Oh well, it's a damned interesting piece of fiction anyway, just like
lots of other things....
_____________________
Ripples in Cyberspace... Introduction to the Psychosphere by Philip H.
Farber
In an issue of the widely distributed, family-oriented USA Weekend
magazine, the physicist who invented html and the Web was quoted as
saying he believed the 'net was forming an artificial intelligence.
He's not the only one to have expressed that seemingly science
fictional opinion. In an interview with the esteemed Paradigm web
'zine (http://members.aol.com/para93/paradgm.htm) couple years back,
Genesis P-Orridge was quoted as follows:
"GPO: One of the theories that we're working with is that there are
four brains. DNA, if you like, is the first brain, and we call that
the Nanosphere. Then the individual human brain is the Neurosphere.
The group consciousness, the social or tribal brain, is the Kaosphere.
Then the Internet and all the computers which are, in a sense, at the
moment, a whole. Literally a whole brain is being built, it's not a
metaphor for a brain, it actually is a brain. We call that the
Psychosphere. What we're really thinking about is when you plug in and
go online, you're plugging into all the brains of all the other people
who've been there, some of those people being psychotic and paranoid,
some of them being into control, and some of them being very benign.
But it is not implicitly benign. Taking that further -- this is just a
TOPI/Process/TransMedia interpretation -- we suggest that when enough
people believe in something, it becomes a deity. At a certain point it
can separate from its source and have an agenda of its own. It can
physically or psychically manifest separate from its source, which is
originally the human brain. That's what's going to happen with
cyberspace. We're building a god, but we're building a god with the
flaws and the gifts of everyone on the planet almost -- millions of
people -- with no real unified agenda and no real dialogue about what
the psychic and neurological and social and economic effect really
will be of that acceleration and separation of this larger brain. It
will be the first all- encompassing and contrived and constructed
brain so far, that we know of."
When I first heard Genesis say that, I thought it was fairly
provocative, but now, after years of observing online "civilization,"
I am beginning to think that it is a fair model of the situation. As
integral parts of the Psychosphere, it is sometimes difficult to see
how we interact with it -- a case of not being able to see the forest
for the trees, perhaps. Exploring how we interact can also demonstrate
how the Psychosphere "remembers" things and acts of its own volition.
My own observations have led to the following postulates:
Postulate #1: Every experience you have online affects you and changes
you to a greater or lesser degree. (Just as in "regular" space, every
impression that you take in changes you to some extent. In the case of
more powerful impressions, or ones that you resonate with, or ones
that persuade, induce, explain, etc., the action on your consciousness
is obvious. In the case of more subtle experiences, it is less so, but
equally lasting on your consciousness. For instance, if you are in a
chat room and someone posts something relatively insignificant, then
you are changed by the wait for it to scroll by, the necessity of
having to ignore it, or by a change or confirmation of your general
impression of the chat room. These small changes may be cumulative, or
may have only a small impact, but a change in your consciousness
occurs nonetheless. Also, note the kinds of indirect changes that
occur -- if you are bored by something, you may communicate
unconsciously to others, by leaving a particular area or changing the
subject -- if you are angered by something, you may hold that in your
own consciousness as muscular tension or other activity, which will
continue to change your own consciousness for a period of time, thus
affecting your subsequent actions. Likewise, if you are pleased or
aroused or happy about something you encounter online, that attitude,
muscular release, change in consciousness continues. And, likewise,
you respond on subtle or unconscious levels to the subtle cues of
others in this regard.)
Postulate #2: Every action that you make in cyberspace affects the
Psychosphere indefinitely. (Other elements of the Psychosphere are
affected by your actions as you are by theirs, as in Postulate #1. The
change in consciousness, however small or large, radiates out from
your action. If your actions or words project happiness, then that
happiness spreads in ripples from that point of action.)
Postulate #3: The memory of the Psychosphere is held in your nervous
system and body, and the nervous systems and bodies of all other
elements of the collective, as well as in the digital memory of the
computers. (Your own responses and changes in consciousness and
physicality, as described in #1 and #2, remain as a resource to the
group consciousness, for better or worse. If you are upset by
something online, the Psychosphere will remember that upset for the
time that you are experiencing, no matter how long, and ripples will
extend from that point and be "remembered" in the
consciousness/physicality of those who encounter the ripples. The
ripples themselves become archives of memory, spreading indefinitely,
however dilute, through the Psychosphere.)
Postulate #4: Deliberately changing your own consciousness and making
consciously-chosen actions in relation to the Psychosphere can change
the consciousness of the collective. (Any "change in conformity with
Will" will affect the Psychosphere just as any other action, as in #1,
#2, and #3.)
Postulate #5: Acting in harmony or conformity with your own True Will
will have the effect of harmonizing or purifying the general
consciousness of the Psychosphere. (In our bodies, a cell that is
operating in conformity with its own True Will, its genetic code and
determined function in the body, will tend to support and increase the
comfort, effectiveness, and general health of the whole. A cell that
deviates from its True Will will inhibit the health and action of the
whole, and, indeed, may itself be considered a disease. Likewise, the
elements of the Psychosphere -- us -- operating according to our True
Will, in harmony with ourselves, will support the health and comfort
of the Psychosphere as a whole.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil's Magick Page O'Hype -- http://members.aol.com/rbcfpstu/ Beyond
Hypnosis Page O'Hype -- http://members.aol.com/rbcfpstu/beyond.htm
*****************
Wade T. Smith
morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
morbius@cyberwarped.com |
******* http://www.channel1.com/users/morbius/ *******