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May 2009 
Olduvai Theory
Posted on Oct 10th, 2007
by 
M. Alan
M. Alan
Phew! Just finished my essay, which will be appearing on Frank Visser's site. Now I can focus on my book!
Anyway, I was chugging along, writing about integral evolution and the s\ingularity and all manner of wondrous things, when after some random web-browsing I stumbled upon this page.
So, all I can say is, If there isn't a really really radical shift in the global consciousness pretty quickly, this is what we have to look forward.
The clash of possibilities. On one side, timewave zero, technological singularity, supramentalisation, God-Omega. On the other, the long bleak slide into an impoverished and indefinitely long stone age, from which there is no hope of future progress
It's a bit surreal, the contrast.
But whatever happens, the world will never be the same. Our brief rapacious plunder of the Earth will be coming to an end, one way or another. But will the future be posthuman, or subhuman?
I know which one I'm fighting for.
Anyway, I was chugging along, writing about integral evolution and the s\ingularity and all manner of wondrous things, when after some random web-browsing I stumbled upon this page.
So, all I can say is, If there isn't a really really radical shift in the global consciousness pretty quickly, this is what we have to look forward.
The clash of possibilities. On one side, timewave zero, technological singularity, supramentalisation, God-Omega. On the other, the long bleak slide into an impoverished and indefinitely long stone age, from which there is no hope of future progress
It's a bit surreal, the contrast.
But whatever happens, the world will never be the same. Our brief rapacious plunder of the Earth will be coming to an end, one way or another. But will the future be posthuman, or subhuman?
I know which one I'm fighting for.
Access: Public
Just a first thought - this theory only makes sense if we believe that nothing 'surpassing' the industrial revolution comes along… but it has.
It's called the “information age” or “knowledge society” in which we will - for a long cycle - learn to do forever more with less…
Mushin speaks wisdom as usual. Personally, I have a very positive view of the future. I know this is unpopular but I cannot help it….in spite of the global problems.
Transfinancial Economics is still chugging away, and I am convinced it holds the key to the future if humanity is to seriously progress. It is not the complete answer ofcourse but it deals with the BASICS (ie. a new understanding of capital).
Recently, I have been on a somewhat “privileged” yahoo group website dealing with economics. They accepted my posts on TFE which suggests to me that they (mainly academics of old guard economics!!!) did not see my views as rubbish However, I did have a run-in if you could call it hat with two academics who were clearly educated beyond their intelligence!! Sad!!
Never mind there are more enlightened economists one of whom is willing to help me create the flexible controls on inflation by means off econometrics, et al Things are slowly moving forward but I expect in the next few years everything will accelerate as I suspect TFE will prove to be a winner in spite of any reactionary forces (along with Positive Human Politics)
R.Searle
Yes I agree it's better to be positive, and I am also optimistic about the future
Hi Mushin - I link to your Collective Buddha prolilogue (is that how its spelt?) in my new essay.
Yes the information Society is a new development, but it still does require an industrial high tech base (to make the computers etc) which in turn requires natural resources, but I do think we'll come through this. Although things will never be the same!
Robert, great to hear your ideas are starting to make an impact!
Thanks Alan for linking, that's always great.
I'm working now on a piece of software, moving the idea of social network way beyond what it presently is… hopefully it will turn out to be a tool that is testing some of the premises I have been pursuing about “we-fullness” and might - my hope - be one of the things knitting us closely together…
Yes, we need natural resources, but I see no problem (actually I call them challenges…) to never come to the end of what we have on this planet and beyond once we've established a massive linking of not too smart people ;-) into circles of excellence.
Large scale change always happens suddenly. I believe we're on the brink of 'punctuated evolution' so all our linear thinking will get us nowhere…
Hi Alan! I think that at the very least the exponential increase in technology is forcing us to start thinking about a shared identity and sense of purpose … or this same technology could be used to destroy us. Alan, apparently there is already a book on the role of transhumanism in our spiritual evolution:
http://www.iooi.org/
The book's name is “In Our Own Image: Humanity's Quest for Divinity via Technology”.
I'm now starting to understand this issue a bit more. On the SCIY blog, the authors had quoted Sri Aurobindo as suggesting that basically eventually technology will vanish into humanity (and not the other way around as sci-fi armageddonists would have us believe), and humanity will vanish into Divinity. I'm wondering if this is the hypothesis you're exploring as well.
hi Ned
well, my understanding is not taht technology will vanish into humanity, ior humanity into technology, but both into something else (call it posthumanity, the term the Transhumanists use). And I see this as the outer counterpart of the inner process of transformation and Divinisation. So as the supramental force continues to work in the world (as I explain in the second last section of my essay Redefining Integral) this will also manifets as amazing technological breakthroughs, as more and more possibilities are unleashed by the supramental activity working behind the scenes in the subtle physical. All this will be explained in more detail in my books
Thanks for the link to that book. Browsing through the website; it seems remarkably like Wilber's Integral theory in places - he's even got quadrants! But with the integration of spirituality and transhumanism that you mention - yes, very much something I'm interested in!
Hard to get more from the website, I'd need to read the book. I should order a copy!