Divergent Paths Of The Future Part II
Part II: Tracing The Emergence of A Global Brain
In part one 1,2 of this article series we learned how in the 20th century, reductionism and determinism in natural sciences largely came to be replaced by complexity theory and systems theory. These newer modes of thought and scientific insight more accurately account for the way life is organized as complex systems that interact with each other. We learned about emergence, the phenomenon in which interactions among parts or beings in a system give rise to new, often surprising properties or behaviors that are not directly predictable from the individual components (such as the unique behaviors and achievements of the ant colony and the bee hive). These emergent outcomes, so often sophisticated and adaptive, have come to be seen by natural science as a type of collective intelligence. This kind of intelligence is commonly referred to as emergent intelligence. Darwinian evolutionary theory (Charles Darwin 1809-1882) is the theory that life on Earth evolves through a natural selection process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and pass on their advantageous traits to future generations. We learned that Darwinian evolutionary theory remains unresolved in several major ways but that the study of emergence is shedding new light by allegedly providing missing mechanisms for understanding how natural selection could give rise to the supposed physical evolution of species over time, called emergent evolution.
Modern technology and social concepts are being designed and advocated as aligning with the inherent course of nature and according to natural science, the theorized physical evolution of life. However, these technologies and social concepts serve as the fundamental structure of a worldwide socio-technical superorganism, one that distances itself from any sense of a spiritual, divine, influence at work. It is my intention to show how modern scientific and social ideas and technologies may be bringing this kind of cybernetic system – a global brain – into being. Understanding how complexity theory, systems theory and emergence are shaping modern science and technology is integral because these are the very means by which such a global, cybernetic superorganism operates. We will now continue to examine how these ideas and technologies manifest in the present-day and how they present the most significant possibilities and risks in creating a cybernetic global superorganism, all while claiming to safeguard the Earth and humanity.
Organicism
Organicism is the philosophical perspective that views the universe and its parts as an organic whole, which is often either metaphorically or literally likened to a living organism. Organicism thrived for a time during the era of German romanticism (18th and early 19th century), yet, the idea that the universe and society function like a living organism dates at least as far back as the ancient Greek philosophers Plato (427-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). Plato viewed the universe as an intelligent being through his concept of the "World Soul" in his work Timaeus. He asserted that the universe wasn't made of lifeless material but, instead, it was an enlivened and intelligent entity. In his work Politics Aristotle emphasized the idea of society as an organic unity where different social classes and individuals perform specialized functions and each part contributes to the overall well-being and functioning of the whole, much like organs in a body. Aristotle contended that political communities arise to address the fundamental requirements and desires of individuals, such as protection, maintaining social structure and striving for shared benefits.
Because the many ways in which parts of society are analogous to functions of the body are so overt, the organicist analogy of society to a single organism proves to be a very effective way of identifying how parts of society interact with each other and the changes taking place. Two major fundamental processes of the body are metabolism, the managing of matter and energy and the nervous system, responsible for the processing of information. In many ways society mirrors these individual inner processes. For example, the metabolic system is represented by such things as transportation networks, which are like the body’s circulatory system. Society's ‘immune system’ (dealing with things that attack or attempt to destabilize the body) can be seen as the police, judicial system and military. Warehouses are like the body’s fat storage and material infrastructure like buildings, bridges are somewhat akin to the skeletal system. In modern biology, the organicist view emphasizes the wholistic arrangement and especially the self-organizing characteristics of organisms, rather than merely their physical composition. Biologists have now shifted their focus away from fixed anatomical structures and towards the many interconnected processes that facilitate an organism's ability to adjust to an ever-changing environment.
Superorganism
The term superorganism refers to a sophisticated social structure or collective unit consisting of multiple individual organisms collaborating as a cohesive entity. The idea of the superorganism is commonly associated with social insects like bees, ants and termites whose colonies demonstrate (emergent) traits akin to those of a single organism despite being comprised of multiple individual creatures. Superorganisms display coordinated behavior, with individuals working together towards common goals and a natural division of labor with individual members taking on specialized roles which contribute to the functioning of the whole. The complex and intricate social arrangements observed in superorganisms have captivated scientists due to their effectiveness, durability and collaborative nature. The ongoing study of emergent phenomena continues to provide valuable insights into the way animals and human beings organize themselves, collective intellect and the evolution of animal and human social systems.
One of the most remarkable traits of superorganisms is their capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Through mechanisms such as swarm intelligence and decentralized decision-making, superorganisms of varying species can respond flexibly to threats, fluctuations in resources and many other types of challenges. With the increasing complexity of modern human social, political and technological systems, traditional reductionist approaches often fall short in understanding the intricacies of interactions within systems. Because of the remarkable ability to respond to evolving conditions, the study of the emergent phenomena of superorganisms has become particularly valuable for computer science and an increasing number of other fields. For example, insights into the emergent behaviors of superorganisms are utilized in economics to understand how complex systems of markets and economies self-organize and evolve through interactions among individual agents. This has begun to inform economic modeling, policy-making and strategies for managing economic systems. Due to the often intricate challenges of large organizations and projects involving many people, insights into the nature of superorganisms are also being used in the field of organizational management in order to cultivate adaptability, innovation and efficiency through decentralized decision-making, foster collaboration among diverse teams, as well as harness and maximize self-organization.
