixation on personal fulfillment and self-centered satiation represent the largest impediment to the birth of the noosphere. To avoid becoming a cancerous growth within the Earth's nervous system, modern individuals must therefore relinquish their narrow, self-interested desires and allow their activities to be governed by planetary goals instead.

In this talk, I will examine how the framework of systems theory can shed light on these divergent views. Drawing on the work of Arthur Koestler, Gregory Bateson, Stuart Kauffman, and Alicia Juarrero, I will attempt to offer a more nuanced view of the relationship between increasingly empowered individuals and an increasingly integrated planetary mind.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Evolving the Self: Cognitive Sciences, the Extended Mind, and the Noosphere - Abre Fournier - N2 Conference 2023

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Evolving the Self: Cognitive Sciences, the Extended Mind, and the Noosphere

Presented by Abre Fournier (https://www.abrefournier.com/) and Brian Thomas Swimme at the N2 Conference 2023, University of California, Berkeley

Through the span of the scientific and industrial revolutions of the past two centuries, the Western conception of the self, anchored in Cartesian dualistic metaphysics, has predominantly viewed humans as entities distinct from an ostensibly inert universe. Increasingly challenged, such perspectives are no longer viable. Contemporary advancements in physical and cognitive sciences have begun to dismantle these assumptions, recognizing matter as life-generating and mind-generating.

The emerging trend of research in externalist views of the mind accentuates the mind's existence across multiple dimensions. Humans are embodied living organisms, situated across a matrix of environments. Our discussion of human beings as self-organizing dynamical systems brings forth the process of being that refers to the relational brain-body-world dynamics of the mind. Dynamical embodiment extends the realm of the mind beyond mere neurological boundaries, capturing the entirety of an individual's existence—from the intricacies of synaptic networks to broader societal and planetary interconnections.

Philosophically, these views point to a diverse, evolving self or dynamical selfing, argued on the basis of all aspects of self-consciousness being constructed, evolving within the ecosystems of personal relationships that include the intersubjective interactions with the world, a planet of living beings, and things. With this understanding, we suggest we are in the process of constructing a "noospheric self," where noosphere refers to human thought which now envelops the Earth. We assert that this transformation of self-consciousness—from the selves of the modern era developing into dynamical noospheric selves—represents the emergence of a new form of humanity.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Broadening the idea of intelligence in AI and the Noosphere - Floor Schukking - N2 Conference 2023

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Presented by Floor Schukking
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Broadening the idea of intelligence in AI and the Noosphere

The field of AI and the noosphere share a common interest in intelligence. The central paradigm in the current AI field is that once intelligent systems become advanced enough, they will solve our problems and society will benefit from these intelligent technologies. However, many of the current problems we face, such as the climate crisis, have been a result of the same Euro-Western system of scientific knowledge and liberal-democratic progressive ideals that have shaped the definition of what this intelligence entails. Within AI systems, you might recognize these ideals in optimizing or solving problems related to immediate short-term benefit for a selected group, while often ignoring system- or long-term effects. Placing technological advancement at the core of intelligence does not only lead to problems on a planet with finite resources and interconnected ecosystems, but also indirectly implies the elevation of Euro-Western tech-societies above non-Western peoples. The noosphere vision aims at globally intelligent, and perhaps more important, a thoughtful mind. Currently, applications and implications of what is intelligence in AI is defined by tech companies which are mostly driven by unlimited economic growth and greed. Critical social scientist and philosophers have raised the need for alternative ways of thinking about intelligence, such as decolonial, indigenous or feminist approaches. While keeping the optimism of shaping the noosphere in a positive direction for all, can we broaden the definition(s) of intelligence to create an inclusive, sustainable, loving future and can AI as a theoretical technical framework aid in integrating and envisioning these theories?

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io

Literature of the Noosphere for Secondary Education - Emily DeMoor - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Presented by Emily DeMoor
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Literature of the Noosphere for Secondary Education

The scientific study of the Earth’s evolution reveals cooperative and symbiotic relationships as effective strategies for major evolutionary transitions (MET). The next MET, which is already underway, is the creation of a Noosphere in which humans come together in a shared consciousness and heart. This convergence results in intersubjective relationships -- an idea that may be difficult for western cultures to embrace, due to a strong emphasis on individuality. This presentation will look at the phenomenon of intersubjectivity in literary narratives by Gary Paulson, Herman Hesse, Loren Eiseley, Paul Fleishman, and others which may be used in secondary level English Language Arts courses. In doing so, it will explore the language of collectivity, compassion, and empathic fusion - language that may assist youth in re-imagining themselves as part of nature, each other, and a larger, sentient whole; to move beyond the individual liberal subject to a participatory consciousness in which in-between spaces of relationship emerge as sites of encounter and exchange wherein boundaries between “self” and “other” are redefined. The literature featured in this presentation thus promises to help heal the alienation that results from the techno-social dilemma and discover the joy and promise of co-creating a shared consciousness towards a viable planetary future.

In alignment with the NCTE/IRA Standards for the English language Arts, through this literature students may “build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world” (#1) and of the many dimensions of human experience (#2).

Learn more at: https://www.humanenergy.io

Why stop here? Expanding the scale of life through noospheric geography - Parham Pourdavood & Michael Jacob - N2 Conference 2023

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Presented by Parham Pourdavood & Michael Jacob
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

An approach to noospheric geography is proposed to examine the possibility that human populations, technology, economics, and flows of culture and information reflect components of a unified, living system. Extending our prior multiscale, biological model of interdependence, we present initial evidence of functional interaction between these phenomena at a planetary scale. To accomplish this, we have simultaneously mapped the growth of human populations, roads, telecommunications technology, access to the internet, global trade and internet search content. By combining these maps according to organizational principles of biological function and examining development over time, we are able to identify evidence that the noosphere may be operating like a type of nervous system. That is, a highly interconnected system that expedites communication to support the survival of the organism. From maps of infrastructural and technological growth we find evidence that like a nervous system, an initial period of growth in ‘structural’ connectivity is necessary. Second, maps of dramatically expanding access to global information flow and communication technology supports what is typically termed ‘functional’ connectivity in the field of neuroscience. These first two phenomena are reminiscent of a ‘critical period’ for nervous system development. Lastly, we find recent evidence for interdependence between economic trade and communicative search content on the internet. We refer to this type of connectivity as ‘meaningful’ because it connects information flows with the survival of humanity on the whole. Therefore, noospheric geography provides new tools to examine collective humanity as a singular, coherent, meaning-making organism.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

AI and the Noosphere Roundtable - Stefan Leijnen, Olaf Witkowski, Floor Schukking, Tomas Veloz - N2 Conference 2023

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Stefan Leijnen, Olaf Witkowski, Floor Schukking, Tomas Veloz Present a roundtable discussion titled AI and the Noosphere.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io

Fostering Noospheric Urban Living with Mindful Smart Cities - Shima Beigi - N2 Conference 2023

Sat, 10 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Presented by Shima Beigi
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Fostering Noospheric Urban Living with Mindful Smart Cities

By 2050, more than 68% of the world's population will live in cities, intensifying urbanisation's pressures on ecological systems and amplifying the demand for reliable infrastructure, robust systems, social cohesion, and healthier communities. This escalating urbanisation requires a profound system-level paradigm shift in envisioning and building future cities. The noospheric framework of Mindful Smart Cities constitutes ten design principles, seven human digital urban rights, seven levels of smartness and a unique tale of human transformation, turning cities into evolutionary noospheric engines dedicated to human self-actualisation and awakening.

