Psychosphere (kinda long)
Philip H. Farber · 3/26/98 at 1:05 PM ET
Hi,
The following is an essay I wrote that addresses one aspect of the 'net as collective unconscious. The first quote is somewhat far-out and science-fictional (tho it is an interesting model to explore)... my own contribution, the "postulates" are further down, and are more sensory based...
Party on,
Phil --------
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) a 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.)
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