The insights gained from viewing everything as being part of larger, interconnected systems are being applied by science and technology in order to manage the increasingly complex challenges of the world. The alleged (and heavily contradicted) global threats of ‘climate change’ and ‘pandemics’ are used as justification for swift and efficient collective responses occurring on a global scale. It is said that these so-called ‘existential threats’ necessitate globally coordinated efforts and cooperation among diverse actors. The kind of overarching coordination being called for certainly resembles the collective responses that superorganisms in nature have in response to external threats. The justification for increasingly global, superorganism-like responses, along with the design and function of socio-technical systems mimicking superorganisms, has a compounding effect that is potentially acting as a self-fulfilling prophecy. A self-fulfilling prophecy works when a belief or expectation, whether true/accurate or not, influences behavior in a way that causes the belief or expectation to come true. The more that thinking, the design of technology and the structure of socio-technical systems is inspired by the many traits of superorganisms, the more humanity is actually being driven into being a superorganism.
Using the organicist metaphor of society as a superorganism – similar to how the enhanced efficiency in the metabolic-like processes of production and distribution has resulted in the globalization of the economy – the automation of information-processing is driving a globalization of humanity's cognitive and decision-making capacities i.e. the function of the nervous system. The most direct analogy to the nervous system of society is no doubt the global network of computers, the internet. With the widespread use of the internet, the dissemination of ideas, coordination of activities, formation of collective goals and interconnectedness among individuals, communities and nations has greatly intensified. Various kinds of networked structures have become quite numerous. Social networks (such as Meta, formerly Facebook, Instagram and ‘X’, formerly Twitter), online communities (such as Reddit, Discord and LinkedIn) and other digital marketplace ecosystems (such as Amazon and Alibaba) display collective behaviors and self-organizing dynamics very reminiscent of superorganisms.3 In order for the nervous system to be truly mirrored, a socio-technical system would have to be capable of sensing, thinking, learning, adapting, deciding and initiating actions. We will now trace how several of these functions are achieved by a global brain.
The Internet of Things and The Internet of Bodies
Although the interconnectivity which the internet provides does reflect some of the functions of a nervous system, the way the internet has operated historically does not at all compare to the sophistication of the human nervous system with its complex structure and many highly specialized functions. The human nervous system contains approximately 86 billion neurons.4 These neurons form extensive networks that are essential for processing and transmitting information throughout the body. If the communication channels of the internet play the role of nerves which transmit signals, then what plays the role of the many sensing neurons and the five sense organs (of touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight)? In order for the sensing capacity of the nervous system and sense organs to begin to truly be mirrored in society a much more refined and dense network of sensors which connect each device and each person into the same system would be required. This happens to be exactly where things are headed. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices that are embedded with sensors, software and other technologies that collect and exchange data over the internet. These devices can range from everyday household items to industrial machinery. Things such as thermostats, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ovens, door locks, window blinds and pet feeders can now be controlled remotely and automated. Bathroom scales that track weight, body fat and other health metrics synchronize with fitness smartphone apps; toothbrushes that track brushing habits and provide feedback for allegedly better oral hygiene and beds that track sleep patterns are just a few of the many examples of so-called smart devices. Called ‘wearables’, sensors that people wear such as bracelets and watches as well as sensors that are threaded into, or attached to, the fabric of clothing, are just at the beginning of the process of all this perhaps becoming commonplace.
Similar to the Internet of Things is the Internet of Bodies (IoB). The Internet of Bodies refers to the network of interconnected devices that are ingested by, attached to, or implanted in the human body, which collect, monitor and transmit biological and physiological data. These devices interact with other computerized systems, the internet and artificial intelligence (AI), to provide a range of supposed health, fitness and medical benefits by utilizing the data they gather. ‘Parametric’ insurance is a new type of natural disaster insurance product that uses data from sensors placed increasingly in various parts the environment that provide faster and more accurate payouts to policyholders. This type of real-time sensing eliminates the need for manual damage assessments and claims processing. Due to parametric insurance sensors as well as new types of tiny sensors (i.e. ‘nano dust’) placed in the earth for real-time soil analysis, from the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean, sensors are being deployed throughout the Earth. The vast array of sensors that extend from the remotest nature environments all the way into the human body is called the Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN). This increasingly ubiquitous network of sensors is building towards a level of density reminiscent of the sensing capacity of an actual nervous system.
The organicist metaphor of the nervous system of society is incomplete without the higher cognitive functions of the nervous system. Most of the billions of neurons which comprise the human nervous system are found in the brain which is the primary component of the human nervous system. It may be relevant to point out here that an anthroposophical understanding of the brain is that its activity is not what ‘causes’ consciousness and cognition but that the physical-electric activity of the brain is rather merely a mirror reflection of the activity of the human etheric body (the inherent life forces present in each person).5 Whilst leaving this present, but aside for now, we may assume that the extremely intricate activity of the brain – despite not being seen by all as the true cause of consciousness – is nonetheless a wellspring which is affording seemingly limitless applications through being emulated by electronic means. To effectively harness the cognitive, problem-solving power of a global brain, the barrier (in terms of access) between the internal brain of individuals and the external global brain would need to be minimized. This would require the emergence of a sophisticated collective intelligence (also referred to as ‘distributed cognition’) for decision-making and problem-solving, supported by the computer network of the internet.