Learn more at https://www.humanenergy.io

Hybrid Beings - Olaf Witkowski - N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Hybrid Beings

Presented by Olaf Witkowski
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

In this talk, we delve into symbiotic interactions between autonomous forms of intelligence, including humans, animals, artificial beings, and others, regardless of their embodiments or substrates. Grounded in rigorous scientific study of agents, this talk examines the possibilities and limitations of hybrid intelligences, connecting via meaningful communication beyond the boundaries of a single species or type of agent, and across media, spatiotemporal, and organizational scales. Standing on the shoulders of the giant advances of the past and recent present in artificial intelligence, not only equipped with deep learning and large language models, but also with the latest insights from developmental biology, information theory, cognitive psychology, and ethics of AI agents, we want to push on the development of techniques that will allow us to design positive, emergent, mutualistic interactions, paving new, possibly surprising paths toward fostering harmonious hybrid systems, able to amplify the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses of agents functioning on their own. This talk is meant as an invitation to discuss and envision and shape a future where humanity and technology seamlessly intertwine for the collective betterment. Through a firm Feynman-like attitude of “What I cannot create, I do not understand”, we would like to push back the frontiers of synthesis and integration, to foster emergent, hybrid forms of intelligence which integrate with each other, by engineering adaptive interfaces that allow for co-creation of values and experiences in the noosphere.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Humanity's New Awareness: The Grandeur of Cosmogenesis and the Quest of Divinization - Monica DeRaspe-Bolles, Brian Thomas Swimme - N2 Conference 2023

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Humanity's New Awareness: The Grandeur of Cosmogenesis and the Quest of Divinization

Presented by Monica DeRaspe-Bolles & Brian Thomas Swimme
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Humanity stands on the cusp of a transformative realization. Emerging from its evolutionary journey as a distinct phylum and intertwined with the universe's 13.8 billion-year history, humanity is beginning to apprehend the grandeur and unity of the universe in new ways. Advancements in science have not only expanded our knowledge of the various objects in the universe. They have also unveiled reality as a continuous creation. The universe is not the static cosmos envisioned by Aristotle or Isaac Newton, but a cosmogenesis—an astonishing, time-soaked, generative, and ever-evolving progression of becoming which has led, in our time, to the building of the noosphere.

As we transition to a view of the universe as a cosmogenesis, we begin to discern that a cosmological form of "knowing" has been at work since the very origin. The universe "knew" how to create stars, galaxies, planets, life, and humanity. This knowing is a deeper form than human knowing, a cosmological process Pierre Teilhard de Chardin named "divinization." In Teilhard's cosmology, a divine dimension is at work in the simplest atoms and in the most complex human beings. Each individual participates uniquely in this process of noogenesis, the making of the noosphere.

Our presentation describes how telling the "Story of the Noosphere" awakens in us the innate sense of awe and wonder lying dormant within many individuals. As we delve deep into the narrative of the third story, we aim to activate the creativity essential for building a sacred, thinking Earth.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Nurturing the Noosphere on College Campuses: Challenges and Successes - John D. Cressler - N2 Conference 2023

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 16:00:00 -0400

Nurturing the Noosphere on College Campuses: Challenges and Successes

Presented by John D. Cressler
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Today’s college students, bright and capable as they are, face challenges to their well-being that few of us faced at their age. Smartphone-free alone time is becoming a rare luxury, and the inevitably addictive distraction of e-Gadgets often stand in the way of student self-discovery and discernment. Sobering statistics bear witness to a trend of deteriorating mental health among students, a trend which clearly works against our shared vision for the noosphere, of community building, of global consciousness. At Georgia Tech, I have introduced a unique course called “Science, Engineering, and Religion: An Interfaith Dialogue,” which is open to all students. Together, each highly diverse class cohort creates a safe space for sharing and dialogue, evolving into a tight-knit community of exploration and acceptance. Each cohort is given the chance to experience a weekend Ignatian silent retreat on “Science and Spirituality,” an often tranformative encounter with both silence and nature, typically leading to deep self-reflection on meaning and purpose. In this talk, I will address the challenges facing our young people, and useful approaches that can make a difference in nuturing the noosphere among them. - John D. Cressler

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Business of the Noosphere Roundtable with Bob Chapman, Jay Jakub, Gregory Stock, David Sloan Wilson, and Ben Kacyra, N2 Conference 2023

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:00:00 -0400

In this roundtable discussion Bob Chapman, Jay Jakub, Gregory Stock, David Sloan Wilson, and Ben Kacyra discuss the possibility for business leaders to heal the noosphere. We examine the theory and reality learnings from foremost experts and CEOs of large business groups.

Presented by Michael Pirson

N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Wikipedia: Leveraging the global collaborative encyclopedia to support education & knowledge-sharing - Anne Clin - N2 Conference 2023

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:00:00 -0400

Wikipedia: Leveraging the global collaborative encyclopedia to support education and knowledge-sharing around the world

Presented by Anne Clin
N2 Conference 2023
University of California, Berkeley

Over the past 20 years, Wikipedia has become a major information resource on the internet. It is the only online encyclopedia whose content is created and managed entirely by an enormous volunteer workforce from every continent, developing content in over 300 languages. Under the umbrella of the Wikimedia Foundation, its many sister projects also provide media repositories, databases, dictionaries, and reference materials in hundreds of languages from around the world. The information developed by our hundreds of thousands of volunteers is used for everything from quick responses to common questions to educational tools for students from around the world. The sharing of knowledge is a critical thread in the fabric of the noosphere. Wikipedia’s core objective is that every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. In this presentation, we will discuss the growing use of Wikipedia content in education at all levels from primary school to postgraduate work, both online and offline. We will examine how educators are using Wikipedia in their classes to inculcate online literacy, research skills, communication skills, and knowledge sharing through collaboration and consensus.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Noospheric Consciousness: What Might That Be? How Can We Study It? - Roundtable - N2 Conference

Tue, 28 May 2024 12:00:00 -0400

Noospheric Consciousness: What Might That Be? How Can We Study It? Roundtable Discussion

Michael Jacob, Ilia Delio, Terrence Deacon & Francis Heylighen

N2 Conference 2023

Watch on YouTube

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Transdisciplinary Language for Noospheric Consciousness - Michael Jacob - N2 Conference

Tue, 28 May 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Transdisciplinary Language for Noospheric Consciousness: Neuroscience, Music, Mysticism

Presented by Michael Jacob

N2 Conference 2023

Watch on YouTube

The study of noospheric consciousness demands a radical transdisciplinary approach. Given the major themes of the N2 conference: science, philosophy, politics, theology, and education - what ties them together? Can these disciplines contribute to a coherent ‘metascience’ to understand the meaning of noospheric consciousness?

This session will begin with an introductory presentation on the language of consciousness, using neuroscience as a case-study for a transdisciplinary approach. Following this presentation, we will discuss this topic with scholars who have bridged science, the humanities and religion to come to a new understanding of noospheric consciousness.

In the introductory presentation I will consider how terms such as ‘consciousness’ and ‘collective consciousness’ define both the what it feels like aspect of human experience and the creation of meaning from experience itself. Next, I will briefly explore the relevance of transdisciplinary approaches to neuroscience, generally considered the scientific launchpad for consciousness research. In the brain, meaning emerges from the collective communicative capacity of billions of electrochemically interacting neurons. It is not contained in any neuron or network, and must be understood as an emergent whole, like a piece of music. This approach reveals how consciousness research in neuroscience needs dialogue with the humanities, and also offers an entree into a transdisciplinary approach to the study of noospheric consciousness. While an individual neuron may only have the vaguest possible sense of their collective participation in the music of the brain, humans are drawn to experiences greater than any one individual. This perspective on noospheric metascience evokes the etymology of religion, as that which binds us, and mysticism, in that both the sciences and humanities are necessary to explore the mystery of life, consciousness and the cosmos.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Toward an Evolutionary Ecology of the Noosphere - Jacob Foster - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 14:00:00 -0400

Toward an Evolutionary Ecology of the Noosphere

Presented by Jacob Foster as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

In this talk, I will explore the noosphere by close analogy with the biosphere -- in other words, I will advance concepts and methods for investigating the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of the noosphere. Drawing on ideas from cultural evolution, cognitive science, cognitive anthropology, cognitive sociology, and evolutionary biology, I will argue that the noosphere is populated with cultural lineages that compete for human attention and memory. Like biological organisms, these cultural organisms can also interact mutualistically. Most obviously, the introduction of novel categories of cultural lineage can increase the overall cultural carrying capacity. In other words, human creativity can lead to niche construction of the noosphere. I illustrate these theoretical ideas with an empirical example--the history of metal music—showing that this story is dominated by a series of key innovations in which new genres add to the overall carrying capacity and themselves incubate a combinatorial exploration of aesthetic possibilities. This perspective also sheds distinct light on the relationship between humans and the ongoing growth of the noosphere. On the one hand, individual humans can be viewed as commensal organisms whose culturally-mediated cognition is profoundly shaped by a population of noospheric symbionts. On the other hand, they can also be viewed as critical ecosystem engineers who shape the noosphere as a niche through their creativity. I also compare and contrast this view of individual and collective human intelligence with the view implicit in contemporary artificial intelligence, particularly when it comes to questions of meaning.

