09 July 2008

Collective Unconscious

Partly due to Jean Marie's post, and partly due to some reading I've been doing, and partly, of course, due to the barest little glimmer of a plot point burbling around in my brain...I've been doing a lot of thinking about the Collective (sub)Conscious.

I don't mean Jung's theory of an objective psyche, pushing us toward our ideal self. Or Durkheim's idea of people being shaped by their society.

I sort of mean the Borg.

Only, the human version. The idea that we are all connected. We're all part of some larger awareness. The idea that every living thing on the planet, and the planet itself, link together to create...not a unimind (thank you Buzz Lightyear of Star Command), but a...storehouse of memories and experience which are accessible by everyone...if we only knew how.

So I found myself wondering...if there was a way to Bluetooth ourselves into each other's minds...to share, even just a small space of our minds with other people...a sort of giant meeting hall inside our own heads...would we?

Before you say no too quickly...how about a Bluetooth/glasses combo which allowed you Internet access wherever you might be? Isn't the Internet rapidly becoming a sort of 'collective consciousness'?

And what would happen if that consciousness grew a soul?

Yeah, welcome to my mind. No wonder my tagline is "I write weird" ;)

4 comments:

Gwen Hayes said...

I totally believe that there is a collective. Of course, you probably already know that from my writing.

Culture and myths vary amongst us around depending on time and location of birth--yet most myths are variations of each other. Most major religions have the same skeleton--don't kill each other, treat others the way you want to be treated, take care of your body...etc

Plus, we only use a small portion of our brain capabilities. I think that unused brainspace will be humanity's next frontier.

Gwen Hayes said...

Plus..there is blipping.

Anonymous said...

I like to think we'd explore that unused brainspace, Gwen...I'm afraid, instead, we'll find ways to, literally, jack it into the Internet to allow for 24-7 websurfing and the like. Which, while kind of cool on the one hand, is a teensy bit freaky on the other.

And I am totally scared of blipping. I mean, imagine going back in time and your only friend being your mother. ;)

Jean Marie Ward said...

The Japanese are way ahead of us in exploring the implications of an electronic collective. Have you seen any of the Ghost in the Shell movies and anime?
Hugs and smiles,
Jean Marie