Web 3.0, the Thinking Neural Network of the Global Brain
Although the adoption of the internet and the way it changed countless areas of culture, finance and communication occurred relatively quickly, the internet didn’t initially have the functionality it came to have. There are two basic past iterations of the internet, called Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. The first iteration lasted from the early 1990’s to the early 2000’s and is called the Static Web, because it contained static, read-only web pages in which information was presented in a one-way format from publisher to user. Web 1.0 had limited capability for user interaction and content creation. Around the early 2000’s more sophisticated webpage programming languages and web development techniques paved the way for Web 2.0, called the Social Web. Web 2.0 contains dynamic, interactive web pages, enhanced user participation and content creation (e.g. social media and blogs) and the emergence of many platforms enabling collaboration and sharing (e.g Facebook – now rebranded as ‘Meta’– Twitter, now rebranded as ‘X’, YouTube and Wikipedia).
The web's equivalent of brain neurons are documents and webpages (websites). The World-Wide Web connects webpages through a network of links and these links have historically been created manually by the document/website authors who determine which other documents are relevant. Given the vast number of potentially relevant pages and documents on the web, the manual process was inefficient because it captured only a small fraction of relevant content. As a result, users have often struggled to find the most pertinent information on any given topic. Although search engines help by returning webpages with specific keywords, search engines only partially address the issue because they often yield too many results while missing others that use different keywords. The rising amount of information censorship and algorithmic bias of search engines and AI further exacerbates the inefficiency of web searches. Censorship notwithstanding, the inefficiency of the web is being resolved by the third generation of the internet, called Web 3.0, the ‘Semantic Web’. (This can also be called Web3, something more specific than Web 3.0, which we will be exploring in the next part of this article series.)
Semantics is the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. Semantics studies the relationship between signs and symbols, how words, phrases and sentences convey meaning in language and how interpretation is influenced by context and usage. The Semantic Web is characterized by the structuring of all data in a way that machines can more deeply read and process. This occurs through the use of metadata. Metadata is information that is attached to other information (such as articles, files, pictures and videos) and can include details such as file type, author, date created, publish/upload/update dates, keywords, geographic information etc. The third iteration of the internet is called the Semantic Web because metadata makes it possible for software and artificial intelligence (AI) (also called ‘machine agents’) to perform more complex tasks on behalf of users by identifying the context and semantics of information. The problem-solving nature of the internet is becoming more adept (an artificial ‘intelligence’) because all information is classified and linked according to an ontology of subject types and link types. This new structuring of the internet enables machine agents (dubbed ‘AI’) to navigate the web and make inferences and deductions based on a semantic (i.e. contextual) associating of data. All of this comes about due to the programming coding used by humans to create such machines. The Semantic web is incredibly intricate and sophisticated, a simple example is that if a user searches for information on how to care for a particular bred of cat, such as a Bengal cat, the Semantic Web can automatically infer that since Bengal cats are a breed of cats, it should also look for relevant care information in documents that describe general cat care, even if those documents do not specifically mention Bengal cats. In other words, machines are now beginning to seem to understand and accurately interpret data contextually, like human beings do. Due to the ever more semantic structuring of the internet, most search engines now primarily use these machine agents due to the far superior nature of results. Modern nomenclature, traditionally only used to describe humans and animals, is now frequently used to name and describe various aspects of machine function and capability, (e.g. ‘understand’, ‘intelligent’, ‘smart’ etc.). Although these words provide a convenience, it is important to point out that these terms are in name only and do not represent the actual traits and abilities that human beings possess.
From a material/neurological perspective, thinking occurs from electrical and chemical signaling across complex systems of interconnected neurons. These systems of interconnected neurons are called neural networks. The way neural networks function has very much been the inspiration behind the design of modern computer networks, which use the very same name. In fact, if one searches for the meaning of “neural network”, what usually comes up is not the definition from neuroscience, but the definition from computer science. Neuroscience sees concepts as corresponding assemblies of neurons. In the same way that certain concepts thought by people activate a cascade of neighboring concepts, so does the Semantic Web allow machine agents to work extremely similarly. Compared to older traditional AI programs that only used logical deduction, the associative, semantic structuring, linking and machine agent retrieval of all information on the internet is now, in a particular way, similar to how the human (brain) operates from intuition and association.