LEARN MORE at: https://humanenergy.io/

Noospheric Experience - Brian Thomas Swimme and Wolfgang Leidhold - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 14:00:00 -0400

Noospheric Experience

Presented by Brian Thomas Swimme and Wolfgang Leidhold at Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

How Right Was Teilhard? (from a scientific point of view) - Robert Wright - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 13:00:00 -0400

How Right Was Teilhard? (from a scientific point of view)

Presented by Robert Wright as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

Teilhard de Chardin’s conception of the noosphere was shaped by his Christian faith and, more generically, by a philosophical orientation that was fundamentally religious and spiritual. This orientation helps account for several features of his conception of the noosphere that have been criticized and sometimes characterized as inconsistent with a scientific world view:

1. Teleology: The noosphere, Teilhard believed, served a larger purpose, and its evolution was bringing that purpose closer to realization, moving humankind toward the “omega point”.

2. Moral directionality: Teilhard believed that, as the noosphere evolved, and came more and more to resemble a global brain, there would be a corresponding unification of humankind, facilitated by the further moral development of our species (including a growth in brotherly love that he considered a critical part of our movement toward omega).

3. The “interiority” of consciousness: Teilhard believed that all matter—even inanimate matter—had a “psychic” aspect in its “interior” corresponding to its physical “exterior.”

It’s true that some of Teilhard’s characterizations of these ideas are hard to reconcile with a modern scientific world view. But it’s also true that there are alternative formulations that preserve essential parts of these ideas and are easier to reconcile with a modern scientific world view. In this talk I’ll try to convey the broad outlines of these alternative formulations.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

The Noospheric Frame of Mind - Marta Lenartowicz - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 12:00:00 -0400

The Noospheric Frame of Mind

Presented by Marta Lenartowicz as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023

Watch on YouTube

The psychologist Christopher Bollas claims that democracy is not merely a political arrangement: it is a theory of the mind. If my inner life is an authoritarian dominion that never relinquishes control and prohibits internal dissent, can I ever truly value the irreducible difference brought in by the existence of others? The way we conduct our minds spills over into our social relations. And if the ability to constructively partake in a group of people is already a sophisticated disposition which may remain underdeveloped, how does the challenge of relating well extend in the context of the entire noosphere?

Compared to a small assembly in which all voices are present and may be heard, the noosphere is filled with unknowns. It is unfathomable, ever more complex, internally inconsistent, ungoverned, always incomplete. The 'noospheric frame of mind,' able to relate to such complexity, demands a vast openness. The authoritarian need for closure doesn't do.

In my talk, I build a parallel between Bollas' democratic frame of mind and what I believe to be the necessary ingredients to the ability of adopting the noosphere as a meaningful context for living. Since the notion of the noosphere encompasses processes that exceed the biosphere, while all biological processes are already processes of cognition, I argue that it is possible for a human individual to fail at adopting the noospheric frame of mind entirely. Instead, one might operate psychologically and socially in an autopoietic manner, simply safeguarding an identity.

The noospheric mindset is not a given, it needs to be adopted, and the curriculum is not always comfortable. It includes relaxing psychological, conceptual, and operational closures, appreciating and advancing complexity, befriending the unknown, and learning to trust and let go!

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Shaping Noospheric Adults with Montessori Cosmic Education - Jennifer Morgan - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 12:00:00 -0400

Shaping Noospheric Adults with Montessori Cosmic Education

Presented by Jennifer Morgan

N2 Conference 2023

Montessori schools worldwide are daily shaping Noospheric adults of tomorrow through Montessori Cosmic Education, one of the first curricula to situate all learning inside the larger arc of cosmic evolution. Montessori Cosmic Education centers on: enthusing students to their inmost core, nested Great Stories, a pedagogical scaffolding that connects all subjects inside the cosmic story, and a deep understanding of planes of development. It was developed by Maria Montessori and her son Mario Montessori in the 1940s. Linking Montessori Cosmic Education with the Teilhard lineage (Berry, Swimme, Tucker, etc.), Big History (Christian, Spier, etc.), Gaia Systems Theory (Margulis, Lovelock, etc.), and others can help nurture Noospheric consciousness. The Montessori lineage has massive reach through Montessori schools worldwide and is a significant force today in the goal of developing the Noosphere.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Collective Emotions: Distortions and Belief Traps - Johan Bollen - N2 Conference

Mon, 27 May 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Collective Emotions: Distortions and Belief Traps

Presented by Johan Bollen as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023

Large-scale social media data may provide a window into the language, emotions, cognition, and behavior of millions of individuals. In my talk I will discuss the notion of collective emotions and how they can be observed in real-time from large-scale social media data.

I will furthermore discuss a possible connection between the notion of cognitive distortions, unrealistic and overly dichotomous patterns of thought that are associated with internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety, and social phenomena such as polarization and extremism.

Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io

Transcendence and Modernity: beyond the misconception - Raphael Liogier - N2 Conference

Sun, 26 May 2024 16:00:00 -0400

Transcendence and Modernity : beyond the misconception

Presented by Raphael Liogier Presented as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023

One of my essential hypotheses is that modernity is not at all, as we think usually, the disenchantment of the world, the questioning of transcendence, but quite the contrary, it is the unprecedented promise of raw transcendence (transcendance unrefined by religious system).

It is on this promise that human rights, democracy, and the sense of individual freedom actually rest. The problem is that this promise was never fulfilled, it was hijacked by materialistic determinism from the 19th century onwards, which usurped the very name "modernity". Modernity is first of all a spiritual experience, or a noietic experience if you like. And we don't see that anymore today... I believe that the intensification of the current collective suffering comes from our inability to trust our own modern principles, because they no longer have any coherence without the initial transcendent promise.

The misconceptions about the deep meaning of transhumanism or the irrational anxiety against technology (AI in particular) come from this misunderstanding, i.e. ; the misunderstanding 1/ about the meaning of transcendence and 2/ about the meaning of modernity. This is also why we no longer have the energy to change our civilizational orientations. Our public discourses are essentially catastrophist and collapsological, negative, we are unable to propose what I call "concrete utopias", positive and creative open visions of the future.These ideas are at the heart of the first of the 4 volumes of my new work Khaos. The betrayed promise of modernity (that was released in 2023 in France).

Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.

