Course Reflection

I really appreciate the chance to have taken this course. Our teachers, Kim Cofino and Jeff Utecht, have done a tremendous job of launching and guiding us on our journey into the future. Such a varied group we are in terms of life experiences and interests!

 Personally, this course has allowed me to crystallize my understanding of a cosmological vision that I initially acquired from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s magnum opus, The Phenomenon of Man (1952). In this book, de Chardin envisions the creation of the Noosphere or “collective consciousness” of human beings that is emerging from the interaction of human minds. Way back in the 1940’s, did de Chardin really foresee the creation of the World Wide Web?

 One writer has described the Noosphere as “the globe clothing itself with a brain.” Cyber bard, John Perry Barlow, wrote of de Chardin, "Teilhard's work is about creating a consciousness so profound it will make good company for God itself." My favorite quote from de Chardin, “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

 As hauntingly beautiful as de Chardin’s vision of the Noosphere is, Ray Kurzweil’s vision of the future is even more breathtaking.  In The Singularity is Near, Kurzweil gives what he understands to be the raison d’etre for Homo sapiens: “to infuse the universe with intelligence and order.” I like to think of this infusion of intelligence as our evolutionary imperative. Kurzweil relates how Homo sapiens will soon utilize most of the matter and energy on our planet in one enormous network of artificial intelligence. He sees this vast network of intelligence expanding to include most of the matter and energy in our solar system and then on to the rest of the universe.

 One of the most indelible experiences that I have had was to sit in the night at the top of a dune in the Great Sand Sea in Egypt. There, in absolute silence, perched on the edge of the universe, I caught a glimpse of its incomprehensible immensity and splendor. Just imagine this ineffable vastness infused with a deep intelligence and order!

 At times when we question the value of some of our tech tools, it helps to keep the big picture in mind. For me, Clay Shirkey’s book, Here Comes Everybody, illuminates the bridge from the tech tools to the big picture visions of de Chardin and Kurzweil. Here Comes Everybody is a masterly account of how people outside of established organizations have formed networks utilizing cutting-edge technology and accomplished results of great importance. Echoing one of de Chardin’s themes, Shirkey notes that some of these results have been accomplished not for profit but for love. I suspect this is what Kurzweil really means when he writes about infusing the universe with intelligence and order.

 If we can believe one of the more startling headlines from Kurzweil’s Singularity is Near, some of us in this course will cross the “first bridge” and go on to live to be 1,000 years old. Long before then, some of us will, to borrow a line from poet Stanley Kunitz, “go roaring down the stormtracks of the Milky Way.”

 A special thanks to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Ray Kurzweil for their thrilling cosmological visions, and to Clay Shirkey for putting so many of the pieces in place. Also, a heartfelt thanks to Kim Cofino, Jeff Utecht, Clarence Fisher, Chris Betcher and Julie Lindsay for inspiring us teachers and guiding us on our voyage to the edge of the universe. Finally, all the honor to my colleagues at the International School Bangkok, Thailand for infusing with intelligence and order the minds of so many young people, most of whom will one day go roaring down the stormtracks of the Milky Way.