Cybernetics, the Learning and Adapting of the Global Brain
It’s important to understand that it is not the ever-growing, vast network of sensors throughout the Earth and people’s bodies, nor the semantic structure of the internet that alone enables a socio-technical system to truly function like a global brain. In order for such a system to continue to meet the criteria of a nervous system, the abilities of learning and adapting need to be met. This is where cybernetics comes in. Cybernetics is the study of systems, control and communication processes in living and non-living systems. Cybernetics studies how systems regulate themselves and interact with their environments through feedback loops and adaptive mechanisms. Cybernetic feedback loops are present in living and nonliving systems in which outputs are fed back into the system as inputs, enabling the system to self-regulate and adjust its behavior based on the feedback received. An example of a feedback loop in a biological system is homeostasis in the human body, where mechanisms like sweating or shivering help maintain a stable internal temperature. An example in a non-living control system would be a thermostat which regulates room temperature by turning the heating or cooling system on or off based on temperature readings.
Recall that emergent properties are characteristics of a system that are not present in its individual components but arise when many components interact. Whereas some non-materialistic perspectives understand brain activity as a reflection of non-physical (i.e. etheric) activity, it is thought by natural science that consciousness emerges from the collective functioning of the brain's neural networks – when neural networks reach a certain level of complexity and connectivity. Again, the understanding of emergence is central to the understanding of how a ‘thinking’, ‘learning’ and adapting global brain is possible. On the one hand, as sensors become more dense and the internet becomes increasingly reminiscent of the associative, semantic nature of thinking, the emergence of a consciousness-like (but not the same as human consciousness) phenomenon becomes more and more possible. On the other hand emergent traits of human activity and consciousness are being quantified as data, which is then fed back into the same system in a reciprocal way, creating a cybernetic feedback loop.
Because principles of feedback, control and communication have such wide use, cybernetics is useful in many fields. Insulin pumps that regulate blood sugar levels automatically, feedback from environmental monitoring systems used for resource management and conservation efforts and feedback mechanisms like performance reviews and market analysis to help adjust business strategies and operations are a few of the many examples of cybernetics in medicine, environmental science and business management. Relevant to our focus is the fact that cybernetics plays a very key role in computer science and social engineering. Algorithms (programs written for machines to solve problems or perform certain actions) that adapt and learn from data inputs use cybernetic feedback principles. For example, computer neural networks adjust parameters within a neural network and those parameters determine the strength of the connections between neurons (computer nodes) in different layers of the network. By adjusting the parameters, the neural network makes more accurate predictions and effectively refines its performance over time. This is the mirroring of learning and adaptation by the machine!
Cybernetics is applied to social engineering by using principles of system regulation, feedback and control to influence and manage social behaviors, social structures and social processes. Social engineering strategies often incorporate feedback loops where individuals' behaviors are monitored and feedback is provided to encourage ‘desired behaviors’. For example, social media platforms use algorithms to tailor content and advertisements based on user interactions, influencing behavior through continuous feedback. This tailoring occurs from the group level down to the level of the individual user. Smart cities are urban environments in which absolutely everything is connected to the internet. Social engineering in a smart city would involve integrating cybernetic principles into urban planning and management. In a smart city, sensors and IoT devices collect real-time data on aspects of city life (e.g. traffic and energy use) and this data is used to optimize city functions and allegedly improve the quality of life for residents through automatically adaptive control systems.
We are seeing how, with each step in global cybernetic system more closely mirroring the nuanced sophistication of a nervous system, life on Earth may very well be actually becoming more like a singular superorganism. The question isn't whether human society is truly a superorganism in the strictest sense, but rather how useful it is to model society as if it were an organism for various purposes, such as using collective intelligence as a computational problem-solving tool. The more aspects of the activity of all kingdoms of nature and most especially various aspects of human activity are successfully quantified, the more self-organizing, emergent phenomenon can be identified and used in cybernetic feedback loops. This gives rise to a kind of computational, collective intelligence that is, at least in some ways, much more than the sum of individual intelligences. Capturing emergent human phenomena on every possible level is what would enable a more effective problem-solving system.
As stated above, for the cognitive, problem-solving power of a global brain to be effectively harnessed, the barrier between the internal brain of individuals and the external global brain needs to be minimized. We have seen how this could be done through ‘wearables’ and sensors in the body acting in conjunction with Web 3.0. Yet, no matter how many there are, sensors do not capture the intricate and nuanced way in which individuals and groups interact with human culture itself. Culture is multilayered, complex and the way people and groups engage various aspects of culture is hard to capture. Cultural engagement is no doubt full of emergent phenomena, which, if channeled as data, would refine and enhance a global brain. Can local and larger systems of cultural engagement possibly be captured? In order to capture the complexity of individual cultural engagement down to the level of the freely acting individual, there would need to be an omnipresent mechanism that permanently captures the nuances of cultural engagement.
Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Token Engineering: The Neurons of Culture
Some of the oldest documents ever discovered are various types of ledgers, including medical records, legal and business contracts and accounting books. Throughout the history of civilization, there has been a consistent need for secure and accurate record-keeping of transactions and events. Traditionally, this has been achieved through a system where a recognized central administrator is responsible for storing, securing and updating the ledger. Imagine ‘blockchain’, a form of programing operating over the internet, as a modern version of the old-fashioned bookkeeping ledger, but instead of handwritten entries and calculations, a blockchain is a digital list of entries and calculations. A “block”, which exists as information on computer hard drives, is simply a bundle of transactions, akin to a whole page of transactions in the old-fashioned ledger. A blockchain is a chain of these blocks, similar to a series of pages in the traditional ledger. With the invention of blockchain technology, it is now possible to maintain an accurate ledger without relying on a single, central point for storing, maintaining or updating the information.