The Science of the Noosphere Master Class: An Experiment in Worldview Evolution - David Sloan Wilson - N2 Conference

Sun, 26 May 2024 14:00:00 -0400

The Science of the Noosphere Master Class: An Experiment in Worldview Evolution

Presented by David Sloan Wilson as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

During the summer of 2023, I led a group on a journey from the origin of life to the future of the Internet Age, using Human Energy's Science of the Noosphere series of video conversions as our guide. Not only was it a memorable experience, but its impact on thought and action was documented as a scientific research project. I will report on the results and their implications.
-David Sloan Wilson

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

The Meaning of Noosphere in Teilhard's Cosmic Vision - John Haught - N2 Conference

Sun, 26 May 2024 12:00:00 -0400

The Meaning of Noosphere in Teilhard's Cosmic Vision

Presented by John Haught

After Einstein, scientists began to realize that the universe is not a mere backdrop or vague setting for life and human history but "the greatest story ever told." Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit geologist, was one of the first scientists in the twentieth century to have noticed that issues in science and religion need to focus henceforth mainly on the nature and meaning of cosmogenesis, the fact that the universe is still coming into being. This presentation will show how Teilhard's understanding of the Noosphere fits into his scientific and religious vision of the drama of awakening he called the universe.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Polarity in the Noosphere: Reading Teilhard through Pope Francis - Keith Lemna - N2 Conference

Sun, 26 May 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Polarity in the Noosphere: Reading Teilhard through Pope Francis

Presented by Keith Lemna as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

I shall explore the Teilhardian noosphere idea in light of the challenges to humanity and the planet, in the looming face of technological developments present and future, as spelled out by Pope Francis in Laudato Si' and Laudate Deum. I shall especially analyze and develop Pope Francis's call to replace the false, polarizing dialectic between humanity and nature that came to dominate modern culture with a dialectic of polarity and what this new path of polarity entails regarding planetary convergence.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

On some informational aspects of our noosphere and beyond - Manasvi Lingam - N2 Conference

Sat, 25 May 2024 08:00:00 -0400

On some informational aspects of our noosphere and beyond

Presented by Manasvi Lingam at the N2 Conference 2023 at University of California, Berkeley.

Information transmission (i.e., communication) is a striking facet of our biosphere and especially our noosphere. In this talk, I will highlight preliminary research on quantifying the global amount of information flow through the biosphere and noosphere. While the former currently dominates the latter by many orders of magnitude, the latter could surpass the former in less than a century. Finally, I will close with some thoughts about how informational aspects of the noosphere could inform the search for extraterrestrial life.

Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io/

The Third Story: self-organizing evolution as a source of meaning - Francis Heylighen - N2 Conference

Fri, 24 May 2024 09:00:00 -0400

The Third Story: self-organizing evolution as a source of meaning

Presented by Francis Heylighen as part of Human Energy's 2023 N2 Conference at the University of California, Berkeley

The Human Energy project intends to address the "Techno-Social Dilemma", which we define as the sense of anxiety, depression and despair in the present Information Age. That dilemma can be understood as a loss of people's "sense of coherence": they no longer experience the world as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. Making sense of the world requires an integrated worldview, based on scientific insights, but also providing values and courses of action. What we call the "Third Story" provides such a sense-making scheme in the form of a narrative of evolution.

This narrative explains the development of the universe from elementary particles to human society and beyond. Teilhard formulated the underlying dynamics by noting that both complexity and consciousness increase during evolution. We clarify this statement by analyzing the mechanisms of self-organizing evolution. The principle is that interacting systems mutually adapt until they settle in a synergetic whole. This whole forms a higher-order system, which in turn interacts with other such systems, eventually settling in an even larger whole. Human individuals and organizations are presently interacting globally via the Internet, markets, and logistics, or more generally the Noosphere.

Contemporary problems can be understood as remaining frictions to be resolved within this emerging global superorganism. This may be achieved by enhancing collective consciousness: learning to find and explore synergies, and to avoid frictions.

Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Connectivity and Cultural Heritage - Elizabeth Lee - N2 Conference

Thu, 23 May 2024 19:00:00 -0400

Connectivity and Cultural Heritage: Enabling access to humanity's rich legacy

Presented by Elizabeth Lee as part of Human Energy's 2023 N2 Conference at the University of California, Berkeley

This presentation will discuss CyArk's mission, its history, and its place-based philosophy. The presentation will highlight collaborations like the 'Sacred Places' exhibition with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and the 'Journey to Equal Rights' program, illustrating how CyArk’s digital storytelling and virtual conservation projects transcend geographical boundaries, connecting us with our shared heritage. It will also demonstrate how technology preserves sites and the stories that define our humanity.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Large Language Models: Portals To The Noosphere - Gregory Stock - N2 Conference

Thu, 23 May 2024 19:00:00 -0400

Large Language Models: Portals To The Noosphere

Presented by Gregory Stock with Sadie Stock as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at University of California, Berkeley

Recent advances in AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), may soon erode the perceived primacy of individual thought and consciousness. Our planetary superorganism continues to evolve, and a dramatic leap has now occurred in our ability to draw creative output rapidly from the vast stores of accumulated human knowledge and experience. The membrane between individual mind and the global mind is thinning rapidly, so we will examine the nature of the expansive LLM-centered conduits through which collective intelligence and creativity are now flowing, and how they might be nudged in directions that serve the human future. As our AI systems increasingly demonstrate how easily individual expression can be enhanced by flows of shared knowledge, current notions of individual human consciousness, creativity, and agency may face profound challenges. And as the collective foundation of human activity becomes more readily apparent, our understanding of identity, cognition, and the self may have to be reframed along with basic distinctions between individual and collective thought, and even our sense of what it means to be human.

Watch this talk on our YouTube channel.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/

The Evidence for an Expanded Noosphere - Kevin Kelly - N2 Conference

Thu, 23 May 2024 19:00:00 -0400

The Evidence for an Expanded Noosphere

Presented by Kevin Kelly as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

The Noosphere is more than a metaphor. We can treat it as a large-scale physical specimen that we can inspect and describe. The verifiable evidence for the existence of a planetary super-organism with autonomy (PSA) is in three parts: evidence of planet-scale system, evidence of a super-organism, and evidence of autonomy. Assuming the evidence is convincing, the consequences of this PSA is for us, its parents, to see, act, and listen to this entity, in order to amplify its positive and reduce its negatives.

Watch this talk on our YouTube channel.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/

AGI and Collective Intelligence: Critical Synergies – Ben Goertzel – N2 Conference

Wed, 22 May 2024 15:00:00 -0400

AGI and Collective Intelligence: Critical Synergies

Presented by Ben Goertzel as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/

Jaron Lanier – N2 Conference 2023

Wed, 22 May 2024 15:00:00 -0400

Presented by Jaron Lanier as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

Jaron Zepel Lanier is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

A Landscape of Consciousness in the Noosphere – Robert Lawrence Kuhn – N2 Conference

Wed, 22 May 2024 15:00:00 -0400

A Landscape of Consciousness in the Noosphere: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications

Presented by Robert Lawrence Kuhn as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley

Learn more about Robert's work at Closer to Truth.

In Teilhard de Chardin’s grand vision, the noosphere is an emergent entity that reflects the evolution of complexity in the universe and is constituted by the collective, planetary engagements of human minds. Human minds require consciousness and consciousness remains an amalgam of mysteries; even with advances in neuroscience, explanations of consciousness, rather than narrowing, are proliferating. I here array diverse explanations, or theories, of consciousness in a “landscape” of essences and mechanisms.

Categories: Materialism Theories (philosophical, neurobiological, homeostatic and affective, relational, and representational), Non-Reductive Physicalism, Quantum Theories, Integrated Information Theory, Panpsychisms, Monisms, Dualisms, Idealisms, Psi-Based Theories, Challenge Theories.

There are many subcategories, especially for Materialism Theories. Each explanation is self-described by its adherents, critique is minimal and only for clarification, and there is no attempt to adjudicate among the theories. The implications of categories or theories are assessed with respect to meaning/purpose/value (if any); AI consciousness; virtual immortality; and survival beyond death. A landscape of consciousness, I suggest, offers perspective.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

A Human Energy White Paper – Clément Vidal – N2 Conference

Tue, 07 May 2024 16:00:00 -0400

A Human Energy White Paper

Presented by Clément Vidal as part of Human Energy's 2023 N2 Conference at the University of California, Berkeley

Human Energy is a nonprofit research, media, and educational organization dedicated to addressing the techno-social dilemma: the loss of identity, meaning, coherence and direction in our science and technology driven age. I will introduce the mission and goals of Human Energy along with the significance of its core concepts: the techno-social dilemma, the noosphere, and the third story of the universe.

I will show existing outputs of the four major strategies used by Human Energy to turn its vision into reality: outreach, science, ethics, and education. I will end by presenting the challenges ahead, and also by making a call for action: to co-author and publish in a high-impact scientific magazine an open letter making the case for the noosphere, whose title is: “The Noosphere and its Significance for the Survival of Humanity”. Its goal is to highlight the noosphere concept and its promise to provide a positive future vision to deal successfully with global challenges.

