It was about the early to middle months of 1996 when I made another observation regarding the nature of the universe, that being the role of ‘feedback systems’. It is an observation rooted in my high school and university years studying mathematics, physics and chemistry where I noticed that systems such as chemical equilibrium and electromagnetic induction seemed to behave in either of two ways.
Firstly there is the case where a disturbance to the system results in it acting to counter or ‘negate’ the effect of that disturbance. For instance in the case of electromagnetic induction, where a magnet is passed through a metallic coil, the system generates a magnetic force that acts to counter or ‘oppose’ the magnet moving in the coil. This is called a negative feedback system.
Secondly there is the case where a disturbance to the system results in it acting to amplify the effect of the disturbance resulting in a ‘runaway’ effect. A classic example is the situation of feedback between an electric guitar and a sound amplifier and speaker. When the output of the amplifier and speaker is ‘fed back’ into the input or ‘pickup’ of the guitar the result is an ever-increasingly loud and distorted sound. That is the signal cycles through the speaker, guitar and amplifier loop repeatedly with the signal increasing in amplitude each time until it reaches the physical limits of the system. This, in contrast to the negative case, is called a positive feedback system.
Another example of positive feedback is the reproduction rates of organisms in ecosystems. When animals breed their population size is determined by the rate of breeding and the impact of predators with the population of each species of animal increasing naturally at a geometric rate. The more progeny that are able to reproduce the greater the increase in overall population with each generation and so on. This is another positive feedback system with the ecosystem using predators to moderate the population of each species.
The final insight I had at this time is that every dynamic system in the universe appears to operate in an approximately cyclic manner. Thus, as in the case of negative feedback systems, dynamic systems try to retain stability when disturbed or, as in the case of positive feedback systems, they cycle in an increasingly unstable fashion.
To be sure these are just observations I have made then and ever since, but I argue that the universe is made up of feedback systems and there is a link with consciousness in these systems.
Anyway I eventually bought the ‘Global Brain’ from Peter Russell in 1997 and I was not particularly surprised by its contents. It has the concept of the telecommunications system and the internet forming a ‘brain’ for the planet and even the extension of the concept to the scale of galaxies and the universe. What is more I was pleasantly surprised that it discussed the concept of feedback systems, but here they are called ‘dissipative systems’ and they differ in respect to common feedback systems in that they are associated with life processes. They happen to operate outside of thermodynamic equilibrium and need a constant energy and material supply to maintain homeostasis. I will go into ‘dissipative systems’ in more detail, but for now it is suffice to say I have only scratched the surface here.
By this time it was mid 1997 when what for me was a totally whacked out idea came up out of my subconscious. I was pondering my ideas one night when another penny dropped. My literal thought process was “oh I get it if alien civilisations were ever to bother to make contact with us it would be when we have a self-aware Gaia planet that could join a community of Gaia planets”.
I was rather stunned.
Had I lost it or was it right? If it was correct then I had developed a lot of ideas without outside help. I thought, “There is no way anyone else near me would have thought of this.” I was rather pleased with myself and somewhat scared at the same time, but I figured it was better than the scenario presented in the film ‘Star Trek – First Contact’ which was released a year before. In this film first contact is initiated by the Vulcans when they detect humanity’s first warp speed flight, but the Gaia community concept is in my opinion better.
So how long did my original idea on first contact and Gaia communities last? Three weeks.
Yes I was in a university tutorial for, of all subjects ‘Feedback Control Theory’, when I started discussing the significance of the internet with an acquaintance of mine. Eventually I asked him what he thought would happen and, I kid you not, I could tell he was about to say exactly what I had recently developed. In essence he said, “The internet and all of humanity will form a super-consciousness at which point we’ll attempt to join a community of super-conscious planets.” The thing is I wasn’t at all surprised and the irony of it taking place in a feedback control class didn’t skip my notice. When I asked him how he knew of these concepts he told me that he had read about the concept in an Isaac Azimov novel and partly read it and partly developed it himself. He went on to inform me there is a whole genre of science fiction books relating to the area.
Of course I haven’t read them simply because again I wanted to develop my own world view and I admit that I didn’t want all my dreams of writing a novel based around this world view dashed. Besides if I relied on the work of others to guide me I may miss avenues of thought and enquiry and perhaps become, dare I say it, apathetic?
Yes apathy that bane of productive existence. I admit I have been tempted by it, but then what would my life stand and be for if I gave into it?
Anyway it was about this time that another novel insight occurred to me. How does consciousness arise and where is it seated? One of the big questions of science and philosophy I admit. Is consciousness ‘generated’ by the brain or is something more subtle occurring? What if the brain actually ‘tuned’ consciousness somewhat like a radio, television or an internet connected computer tunes signals in the form of light and electrical signals? This is when I started to worry about how odd the ideas ‘bubbling up’ from my subconscious were getting. Can the brain tune a ‘consciousness signal’ and where the hell would it be ‘broadcast’ from? I wrestled with this somewhat odd concept for a few days before I allowed myself to settle for the notion of a dichotomy between ‘brain generated’ consciousness, which most people unquestioningly assume and accept, and ‘tuned’ consciousness. I subsequently would discuss this with people at parties with the result of people having their minds blown or being sceptical, something which people are all allowed to be in the face of something I had no knowledge of any evidence for.
Anyway I soon subconsciously shelved this idea without drawing the ultimate conclusion arising out of consciousness being a ‘tuned’ phenomenon and as such and to my shame did not pull it from the mental shelf for over a decade later.
Well that has been quite a ‘brain dump’. I will leave this post on a positive note, that being that people should not be afraid to come up with a world view or paradigm for themselves, but one has to be prepared to have it subjected to scrutiny by others, just please don’t put it to the blow torch too hastily! Anyway the next post will delve into my thinking on no other than the nature of feedback systems and that of their role in and implications for the universe itself. Goodbye for now!
Gavin