The essence of blockchain is its ability to function in a decentralized manner without requiring trust in any single entity. It enables users to independently and authoritatively verify the ledger themselves, without relying on an external authority. The blockchain actually exists in every one of the (thousands or possibly millions) of computers (nodes) on the network as exact copies of each other. In this way, blockchain is immutable and is incredibly secure against fraud. Therefore, a blockchain ledger is a decentralized system (also one of the primary traits of a different type of system, the superorganism). Although blockchain technology is often associated with cryptocurrency – digital currencies that are encrypted and decentralized – blockchain has a wide use because it can be used to record many types of information. Blockchain is being used in an increasing array of contexts by businesses, schools and other types of organizations. For example, churches are now using blockchain to securely record such things as donations, sacraments, (e.g. baptisms, confirmations and marriages) as well as for membership, budget management and much more.
Blockchain technology is arguably as revolutionary for today’s world as the advent of the printing press was in the early 1400’s. This is because blockchain allows users to create their own decentralized networks in which no external authority or third party is needed. Free individuals are utilizing public blockchains to create un-taxable cryptocurrencies that are not issued by or subject to any central authority. These cryptocurrencies enable the instantaneous transfer of value and property across the globe, bypassing geographical boundaries and monopolies and eliminating the need for permissions from governments and banks with their associated fees. Another crucial use of blockchain technology is for digital tokens. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are related concepts but are not exactly the same. Whereas cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that only function as a medium of exchange, tokens are versatile digital assets that represent a wide range of uses and can serve various purposes within decentralized applications and blockchain ecosystems.
Like cryptocurrencies, digital tokens can be used to facilitate payments and transactions in a secure, decentralized manner without the need for intermediaries. Unlike cryptocurrencies, digital tokens can also represent investment and ownership. For example, a token can represent a share in a company, called an equity token. Used in this way, a token could entitle holders to dividends, voting rights and appreciation in value as a company grows. An asset-backed token can represent a physical asset such as gold or art. Artists can tokenize their work, which allows collectors to purchase, trade and own digital art. A painter could create digital tokens that represent ownership or rights to their artwork. The blockchain ledger provides a transparent history of an artwork's ownership and transaction history. Musicians can tokenize their music, which could give fans fractional ownership of a song. This could allow token holders to invest in a musician’s work and receive a share of royalties and other future earnings.
Utility tokens are digital tokens that provide access to specific products or services. Utility tokens are not intended to represent an investment or ownership stake but rather a functional use within a particular platform. For example, an online store could offer customers a token for every 10 purchases and customers could redeem this token for future discounts or special offers. Sports teams and entertainment franchises issue fan tokens that provide fans with voting rights, exclusive content and rewards. Educational ‘applications’ (called ‘apps’ which are used by modern smart phones) and platforms (such as websites which offer online courses for degrees and certifications in various fields) use token incentives whereby students earn tokens for completing tasks and quizzes which can be redeemed for rewards or access to future lesson content and/or other features. Organizations can implement token-based incentive programs to reward employees for achieving performance targets, completing tasks or contributing innovative ideas. Tokens can be distributed as bonuses, redeemable for goods or services or exchanged for other benefits within an organization. Tokens can be used in organizational management and government by issuing governance tokens that grant token holders voting rights on decisions related to the organization or government’s operations, development and governance. These are just a few examples of the seemingly infinite ways in which tokens are already being used across so many areas of life and culture. The design of systems to operate with these many different types of tokens is called token engineering. The phenomenon of the exponential use of tokens is called tokenization.
The concept of a token is part of game theory, the study of mathematical models of strategic interaction among rational participants. Game theory has many real-world applications because it explores how individuals or groups make decisions in situations where the outcome depends not only on their own choices but also on the choices of others. Game theory has been applied to a variety of contexts and important human events. For example, throughout the Cold War game theory was used to understand the strategic balance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The concept of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which posited that if either side launched a nuclear attack, both would be destroyed, was a key application of game theory. Game theory is used in economics for analyzing strategic interactions and providing insights into how individuals and firms make decisions, predict outcomes and design mechanisms to achieve desired objectives. Game theory is also used for political campaigns and elections to model and predict the behavior of candidates, voters and political parties. Traditionally, games facilitate interaction between individuals and information in a compelling, engaging and motivating way. Board games provide examples of how tokens are used. For instance, the well-known board game Monopoly™ employs distinctive physical tokens to represent players (player tokens) and physical entities in the game (house and hotel tokens). Tokens in various contexts, such as gaming or blockchain technology, serve as units of representation, facilitating interactions, transactions and the implementation of rules and/or incentives.