Learn more at https://humanenergy.io

Can Science Alone Advance the Noosphere? – Ilia Delio – N2 Conference

Tue, 07 May 2024 16:00:00 -0400

Can Science Alone Advance the Noosphere? Understanding Teilhard's Omega Principle

Presented by Ilia Delio as part of Human Energy's 2023 N2 Conference at the University of California, Berkeley

Scientists have shown a renewed interest in Teilhard de Chardin's ideas on directed evolution. While principles of natural selection, epigenetics and complexity theory undergird direction in evolution, Teilhard de Chardin posited the Omega principle as an underlying factor of centration.

By tracing the human back to its origin in the universe, Teilhard identified a collective, the totum or whole, which influences the bottoms-up activity. This wholeness is centrated in a principle he identifies as Omega, which is both a scientific principle and a religious one. Omega is fully organic, independent of time and space, and escapes the collapse of forces with which evolution is woven; it is autonomous, actual, irreversible and transcendent. It undergirds the psychic, convergent universe with its openness to more life.

For Teilhard, Omega is deeply influential on nature’s propensity toward greater complexity and consciousness. It is the principle of cosmic wholeness and cannot be reduced to isolated elements. This talk will examine the meaning of Omega as a formative principle of evolution and discuss the significance of Omega in terms of causality. While science can identify mechanisms of evolutionary transition, it is insufficient to advance the Noosphere toward greater wholeness without the participative nature of Omega.

Learn more at www.humanenergy.io

On Being a Noospheric Species – Terrence Deacon – N2 Conference

Mon, 06 May 2024 19:00:00 -0400

On Being a Noospheric Species

Presented by Terrence Deacon as part of Human Energy's 2023 N2 Conference at the University of California, Berkeley

Presentation Summary:

Teilhard argued that the human evolutionary process does not exhibit the pattern of diversification and specialization characteristic of biological evolution in general. Rather it has a convergent character. This has parallels with the current recognition that there have been major transitions in evolution that have involved the coming together of once autonomous organisms to form higher order composite organisms, such as multicellular organisms like us.

Symbolic communication (e.g. language) has contributed to this trend toward collective unification because of the way it enables thoughts to be shared and cognition to be collaborative. Yet it is only possible if one is embedded in a cooperative social group that maintains this shared interpretive capacity. In this respect, humans have long been part of a collaborative mental process, a noosphere.

Learn more at www.humanenergy.io

Science of the Noosphere – Envisioning the Future Through Story – PJ Manney and David Brin

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

This conversation between two science fiction writers — PJ Manney and David Brin — and Science of the Noosphere’s David Sloan Wilson, is the last in the series of conversations we’ve posted here. What does science fiction have to do with our quest to understand the modern scientific research that undergirds Teilhard de Chardin’s vision of a layer of human thought that envelops the earth?

While that global layer of thought is forming around and within us, it remains a work-in-progress, it is still, in many ways, struggling to take shape. Though planetary-scale cooperation and connectivity is evolving through such things as trade and communication, there is still plenty of conflict as well. Thus the vision expressed by Teilhard in The Phases and Future of the Noosphere remains aspirational at this point:

“We have found it possible to express the social totalization which we are undergoing in terms of a clearly identifiable biological process: proceeding from this we may surely look into the future and predict the course of the trajectory we are describing. Once we have accepted that the formation of a collective human organism, a Noosphere, conforms to the general law of recurrence which leads to the heightening of Consciousness in the universe as a function of complexity, a vast prospect opens before us. To what regions and through what phases may we suppose that the extension of the rising curve of hominization will carry us?

Immediately confronting us (indeed, already in progress) we have what may be called a “phase of planetization.”

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/pj-manney-and-david-brin/

Science of the Noosphere – Cosmological Evolution – Brian Thomas Swimme

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

One of Science of the Noosphere’s central goals is to update Teilhard’s vision of the Noosphere with scientific discoveries that have been made since his death in 1955.

Most of that will involve new knowledge from fields such as evolutionary biology, anthropology, human history, cultural evolution, and technology.

However, Brian Thomas Swimme, an evolutionary cosmologist on the graduate faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies and an advisor to Human Energy, brings his unique expertise to that pursuit.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/brian-thomas-swimme/

Science of the Noosphere – Wikipedia as Superorganism – Risker/Anne Clin

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

In the series of conversations that contribute to our exploration of the Science of the Noosphere, there is a great deal of discussion about the formation of a global brain, with collective consciousness. Those conversations are fascinating, but mostly speculative. While there are many theories regarding how a global brain will evolve and function, and how collective consciousness may work, these ideas are mostly abstract at this point.

So we thought it might be interesting to explore a more concrete example of a part of the global brain that actually exists — that is, Wikipedia. Since we wanted to make this a functional rather than a theoretical discussion, we sought out someone to talk with who’s been laboring in the Wikipedia trenches for quite some time, and understands how its systems work.

After some searching, we finally met Risker, aka Anne Clin. She has been a Wikipedia editor for the last 16 years, during which time she has become a high-level user, and a participant in arbitrating disputes.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/risker-anne-clin/

Science of the Noosphere – Risks and Benefits of AI – Stuart Russell and Terrence Deacon

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

As with any form of technology, artificial intelligence has the potential to greatly benefit humankind, along with the potential to do real harm. Decisions we make today regarding how we implement AI in various aspects of our lives will have consequences far into the noosphere’s future.

In this conversation, David Sloan Wilson explores those potential consequences with Stuart Russell and Terrence Deacon, both of whom are professors at Berkeley. Stuart is author of Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control. Terry has written two books that explore some of the underlying ideas, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain, and Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/stuart-russell-and-terrence-deacon/

Science of the Noosphere – Collective Consciousness and the Web – Francis Heylighen and Shima Beigi

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis Heylighen collaborated with Shima Beigi on a research paper about the noosphere’s response to the global crisis. The paper is titled Collective Consciousness Supported by the Web: Healthy or Toxic? A full text PDF of the paper can be downloaded here. Francis and Shima are both based at the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) for transdisciplinary studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels).

CLEA is part of an international effort initiated, funded, and directed by Human Energy to provide a scientific foundation for a theory of the noosphere. Their research builds on the related concepts of the Global Brain and the distributed intelligence of the Internet. In addition, CLEA is working with HEP to develop an integrated, meaningful, science-based worldview called the Third Story.

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/francis-heylighen-and-shima-beigi/

Science of the Noosphere – Evolution of Technology – Kevin Kelly

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

Kevin Kelly is an icon of the Internet Age. He co-founded Wired Magazine in 1993, where his current title is “Senior Maverick”. In the 1980s he was publisher and editor of Whole Earth Review, which, under his direction and editorship, “was the first consumer magazine to report on virtual reality, ecological restoration, the global teenager, Internet culture, and artificial life.” Many more milestones of his career can be found on his biography page.

He has also written several books, including Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World, The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, and one that is the main focus of this conversation, What Technology Wants.

It is easy to see why Kevin’s perspective is relevant to our own investigation into the Science of the Noosphere. The coevolution of humanity and technology began with the birth of the noosphere, and has been closely linked ever since. Interestingly, one of the ideas in What Technology Wants is that technology has a sort of autonomous evolutionary path of its own. He puts it this way:

“At some point in its evolution, our system of tools and machines and ideas became so dense in feedback loops and complex interactions that it spawned a bit of independence. It began to exercise some autonomy.

At first, this notion of technological independence is very hard to grasp. We are taught to think of technology first as a pile of hardware and secondly as inert stuff that is wholly dependent on us humans. In this view, technology is only what we make. Without us, it ceases to be. It does only what we want. And that’s what I believed, too, when I set out on this quest. But the more I looked at the whole system of technological invention, the more powerful and self-generating I realized it was.”

This idea is closely akin to Teilhard’s description of The Mechanical Apparatus in The Formation of the Noosphere, where he writes:

“The significance and biological function of the tool at last separated from the limb has, as I was saying, long been recognized; and it has long been realized that the tool separated from Man develops a kind of autonomous vitality. We have passive machines giving birth to the active machine, which in turn is followed by the automatic machine.”

