Human Gods?
"...thus, it becomes obvious that you must change your consciousness before you try to change anything else."
- Penny Kelly
In the first chapter of his book, Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Harari investigates what he describes as the New Human Agenda. His attempt to address the likely course of humanity in a world free of famine, plague and war, isn't some speculative projection, rather an elegant extrapolation of what is already happening. His prediction is that twenty first century humankind is likely to aim for immortality, bliss and divinity. This ambition being fuelled by the possibilities offered by following one of three paths: biological engineering, cyborg engineering and the engineering of non-organic beings.
Can weengineer our way to becoming Homo Deus or Human Gods? And, if we can, should we?
Harari acknowledges that this subject matter is likely to anger, alienate or frighten many, and his analysis is thoughtful and objective, at least as far as I have read. He raises an important point early on in which he explains that to predict the outcome of such advances is virtually impossible because the more we enhance our capabilities the less likely we are to behave in the same way. Who can honestly know what they would choose from a view-point of eternal life and infinite abundance?
Homo Deus has competed for my attention with the second of three works on Consciousness and Energy by Penny Kelly. New Worlds of Energy is an introduction to the work of William Levengood, a bio-physicist whose scientific curiosity drew him into the career threatening world of crop circles and eventually lead to the investigation effects of consciousness on the material world.
Levengood provides evidence that the human body is a collection of plasmas and that the energies forming these plasmas are directly affected by consciousness. If this sounds similar to the work of Keshe that is because it is similar to the work of Keshe! In the lab Levengood repeatedly shows that everything is self organising and in continuous communication.
It seems inevitable to me that despite their best efforts and arrogant dismissal of the (apparently) immeasurable, mainstream science in its search for immortality will eventually collide with the work of the likes of Levengood and Keshe. Only by the the inclusion of consciousness within their models will reductionist scientists overcome the limitations which currently frustrate them. Their own rigid adherence to a material reality is the simple barrier in their drive towards Homo Deus. It is ironic that for them to embrace the model of a plasma based reality in itself represents a shift in consciousness, a shift which will, more than likely, render their original aspirations redundant.
Penny Kelly explains... "It takes tremendous will, determination, and repeated attempts to create something other than what you are because energy is consciousness and you must use your energy to create anything. Thus, it becomes obvious that you must change your consciousness before you try to change anything else."
All the time human consciousness is locked into a material reality it will be motivated by it's two fundamental fears, existence and non-existence. The knowledge which connects humanity to the true nature of reality has been available for centuries but has, thus far, failed to change human behaviour. It is not more knowledge we require but greater consciousness, and the relentless pursuit of more knowledge without a corresponding shift in consciousness is a futile exercise. In fact the pusuit of knowledge can itself be very destabilising as Harari explains:
"Centuries ago human knowledge increased slowly, so politics and economics changed at a leisurely pace too. Today our knowledge is increasing at a breakneck speed, and theoretically we should understand the world better and better. But the very opposite is happening. Our new found knowledge leads to faster economic, social and political changes; in an attempt to understand what is happening, we accelerate the accumulation of knowledge, which leads only to faster and greater upheavals. Consequently we are less and less able to make sense of the present or forecast the future."
The attempt to engineer our way to an elevated state of Homo Deus is to miss the point. The further we move towards biological, cyborg or non-organic engineering the further we move from those capacities which are inherent within us. As Levengood demonstrates the universe operates on a system of information and communication, perhaps we should be looking at our relationship with the universe and develop our communication rather than engineering skills.
Happy New Year
Love
Bill