Cryptocurrency and digital tokens are potentially revolutionary because of built in security and the decentralized way they can be used to circumvent banking and governmental control. What enables cryptocurrencies and digital tokens to be secure and decentralized is blockchain technology. This is because blockchain ledger technology provides a secure, transparent and decentralized system for the creation, management and transfer of cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. Recall that transactions and many types of data are recorded at the same time as exact copies in all of the computers in any given blockchain network. This is why a cryptocurrency or a digital token can’t be easily counterfeited. Any attempt to retrospectively change a blockchain ledger would be immediately recognized, as this would contradict what all the computers (nodes) on a blockchain network have already confirmed. For this reason, blockchain is an extremely efficient, immutable system of capturing people’s choices, interactions and transactions. Yet, although there are both public blockchains (known as “permissionless”) in which any user is allowed access and private (known as “permissioned”) blockchains that require an invitation and/or certain credentials, it is important to keep in mind that even private blockchains can be accessed and the information harnessed. Silk Road was an online blackmarket which existed between 2011-2013 and allowed users to buy and sell products and services anonymously. All transactions were conducted with Bitcoin, the most ingeniously designed of all cryptocurrencies worthy of its own article. Operating on the Dark Web – the private and anonymous “underground internet” – Silk Road became most known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. Although Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can allow for a degree of anonymity, because of the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain, U.S. law enforcement agencies were able to trace transactions associated with Silk Road and gather evidence to identify and prosecute the Silk Road founder and many of the Silk Road users. Although this shows how blockchain can put personal data at stake, as it relates to the focus of this article series, the larger concern here is how blockchain and tokenization can allow for social engineering.
Social engineering is a technique of manipulation that exploits individual and mass psychology often through deception. Social engineering is a tool that is used to alter public perception and/or opinion, gather intelligence and/or to influence various operations. Tokenization and blockchain systems are now being intimately woven into so many aspects of social, economic, political, cultural and even religious life. By using principles from economics, game theory, computer science and system design, tokenization can be used for social engineering through the creation of tokens that drive desired behaviors and outcomes. Because of the way that both cryptocurrencies and tokens (using blockchain technology) record so many said aspects of life, they act as “nerves” which enable a global brain to reach into culture. Through cryptocurrencies and tokens, economic transactions and cultural life both become visible to the machine. Considering what we now know about cybernetics, it is this visibility that reveals emergent patterns throughout humanity. These emergent patterns can be cybernetically utilized for computation and prediction modeling. These technologies afford the potential for humanity to be covertly steered (known as “nudging”) into various directions and purposes. In this kind of system, people are unknowingly used as computational nodes – as agents on a game board who are unknowingly playing a game. One of the most attractive aspects of Web 3.0 and blockchain is the decentralization of society, yet it is precisely through a decentralized system that a global brain is able to operate effectively! What looks attractive from one perspective is questionable when seen from another. Especially since the so-called ‘global pandemic’, popular in so-called health freedom and conspiracy communities is the notion that there is an agenda to depopulate humanity and put the entire world on lockdown – to create a so-called “prison planet”. Yet, the less personal freedom and the fewer people there are, the less emergence can occur. Emergence occurs in larger systems in which there is a certain degree of freedom. Furthermore, a global brain only effectively works in a system in which people have a substantial degree of freedom. Despite this needed degree of freedom, such a system could operate in the context of limited freedoms. The type of system I am here identifying is a potential future in which there is a limited amount of personal freedom – a conditional world in which minor to major freedoms of individuals and/or groups could be revoked and the system could continue to operate.
Game Theory and Social Polarities
In game theory, there are finite games and infinite games. In the finite game, there is a clear endpoint, one can ‘beat’ the game. In the infinite game there is no defined endpoint, there are evolving rules and the objective is to perpetuate the game and ensure its continuous play. Infinite games allow for continuous adaptation to changing circumstances and new information. When game theory of the infinite game is applied to social engineering, this means strategies can evolve to meet shifting societal norms and technological advancements and any disruptions to any part of the social and/or technological system. In social engineering, this translates to creating systems, policies and behaviors that sustain over time, fostering ongoing engagement and influence rather than focusing on immediate outcomes. Infinite games influence the underlying culture and norms by continually engaging (unknowing) participants. In social engineering, this approach can shape societal values and behaviors over the long term, embedding desired changes deeply within the social fabric.
Within game theory is also ‘teaming’. Teaming refers to the formation of groups or alliances by individuals with aligned interests or strategies to achieve better outcomes in a competitive or cooperative setting. I maintain that the global, so-called “pandemic” was to some considerable extent, gamed out (i.e. modeled/simulated) well before the very first utterance of “Coronavirus” in late 2019. Two very distinct teams arose from the situation that were polarized on the major issues of masks, lockdowns, injection efficacy and safety, inoculation mandates and ‘vaccine passports’. These polarized groups did somewhat naturally arise due to differing understandings and sincerely held values. Yet, how ‘natural’ the way in which these differing understandings and values gave way to such intensely polarized teams, is subject to question. My point here is that social engineering and intentional, strategic steering of humanity is much more effectively carried out in a controlled fashion from the successful application of game theory. If gaming and prediction models clearly showed that a certain number of the population was not going to adhere to the official “pandemic” and injection narratives, the most controlled way to operate would be to set up a social game board and create teams, that are in essence, more easily directed. If this is the case, the ‘global pandemic’ and ‘lockdowns’ can be seen as a collective-trauma program designed to set up the next part of the game, the focus on apparent decentralized technology and systems. This is no simple matter. Although decentralization and freedom are both integral to the kind of cybernetic, socio-technical system I am here identifying, the freedom and freely-acting evolution of individuals and larger humanity are nonetheless at stake because there is great potential in kind of system in manipulating the direction of human evolution.