This all makes for a lively and highly relevant conversation between Kevin and David Sloan Wilson, another valuable and fascinating discussion that contributes to a deeper understanding of the Science of the Noosphere.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/kevin-kelly/

Science of the Noosphere – Collective Consciousness – Marta Lenartowicz

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

There is one sense in which people conceive of the noosphere as a futuristic planetary-scale entity of some sort—a fully functional superorganism with a global brain and collective consciousness, brought into being as the Internet evolves into an increasingly powerful and capable interconnecting force.

In another sense, however, we live in the noosphere now—though perhaps not fully functional as a global superorganism at this point. In that sense, the noosphere has been evolving for hundreds of thousands of years. It began to form — albeit at much smaller local scales — when humans first used symbolic language to communicate, and reflect on their place in the universe using symbolic thought. Whereas life’s evolution up until that point had been biologically-based — mediated through information networks of genes — human evolution became noospherically-based, mediated through cultural information networks instead.

Though she might not state it in exactly those terms, Marta Lenartowicz seems to favor the second sense. She is studying the evolution of the global brain and collective consciousness as a member of the team at the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) for transdisciplinary studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels), led by Francis Heylighen.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/marta-lenartowicz/

Science of the Noosphere – The Global Commons – David Bollier and John Arquilla

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:00:00 -0400

In an earlier Science of the Noosphere conversation with John Arquilla that was focused on an article titled “Whose Story Wins: Rise of the Noosphere, Noopolitik, and Information-Age Statecraft”, we touched on the subject of the global commons. The term “global commons” comes up 153 times in the Noosphere and Noopolitik article, so we thought another conversation focused exclusively on the topic of the global commons might be an important thing to do.

So we sought out one of the world’s foremost experts on commons issues, David Bollier, who describes himself as spending “a lot of time exploring the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics, and culture.” From our perspective, understanding the nature of the global commons is an essential aspect of understanding the nature of the noosphere.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/david-bollier-and-john-arquilla/

Science of the Noosphere – A Brain of Brains – Michael Jacob

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0400

Michael Jacob is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of California in San Francisco, working on a project for Human Energy about the Global Brain. He and his team are in the early stages of trying to understand parallels and differences between the functioning of individual human brains and the large-scale collective consciousness that is currently taking shape in human society — in the noosphere.

To Teilhard, understanding both the parallels and differences between a single brain and the global superorganism’s “Brain of brains”were critical to understanding his vision of how the noosphere was taking shape. He described it thusly:

“Between the human brain, with its milliards of interconnected nerve cells, and the apparatus of social thought, with its millions of individuals thinking collectively, there is an evident kinship which biologists of the stature of Julian Huxley have not hesitated to examine and expand on critical lines. On the one hand we have a single brain, formed of nervous nuclei, and on the other a Brain of brains. It is true that between these two organic complexes a major difference exists. Whereas in the case of the individual brain thought emerges from a system of nonthinking nervous fibers, in the case of the collective brain each separate unit is in itself an autonomous center of reflection. If the comparison is to be a just one we must, at every point of resemblance, take this difference into account.”

But how to take that difference into account? In 1947, when Teilhard wrote those words, available scientific methods of probing into the functioning of human brains were crude at best. In addition, the direct, electronic connectivity of the global brain was in its infancy, through radio, television, and telephone.

Today, Michael and his team have access to advanced methods of observing brain activity down to the level of individual neurons, and the direct electronic connectivity of the global brain — via the Internet and social media — is an everyday reality.

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/michael-jacob/

Science of the Noosphere – Smart Cities – Shima Beigi

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0400

This conversation between Shima Beigi and Science of the Noosphere’s David Sloan Wilson focuses on Shima’s book, Mindful Smart Cities: Rethinking Smart Cities with Mindfulness Engineering.

What does Shima mean by “rethinking smart cities with mindfulness engineering”? This description of her book states it thusly:

“The Artificial Intelligence fueled transition toward smart cities and network societies has a tremendous impact on the future of humanity. The current narrative of smart cities and data enabled urban systems totally leaves out the components of human experience, feelings, emotions, and real human relationships. However, what makes a city smart is the degree and quality of human connections and social cohesion that individuals feel. Cities are more than just objects, buildings, and fixed entities. They are about people and networks that encompass system of life as a whole. In turn, people’s behaviour shapes sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity of the future of cities.”

Shima is based at the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) for transdisciplinary studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels). CLEA is part of an international effort initiated, funded, and directed by Human Energy to provide a scientific foundation for a theory of the noosphere. Their research builds on the related concepts of the Global Brain and the distributed intelligence of the Internet. In addition, CLEA is working with Human Energy to develop an integrated, meaningful, science-based worldview called the Third Story.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/shima-beigi/

Science of the Noosphere – The Global Brain – Francis Heylighen

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0400

Teilhard’s description of the noosphere covers various manifestations of human cultural and technological evolution. In explaining his vision as a “Plausible Biological Interpretation of Human History”, these are enumerated in three categories—the apparatus of heredity, the mechanical apparatus, and the cerebral apparatus.

However, it’s the third feature of its anatomy—the cerebral apparatus—that most compellingly embodies Teilhard’s definition of the noosphere as “an envelope of thinking substance”. That is commonly interpreted as a global brain with collective consciousness. But how would that work?

Teilhard himself acknowledged the primary challenge in making this leap:

“On the one hand we have a single brain, formed of nervous nuclei, and on the other a Brain of brains. It is true that between these two organic complexes a major difference exists. Whereas in the case of the individual brain thought emerges from a system of nonthinking nervous fibers, in the case of the collective brain each separate unit is in itself an autonomous center of reflection. If the comparison is to be a just one we must, at every point of resemblance, take this difference into account.”

One of the leaders in the field of research into the global brain and collective consciousness is Francis Heylighen. He is the director of the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) for transdisciplinary studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels).

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/francis-heylighen/

Science of the Noosphere – Teilhard and the Noosphere – Clément Vidal

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0400

Clément Vidal is a member of the research and development team of Human Energy, who identifies himself on his webpage as a big questions philosopher. He is also one of Human Energy’s resident experts on Teilhard de Chardin and the noosphere, which is what his conversation with David Sloan Wilson is primarily about.

Clément is exceptionally well qualified in this regard. He wrote a wonderful illustrated essay on the Human Energy site titled “What is the Noosphere?”, one of the clearest and most accessible explanations of these ideas. He has published an academic paper on the topic as well, “Teilhard’s Formation of the Noosphere: an exegesis and update”.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/clement-vidal/

Science of the Noosphere – Noopolitik and Realpolitik – John Arquilla

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0400

We first became aware of John Arquilla through a paper he wrote with David Ronfeldt, published by the RAND Corporation in 2020, titled “Whose Story Wins: Rise of the Noosphere, Noopolitik, and Information-Age Statecraft”. We learned later that this visionary pair of geopolitical thinkers had in fact coined the term Noopolitik 20 years earlier, in a paper they wrote when both were employed by RAND: “The Emergence of Noopolitik: Toward An American Information Strategy”. That they qualify as visionaries is evidenced by another paper they wrote in 1993, titled “Cyberwar Is Coming”. Cyberwar, as we know all too well, is an active force in undermining global cooperation today.

Teilhard first used the term noosphere in the mid 1920s. However, a passage from The Heart of Matter suggests that the underlying ideas took shape when he served as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches of World War I.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/john-arquilla/

Science of the Noosphere – Coevolution of Humans and Technology – Gregory Stock

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

The concept of humanity merging with technology to form a global superorganism began to take shape in Gregory Stock’s mind in the 1960s, though his book Metaman wasn’t published until 1993. He was unaware of Teilhard’s writings on the evolution of the Noosphere until he was well along in development of his own ideas, but when he did read Teilhard, he was impressed by his prescience:

I was going, “Oh, my God. How could somebody see that in the 1920s?…I was thinking, the things that felt, to me, very prescient back in the 1960s…and now seems almost obvious, the global brain, the global mind, all of these frameworks that are quite dispersed…to have seen it at that time was extraordinarily impressive.

