Evolving into a Collective Being?

Welcome to A2K, Kickycan,

Thankyou for bringing up such an interesting topic.

I think that humans have always had the ability to experience themselves as being a small part of something much larger. If you sit outside on a clear night (granted, that's probably a lot more difficult where you are ), you can experience a sense of belonging to something much larger. Mystics have experienced this sense of wholeness in many different cultures at many different times.


The information revolution is teaching us more about others. However, there will be limits on how much we can understand and how close technology can bring us.

In some ways modernity has increased our distance from the people around us, rather than brought us closer together. In small, close knit communities people are much closer to people around them than people are in big cities, where there are fewer kinship ties. People become more isolated from one another.

Travelling and learning about other people can give you more respect for other people's beliefs and broaden your understanding. However, it generates more questions rather than providing you with answers.

I think the experience you are discussing would have to be spiritual or religious rather than scientific. There is a limit to the amount we can know and, to this date, science has not answered any of the "big questions" conclusively.

Considering the fact that we all came from one creature, I would say that we can always feel a sense of oneness yet we are moving away and splitting apart from that single essence.

To expereince a sense of oneness would be something that could never be documented or measured, just felt. I think that many seperate cultures feel a sense of unity with their other members, one that borders on them being a collective being. Perhaps in the future we will become so interconnected that we will feel like a global collective.

When is the world going to unite under one government?

Individual- Never, I hope. Why in the world would you want one government? The earth has many different kinds of peoples, each with their own traditions, values and cultures. How would a one-size-fits-all government be satisfactory to all of humankind?

At least, the way things are, if you are not happy with your government, you can always emigrate to some place where the political atmosphere is more to your liking. If it were the same all over the world.................................

Phoenix, I never stated that I would want one government. But I do believe that the world will be united one day regardless of ethnicity, and I would definitely prefer one government over one religion.

What do you have against a single government ruling all?

Re: Evolving into a Collective Being?


I think we already experience a sense of unity, it's just that that unity doesn't overwhelm our individuality at the same time. But if our consciousness were to change from being individual, to being primarily collective, who/what would we be? Much of what makes us human in our perception of ourselves comes from how we feel and how we think, so a change of consciousness at this level might not leave us *human* by any current definition.

It seems to me that just as sight, sound, and smell impact our perception of things directly, so might artificial implants which allowed us to perceive new stimulus.

For example, what if future implants allowed our brains to perceive the radio spectrum just like we perceive the light spectrum now. If everyone both broadcast and received radio as a part of their normal thought process we might feel ourselves connected to others in a new and pervasive way. But radio is just another spectrum of energy which we currently don't perceive directly (snakes can see infra red, and insects can see ultra violet, so this is not too outlandish an idea), so it's effect must not be totally different from our other senses, which means that we already experience some level of connection through our other senses, but that we're so used to it that we don't notice it. Contrast this to a deaf and blind person like Helen Keller, and ask yourself again just how connected you are to everyone else in comparison.

Best Regards,

I can say why I would be opposed to one government ruling all: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This has been proven over and over again throughout history.

Why would a single consciousness be desirable? Why would evolution follow such a path? How is it inherently more adaptive than individuality?

Brush up on your Carl Jung. Collective consciousness does not exclude the idea of individuality, but it does suggest an interconnectedness between all human beings that can be tapped into for positive results. It's misleading to make the assumption that it is a 'single' consciousness.

Think about it. That would be a HUGE amount of power in the hands of a few people. What if the government, were like Stalin's? or Pol Pot's?



I don't care how many religions there are, as long as it does not affect me. What if the "one government" were controlled by one faith?

And, if I may add: think about it - 6 billion people - one government. This world is too large for one government.

I didn't make the assumption that collective consciousness excluded individuality...that was implied by rosborne responding to kickycan. Perhaps they want to brush up on Carl Jung, but I want to know why they think their concepts are improvements.

i can't speak for anyone but myself. i know that most of my problems come from fear, which cause me to do stupid things, and sometimes, even worse, nothing at all. also, the sense of oneness is something that comes and goes-- it's a patchwork, the feelng of being totally full can come from a great book, or great company, a great conversation, but it is fleeting... it ends and then it starts again.

Resistance is futile.

Oh my God...a Startrek fan?