In part one of this article series I went over some of the concerning ideas of Oliver Reiser, (1895-1974) a professor of philosophy and well connected proponent of scientific humanism. Scientific humanism claims to improve the world through combining a commitment to human values and ethics with a reliance on scientific methods and reasoning.1,2 In his book The World Sensorium: The Social Embryology of World Federation, Reiser expounded greatly on the creation of a world Brain.6 He brought up the importance of “social polarities” for a global brain. “[T]he World Brain, serving as the vehicle of the planetary society, must constitute an organ of intellectual and social dominance, harmonizing the conflicting interests of purpose and a sense of direction upon the threatening chaos of social change[...][S]ociety must develop a World Brain to serve as an organ of collective and unified action[,] based on the general idea of biological dominance and subordination, which in turn is an example of polarity in nature. Many manifestations of the universe are polar in nature: centripetal-centrifugal forces operate universally; attraction and repulsion are twin activities; positive and negative electricity are found everywhere and are equally essential to the development of forms on all levels of evolution. And since society is a natural manifestation, it also must have its basic polarities. Indeed, social evolution itself seems to depend upon our ability to produce a balanced, dynamic spiraling movement in time towards some polarized objective.”6 We can see quite clearly how Reiser expressed that it is through social polarities that a world brain dominates and covertly steers the evolution of human society. As greatly detailed by Reiser, polarities are actually crucial for an effectively functioning world brain.
Signals Intelligence: The Stigmergy of the Global Superorganism
Just the other day I discovered that an ant colony was residing on the items in my mailbox. I disturbed the colony when I took out the mail and shook the ants and larvae off. The next day I again checked my mail and I discovered that, despite having been majorly disturbed by me the day before, the ants had gathered all the larvae I had shaken off and efficiently regrouped again atop the new mail. I again disrupted the colony by simply retrieving my mail. This occurred again the next day but on the forth day the ants, obviously having learned that being on something which was being disturbed every day wasn’t a good spot for the colony, adapted by permanently moving elsewhere. I have yet to see them in my mailbox since. This phenomenon that I personally witnessed is a perfect example of the emergent trait of adaptability of a superorganism. Ants leave pheromone trails as they move which mark trails to food sources, signal alarm and identify colony members. What ants achieve through pheromones is an example of ‘stigmergy’. Stigmergy refers to a mechanism of indirect coordination among agents or elements within a system. Individual actions modify the environment, which in turn influences the behavior of other individuals. Essentially, it's a way for individuals in a decentralized system to communicate and coordinate their activities through their environment rather than through direct interaction. This phenomenon is often also observed in other social insects like termites and bees as well as eukaryotic organisms (those whose cells contain a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles) like slime molds and fungi. Even for ants which follow pheromone trails, the colony is the most efficient in finding food if individual ants do not merely follow the paths laid down by their fellow ants, but regularly deviate and create a paths of their own. The unique way in which ants find food has been turned into a computer algorithm.7 By simulating the path-finding behavior of ants and by mimicking the resource discovery and allocation processes observed in ant colonies, these algorithms are being presently used to optimize routing in computer networks and (self-driving) vehicle transportation systems and many other applications.
Token engineering and stigmergy share a lot of similarities in that both involve decentralized coordination and rely on indirect communication through environmental signals and mechanisms to achieve collective goals. Signals intelligence is the gathering, analysis and exploitation of electronic signals and communications to gain strategic and tactical information. Signals intelligence is traditionally used in military operations, but has a lot of potential for wide application. Like stigmergy in nature, signals intelligence involves using information (i.e. signals) to coordinate actions and make informed decisions without direct, centralized control or communication. Cryptocurrency (known as community currencies, or “freedom money”) is currently framed as a way to get out from under the control of banks and government regulation and overreach. Yet, this framing fails to realize how blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are the means of efficiently providing signals. All of these things that we have been considering in this article which provide information feedback (social media, cryptocurrency, tokens etc) serve as the stigmergy of the global superorganism because they make transactions and human relationality (culture) visible to the machine. Through signals intelligence, emergent patterns are revealed and the individual’s choices throughout cultural life can be strengthened or weakened, by “nudging”, through cybernetic means. This is the means through which a global brain uses to steer humanity. Like conducting an orchestra comprised of the many social polarities.