The concept of a superorganism has an even deeper history. The term was first used by geologist and naturalist James Hutton in 1789, though in the context of geophysiology. Hutton was also one of the first scientists to glimpse some of the principles of natural selection, and influenced Charles Darwin’s later work. Hutton’s ideas about a geophysical superorganism influenced James Lovelock’s development of the Gaia Hypothesis. His co-developer of the Gaia Hypothesis, Lynn Margulis, is famous for her groundbreaking work on endosymbiosis, the evolution of a superorganism on a much smaller scale—the coming together of prokaryotes to form the first eukaryotic cells.

However, what most clearly unites Gregory’s vision of Metaman and Teilhard’s of the noosphere is the integral role of technology and human activity in the next stage of life on Earth. Teilhard described these coevolving biological, social, and technological components in terms of the noosphere’s anatomy and physiology. Gregory describes some of the components coming together to form Metaman, in Chapter One of his book:

“Today humankind is increasingly bound together by a dense network of communications links and trade systems. We are joined not only by obvious physical pathways such as highways, railways, and phone lines, but by a myriad of hidden connections as well. Without noticing, we walk above pipes and cables, beneath airplane flight corridors and satellite broadcasts, through radio and television transmissions…

…just as the activities of an animal’s individual cells mesh to serve the needs of the animal as a whole, human activity has organized itself into large functional patterns that join to sustain the entirety of Metaman. This superorganism has many of the same basic needs an animal has: finding and consuming food, circulating energy and nutrients, replacing damaged and worn-out parts, regulating its internal environment, and sensing and responding to changes in its surroundings. Needing nourishment, Metaman extends itself over the planet’s surface, consumes what it finds, and circulates these vital materials using transportation systems akin to the human body’s arteries and veins. At a thousand sites Metaman gnaws the land to devour iron and other minerals, digs down miles to gulp oil, drinks rivers dry, and scoops up animals and plants. Metaman may be unlike any other living thing, but nonetheless it is feeding, moving, growing, and rapidly evolving. Metaman is even likely to reproduce one day — by moving beyond the Earth, out into space.”

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/gregory-stock/

Science of the Noosphere – Expanding Scale of Human Society – Peter Turchin & Daron Acemoglu

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Central to our mission at Science of the Noosphere is an exploration of the modern scientific perspective on how the noosphere evolved and expanded over time, from its origins in small paleolithic human groups to our emerging global civilization. That is the central subject of this conversation between David Sloan Wilson and two experts from different fields, who approach these questions in interestingly complementary ways.

One is Peter Turchin, author of War and Peace and War, who founded the field of Cliodynamics, which uses mathematical modeling of long-term historical processes to look at human history from a more rigorous scientific point of view. It enables more systematic investigation of phenomena such as the rise and fall of empires, population booms and busts, and the spread of religions. Peter was also instrumental in launching Seshat, the global history databank, “founded in 2011 to bring together the most current and comprehensive body of knowledge about human history in one place.” That databank is used to “systematically collects what is currently known about the social and political organization of human societies and how civilizations have evolved over time.”

The other is Daron Acemoglu, co-author with James Robinson of Why Nations Fail. Daron is an economist who focuses on the role of institutions in human life. The field of institutional economics acknowledges that while individuals can be seen as rational actors, several factors—such as information asymmetries, economic and environmental externalities, and difficulties with trust—can distort the workings of the neoclassical icon, the “invisible hand”. These factors must be taken into consideration to understand how society and the economy really work.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/peter-turchin-and-daron-acemoglu/

Science of the Noosphere – Origins of Democracy in Classical Greece – Josiah Ober

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Josiah Ober writes about the evolution of democratic governance in classical Greece — the era from roughly 500-300 BC. His books on the subject include The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece and Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism in Theory and Practice. Why is Science of the Noosphere interested in learning about the rise democracy in Greece?

One reason is that a concern voiced by many people regarding the idea of a global superorganism is the loss of personal freedom that could result. The concept may evoke visions of the Borg from the Star Trek series of films — a collective of human/machine cyborgs connected in a “hive mind”. However, even among eusocial insect colonies such as bees and ants — natural “hive mind” superorganisms — collective intelligence emerges from the bottom up, not the top down. While the degree of personal autonomy experienced by honeybees is quite limited, it is not zero.

In the conclusion of The Formation of the Noosphere, titled The Rise of Freedom, Teilhard addressed the understandable concern expressed by those who fear loss of their own autonomy. He explained that the opposite was in fact true — that our personal freedom was enhanced, not limited, by cooperating as members of groups:

“Within that grandiose machine-in-motion which I visualize, what becomes of that pearl beyond price, our personal being? What remains of our freedom of choice and action? But do you not see that from the standpoint I have adopted it appears everywhere—and is everywhere heightened? I know very well that by a kind of innate obsession we cannot rid ourselves of the idea that we become most masters of ourselves by being as isolated as possible. But is not this the reverse of the truth? We must not forget that in each of us, by our very nature, everything is in an elemental state, including our freedom of action. We can only achieve a wider degree of freedom by joining and associating with others in an appropriate way.”

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/josiah-ober/

Science of the Noosphere – Human Groups as Organisms – Jim Coan & Garriy Shteynberg

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

When we think of psychology, it’s likely the first image that comes to mind is of a therapist in consultation with an individual patient. To explore the psychological aspects of the noosphere from a biological perspective—in keeping with Teilhard’s “plausible biological interpretation of human history” — we felt it was necessary to look at the psychology of human groups as organisms as well.

Science of the Noosphere’s David Sloan Wilson recently collaborated with Jim Coan, one of the participants in this conversation, on a study that looked at an aspect of that psychological perspective. Titled Groups as organisms: Implications for therapy and training, an excerpt from its abstract states:

The intellectual tradition of individualism treats the individual person as the fundamental unit of analysis and reduces all things social to the motives and actions of individuals…Multilevel selection theory offers an alternative to individualism in which individuals become part of something larger than themselves that qualifies as an organism in its own right. Seeing individuals as parts of social organisms provides a new perspective with numerous implications for improving wellbeing at all scales, from individuals to the planet.

The other participant in this conversation is Garriy Shteynberg, who describes his academic focus thusly: “I seek to understand how and why humans socially share their worlds and minds with one another.” One of his papers is titled Agency and Identity in the Collective Self. Below is an excerpt from its abstract:

Contemporary research on human sociality is heavily influenced by the social identity approach, positioning social categorization as the primary mechanism governing social life. Building on the distinction between agency and identity in the individual self (“I” vs. “Me”), we emphasize the analogous importance of distinguishing collective agency from collective identity (“We” vs. “Us”). While collective identity is anchored in the unique characteristics of group members, collective agency involves the adoption of a shared subjectivity that is directed toward some object of our attention, desire, emotion, belief, or action.

How does this all relate to the noosphere? In The Formation of the Noosphere, Teilhard defines the key psychological feature that gave birth to the noosphere:

“It is generally accepted that what distinguishes man psychologically from other living creatures is the power acquired by his consciousness of turning in upon itself. The animal knows, it has been said; but only man, among animals, knows that he knows. This faculty has given birth to a host of new attributes in men—freedom of choice, foresight, the ability to plan and to construct, and many others. So much is clear to everyone. But what has perhaps not been sufficiently noted is that, still by virtue of this power of Reflection, living hominized elements become capable (indeed are under an irresistible compulsion) of drawing close to one another, of communicating, finally of uniting.”

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/jim-coan-and-garriy-shteynberg/

Science of the Noosphere – Indigenous Views of Society – Tyson Yunkaporta & Megan Kelleher

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Tyson Yunkaporta is the author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World. His short bio explains that “his work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises.”

He is married to Megan Kelleher, who “is investigating whether blockchain technology can interface with an Indigenous knowledge system – and conversely whether an Indigenous knowledge system can be used to guide the coordination of processes within a blockchain system.”

