Ah, it was a problem of reference.
Yes, I've realized something similar, but mainly it came from reading E.O. Wilson's superorganism musings, plus Ernst Haeckel's colonial theory at the micro-level, with Dawkins' memetic theory, Oswald Spengler's and Amy Chua's civilization studies, some cybernetics propaganda from the military industrial complex and some operations research texts, and of course Darwin and the Austrian school, forming secondary and tertiary references. (Plus probably a whole bunch of other smart people I'm failing to credit.)
And of course, there's this great clip from Nixon:
Deleuze had nothing to do with it. I couldn't get past his Frenchness.French intellectuals often seem to me be so enamored with how chic their work is that it immediately becomes dated...but I guess one would expect no less from the most fashionable city on Earth!
The word "God", on the face of it, though, doesn't appear to me to be the kind of intelligence we are headed for. That seems to imply both a unified and benevolent force. The rule seems to be that things evolve, and for things to evolve, there must be competition. So I would predict a multitude of intelligences slugging it out (which might already be happening, if you consider states and corporations to be these kind of intelligences) as opposed to just one consciousness. There can be no God, but perhaps an asymptotic approach towards one. For an example, even though our species has effectively "won" this level of evolutionary competition, there's still AIDS and Ebola and all kinds of other nasties wiping us out in droves. The fight continues! Though these consciousnesses should start to appear like gods to us, since we are basically the equivalent of their gut bacteria.
The benevolence implied with "God" I also find troubling, albeit to a lesser degree. I doubt we'll end up with Skynet, (again, they need us, we're their gut bacteria) but the intelligences might start experimenting with "antibiotics" to take down what they see as malignant growths or pathogens. This could be a painful period for humanity (Once again, this may already be happening, depending on your perspective, with these unmanned drones blowing up the postulated enemies of corporatism and technology...)
But thank you for making me aware of Whitehead, I'll be sure to check him out. I think I've heard the name before. (God bless him, having the name of a pustule for a surname...must have had a hard life lol)
No, I think it's quite an astute observation once unpacked.



Reply With Quote