Silk Pavilion, Social Media and Social Engineering
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory focusing on the convergence of technology, multimedia, sciences, art and design. The lab is known for its innovative research and development in various areas such as digital technology, human-computer interaction, wearable computing, biotechnology and advanced materials. In 2013 a team at MIT Media Lab created a project called Silk Pavilion, an architectural project that uses silk worms to create a large silk structure. Silk worms are autonomous beings and do not naturally work collectively in nature. The project exemplifies the application of cybernetic concepts through the integration of the natural behavior of silkworms with human-designed structures. The silkworms are released onto a pre-constructed scaffold and their silk-spinning activity is guided by the structure, demonstrating a feedback loop between the silkworms' behavior and the scaffold's design. This feedback loop represents an adaptive system where the design and construction process is informed by both computational algorithms and biological behaviors. Despite the fact that silk worms are autonomous beings and do not naturally work collectively in nature, the researchers are able to ‘steer’ the silk worms to acting as a hive. It is a peculiar fact to note that the precursor to the social media platform Twitter (now called X) was created by a MIT Media Lab researcher.8 Considering what we have touched upon regarding the great potential of social engineering being carried out through social media and game theory, is it possible that social media is a powerful way to manipulate consciousness whereby the well timed, intentional dissemination of particular information (e.g. news stories) begets massive responses (i.e. many people continually expressing opinions and emotions on social media) which are used for cybernetic purposes? Manipulating consciousness/social mood through story, concept, archetype, symbol as well as teaming are vital to the cybernetics of a socio-technical system, which pervades culture. In this way, story and archetype may act as the scaffold as used in the Silk Pavilion experiment.
Rethinking AI: Identifying the Actual Threat
The dangers that Artificial Intelligence poses to humanity is a very prominent conversation in current social dialogue. Several groups have been formed recently to discuss and supposedly protect humanity from the potential dangers posed by artificial intelligence. The primary risk which is so often discussed is that AI will become self-aware, a phenomenon called ‘singularity’.9 It is, understandably, thought that if AI attains singularity, it will very rapidly take over the Earth and potentially destroy humanity and perhaps all life on the planet. Computer science is continuing to advance, creating faster and faster computers through things such as quantum computing, which exploits the principles of quantum mechanics to perform complex calculations much faster than classical computers. Despite these continuing advancements, the scenario of singularity leading to humanity’s eventual subjugation and possible extermination is founded on the notion that the power of AI is a phenomenon, which only exists, externally, in machines. Knowing what we now know regarding the global brain of a global superorganism, which is fundamentally based on the harnessing of emergent patterns of all the kingdoms of nature and especially human society, can we really say that singularity could exist, or at least efficiently operate, without humanity? The notion of a purely external AI is thus a mischaracterization based on a lack of understanding of what is actually arising: a bio-hybrid, social computational system; a superorganismic ‘being’.
It may be thought that no amount of neuron-like, ubiquitous sensors and no amount of mechanisms that provide cultural information signals, all working through an increasingly human-like internet network, could give rise to an actual global superorganism. Yet, in the same way that a person from the year 1413 AD would faintly be able to begin to conceive of the technology and socio-technical systems which are operating today, what is possible and could arise from the continuing advancement of emergence-based, social-technology may surprise us in the future. Right now, many of us are already unknowingly participating in the shared, problem-solving space. The significance of the application of game theory is that individuals feel and believe they are in control when, to some extent, they are being used as agents on a game board because their choices, expressed opinions and beliefs and very intelligence is being used for social computation. This system doesn’t work through socialism, communism, authoritarianism or totalitarianism. A global brain works through collective, distributed intelligence, to perform some sort of pattern recognition and/or problem-solving procedure. In the next and final part of this article series I will continue to identify more modern developments that are important to consider and finally take an esoteric/anthroposophical perspective. I will identify how emergent phenomena can be seen as a reflection of the activity of beneficent spiritual beings, what spiritual phenomena Web 3.0 and blockchain are a reflection of, how the system heretofore identified can be seen as the activity of primarily two adversarial spiritual beings and how this system attempts to harness and capture the soul, feeling life and will forces of the human being.
This article is originally published in the 2024 Summer issue of New View, an Anthroposophical, physical and digital magazine. Please consider subscribing to this wonderful publication. Top picture: multivert42
Online communities include social media websites such as Meta, X and Reddit in where users can submit content, such as text posts, links and images and participate in discussions. Other types of online communities include LinkedIn, a website for professional networking, Discord, communication platform designed for creating many types of chatrooms. Even product marketplaces like Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba have social aspect such as users being able to write reviews about products and sellers.
The etheric body is an invisible energetic form that permeates and sustains the physical body. The etheric body has about the size and form of the physical body, so that it practically fills the same space. It is the template or blueprint for physical development and growth, coordinates the functions of the physical body and serves as a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms. The etheric body is intimately connected with life processes, growth and healing and its health and balance are crucial for overall well-being.
Oliver Reiser, The World Sensorium: The Social Embryology of World Federation, The Avalon Press 1946
YouTube video title: “Coding Adventure: Ant and Slime Simulations”;
In the context of artificial intelligence, ‘singularity’ refers to a hypothetical future point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, leading to rapid, unpredictable advancements and potentially profound changes to society and human civilization. This event is often associated with the emergence of artificial intelligence that can autonomously improve itself, resulting in exponential growth in its capabilities.