Why a focus on indigenous issues and knowledge? In describing the phases and future of the noosphere, Teilhard explains that the first phase of its development occurred in small groups, the sort that paleoanthropologists and ethnologists believe are similar in behavior and governance to the few remaining indigenous groups today.

Learn more here: https://humanenergy.io/tyson-yunkaporta-and-megan-kelleher/

Science of the Noosphere – Human Origins – Lesley Newson & Pete Richerson

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

On his website, Pete Richerson introduces himself by stating, “My main passion is cultural evolution.” It’s not only his personal passion — along with frequent collaborator Robert Boyd, he’s one of the pioneers in the field. Together, Richerson and Boyd developed the theory of gene-culture coevolution, also called dual inheritance theory. Understanding cultural evolution is central to understanding how the noosphere works. One of the books they wrote together was Not By Genes Alone.

The following conversation, however, is centered around a more recent book Pete co-authored with Lesley Newson, a former science writer and BBC presenter, now a PhD. psychologist. Lesley and Pete are married as well. Their book is titled A Story of Us: A New Look at Human Evolution.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/lesley-newson-and-peter-richerson/

Science of the Noosphere – Insect Superorganisms – Deborah Gordon

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Deborah Gordon is a Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University who “studies how ant colonies work without central control using networks of simple interactions, and how these networks evolve in relation to changing environments.” The Gordon Lab at Stanford researches collective behavior in many forms, “such as emergence, self-organization, superorganism, quorum sensing, artificial intelligence, and dynamical networks.”

Teilhard remarked on one significant difference between collective behavior in human groups and that found in ant colonies: ants, like all eusocial insects, engage in their extraordinarily cooperative behavior because the members of a colony are closely related genetically, so the influence of kin selection binds them into what Teilhard calls a “family structure” in this passage from The Formation of the Noosphere:

“Viewed in this aspect, entirely borne out by experience, the collective human organism which the economists so hazily envisage emerges decisively from the mists of speculation to take its place and assume the brilliance of a clearly defined star of the first magnitude in the zoological sky. Until this point was reached Nature, in her generalized effort of “complexification,” to which I shall return later, had failed for lack of suitable material to achieve any grouping of individuals outside the family structure (the termitary, the ant hill, the hive). With man, thanks to the extraordinary agglutinative property of thought, she has at last been able to achieve, throughout an entire living group, a total synthesis of which the process is still clearly apparent, if we trouble to look, in the “scaled” structure of the modern human world.”

He accurately observes that forces other than kin selection bind the “collective human organism” into cohesive groups, identified here as the “agglutinative property of thought”. However, despite the obvious differences between ant colonies and human groups, there is much about the collective behavior of ants that’s been discovered since Teilhard’s time. And that’s why Science of the Noosphere wanted to have this conversation with Deborah Gordon.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/deborah-gordon/

Science of the Noosphere – Cancer, Cheating, and Cell Communication – Athena Aktipis & Michael Levin

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Athena Aktipis is the director and principal investigator at the Cooperation and Conflict Lab at Arizona State University, where they “explore how cooperation and conflict shape life, from human societies to cellular interactions”. Michael Levin is principal investigator at the Levin Lab at Tufts University, where they study, among other things, “bioelectrical signals that make up part of the language by which cells communicate to serve the patterning needs of the host organism.”

Cooperation, conflict, and communicating information — between cells and between multicellular organisms, including humans — follows amazingly similar patterns across multiple scales.

One aspect of Michael’s work involves electrical signaling networks that form in bacterial biofilms, like a nervous system that coordinates activity in the biofilm as a whole — and from that coordination, such a simple organism can behave in ways that appear to be directed toward goals. A key topic in Athena’s work is understanding the role of cancer in multicellular organisms. She recently published a book on that subject, titled The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer.

How do the systems that Athena and Michael study relate to Teilhard’s conception of the noosphere?

Learn here: https://humanenergy.io/athena-aktipis-and-michael-levin/

Science of the Noosphere – Origin of Multicellularity – Paul Rainey & Rick Michod

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

Paul Rainey is director of the Department of Microbial Population Biology at the Max Planck Institute. Rick Michod has a lab at the University of Arizona. Both study single-celled organisms that evolve into simple multicellular forms under certain conditions. Importantly, those conditions can be manipulated in the lab. Paul’s lab studies a bacterium called Pseudomonas fluorescens that you eat on your salad, and Rick studies Chlamydomonas, a volvocine green algae whose multicellular form is known as volvox, and lives in ponds all over the world.

In his descriptions of the global human superorganism, Teilhard draws upon analogy with complex biological multicellular organisms such as ourselves. In the Anatomy of the Noosphere, he writes:

“It may be said, speaking in very general terms, that in asserting the zoological nature of the Noosphere we confirm the sociologists’ view of human institutions as organic. Once the exceptional, but fundamentally biological, nature of the collective human complex is accepted, nothing prevents us (provided we take into account the modifications which have occurred in the dimensions in which we are working) from treating as authentic organs the diverse social organisms which have gradually evolved in the course of the history of the human race. Directly Mankind, from the nature of its origin, presents itself to our experience as a true superbody, the internal connections of this body, by reason of homogeneity, can only be treated and understood as superorgans and supermembers. Thus, for example (due allowance being made for the change of scale and environment), it becomes legitimate to talk in the sphere of economics of the existence and development of a circulatory or a nutritional system applicable to Mankind as a whole.”

Can the transition to multicellularity in the simple microbial systems that Paul and Rick study provide insight into our own transition to a social-technological superorganism of sorts?

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/paul-rainey-and-richard-michod/

Science of the Noosphere – Origin of Life – Bruce Damer & Matthew Segall

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

According to his bio, Bruce Damer “has spent his life pursuing two great questions: How did life on Earth begin, and how can we give that life (and ourselves) a sustainable pathway into the cosmos? His primary research interest is “The Hot Springs Hypothesis for the Origin of Life”. Matthew Segall teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and has specialized in the study of Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy. According to his bio, his “current research explores the relevance of process philosophy to new paradigms in physics and biology.

In this conversation, Bruce presents a compelling scenario for the hot springs origin of life. The origin of life as the beginning of the biosphere provides an interesting model for the origin of the noosphere, because each represents a major paradigm shift in the nature of how information is stored, transmitted, and used — more of a marked difference than the other major evolutionary transitions.

Learn more: https://humanenergy.io/bruce-damer-and-matthew-segall/

Science of the Noosphere – Major Evolutionary Transitions – Eörs Szathmáry & Terrence Deacon

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 13:00:00 -0400

Eörs Szathmáry is best-known in the world of evolutionary biology for a book he co-wrote with John Maynard Smith, titled “The Major Transitions in Evolution”. It was the first comprehensive explanation of the processes through which life has increased in complexity over billions of years, from its origin as the simplest protocells, to prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells, multicellular organisms, eusocial animal colonies, and ultrasocial human groups.

Major evolutionary transitions have two central dimensions of change. One is cooperation. They occur when simpler individual entities find new ways to cooperate in more complex groups that eventually evolve into higher-level organisms. The second is information. To manage and regulate higher levels of complexity, they find new ways to store, use, and transmit information.

In all the major transition before humans, that information exists in the biological realm, taking such forms as genes, chromosomes, and epigenetic networks. In human groups that information exists in the cultural realm, taking symbolic forms such as spoken language, written language, and digital media of all varieties today.

Enter the other guest in this conversation, Terrence Deacon, whose first book, “The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain” focuses primarily on how the last of those transitions worked, drawing from Terry’s deep knowledge in many fields. In a more recent book, “Incomplete Nature: The Emergence of Mind from Matter” he explores the emergence of end-directedness in both biological functions and mental processes. He is also interested in understanding the underlying cooperative processes that enable transitions to take place.

In the following conversation, David Sloan Wilson takes Eörs and Terry on a journey through the full range of major transitions. They begin with discussions of life’s origins, and end with musings on the challenges humanity faces in making a major transition to a global-scale noosphere today.

https://humanenergy.io/eors-szathmary-and-terrence-deacon/