This word "noosphere" is too important, in my view, to ignore. In discussions all over the world, I see real damage as people are torn between two standard extreme viewpoints:
(1) "Mundane", the view that we mammals are ONLY our bodies, governed entirely for all practical purposes by QED (quantum electrodynamic) physics, electrodynamic forces
working on atoms, electrons, nuclea\ons and such -- and that "spiritual experience" and PSI are always 100% delusion.
(2) Ultraweird, the view that everything we see in science is a byproduct of an unknowable Supreme Consciousness.
*** We FRIENDS OF THE NOOSPHERE*** represent what I view as the one and only very substantial and defensible third alternative to these two extremes. **BECAUSE** we adhere to a more foundation which combines a higher level of rationality COMBINED WITH openness to the full range of human experience, we tend to have independent thinking which sometimes manifests as chaos and disputes but we are called to remember that true rationality (ala Von Neumann, cited in the slides attached from my recent plenary talk) implies an effort to work for more cooperative, "win-win" social organization. LET US try to strengthen the dialogue and impact of all us friends of the noosphere, whatever else we may agree or disagree on.
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But what IS the "noosphere"?
Most of us learned about a concept of "noosphere" from the work of Teilhard de Chardin who has at times received devotion
for his serious books. He is one of the people I discussed in:
(1) The Phenomenon of Man, Revised: Evolution and IT versus Extinction in the Years to Come. Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, 15(2), pp.20-44.
http://www.cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/785/1400
I first learned of him from my mother, a devout Druid Catholic, in 1960, when MANY Catholics organized in support of his new worldview,
which COMBINED science and spirit in a special way. In that view, our spiritual experience is real, but based on our being part of the noosphere of the earth,
a great unified mind which emerged from the evolution of life on earth. Many view this as de Chardin's packaging of the ideas of a Russian scientist verdansky.
Arthur C. Clarke's novel "Childhood's End" gives a great image of the idea. There is a huge literature on the "Gaia hypothesis," and many people I have met devoted to it.
But I will never forget a visit to the national futures council of Chile, devoted both to real science and to the Catholic community. A high ranking
scientist priest said: "Yes, at our level we did look very deeply and hopefully at that idea. But it really does not fit real science, period."
I agreed (years before that). We humans can be part of a local noosphere ONLY if two conditions are met:
(1) There is physics involved beyond just QED physics. That is why humanity now needs a much better understanding of the more advanced physics we have begun to discover, starting from the solid photographs of "dark matter" available from NASA and from new nuclear research we need to be more open about.
(2) Our local noosphere is just ONE organism within a larger species. I first published an obscure paper in that in the 1970s,
but only through time and evidence came round to be totally convinced.
HOWEVER... (1) plus (2) suggests that our local noosphere is NOT JUST earth, and NOT an all-wise ancient crone.
AGAIN, I DO NOT ASK YOU TO AGREE. I ASK THAT ROOM BE MADE FOR THIS VIEWPOINT WITHIN THE LARGER COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS OF THE NOOSPHERE.
So instead of "Gaia" I would use the word "Amaterasu" -- but I am NOT supporting the images shown inside Shinto Temples,
any more than de Chardin supported the images in Greek temples. (I HAVE visited a Shinto complex in Izumo, Japan, where an
outdoor natural pool called "the true mirror of Amaterasu" reflects an image of the real sun in the sky.)
How can we be like real scientists and not just debate viewpoint (3) VERSUS (1) and (2)?
Real scientists work hard to FIND OUT, not just debate. That is the real reason why I realy we hope we develop the solid new technology needed to "see
the sky" with higher resolution, initially in QED bands but also in nuclear bands as soon as possible:
Does any organization on earth have the connections and clout to organize and lead the kind of crossdisciplinary new RD&D needed to do this?
I hope so. A lot depends on it.
