Global Consciousness Project

As promised, here is the link to the Global Consciousness Project: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/ .

Beginning in the early 70's, I predicted that the most important breakthrough of the 20th Century would come when science recognized and accepted consciousness as being valid and as being an influence upon our reality. I was certain that it would happen and that the ramifications would be felt for decades to come.

Enter the scientists at Princeton University. It seems that they had made note of the fact that certain experiments which had been performed in the pursuit of determining the validity, or lack thereof, of consciousness in impacting reality, implied that consciousness does, in fact, affect the world of appearance. We've probably all heard stories about experiments with people trying to guess what is in someone else's mind, or guess the actions of someone in another room, or guess what is on a flip card that another party is holding. And there have been the stories and books about how talking to plants and animals can affect their well-being.

Additionally, of course, this is a staple premise of quantum physics, that the observer alters the observed by the mere act of observation. But that idea was originally based upon theory, rather that "proof."

Well, then someone decided to run some of these tests in connection with possible effects upon a random number generator. I don't know about today, but back when I was in college taking Fortran (truly the dark ages, complete with decks of punch cards), one of the first programs that we had to write was a program to simulate the flip of a coin; would it result in heads or tails. To get the program to guess either heads or tails we used a sub-program known as a random number generator. It's a computer program to which one feeds a random "seed" number, and it then, through a series of complex algorithms, produces a prescribed series of yes's or no's (heads or tails). Even back in the 70's it was a very swift program; it seemed back then to run with lightening speed.

Well, just as some people study the numbers that are drawn in the lottery to attempt to detect patterns that might allow them to predict a future winner, so the scientists and the statisticians began to study the relationship of the random numbers to one another under different kinds of environmental consciousness. The bottom line result is that they determined that consciousness appears to affect the relationship of the random numbers that are generated. This isn't necessarily consciousness in the sense of "everybody thinking about the same number outcome," but rather the effects of unified consciousness and emotion across a broad range of possible thoughts and feelings, occasionally jelling through interest in a shared concept or event. One example is the World Cup.

Several years ago (the last century) these Princeton scientists deployed 40 Random Number Generators (RNG's) around the planet. They run on ISP servers scattered around the world. That number was later increased to the present 60 RNG's. Along with the programs written to monitor the results of the numbers being generated, these sites are referred to as "eggs."

Following the events of 9/11 (2001), someone got the idea to go back and examine the data gathered prior to, and including, those event times. They were astounded to discover, not only that there was a shift in the correlation of the numbers at the event, but that the shift apparently began a day or two before the events themselves. It almost looked as though global consciousness knew what was about to happen even before the rest of us did. Kind of weird. Kind of interesting. Kind of exciting.

A year later, when the winning numbers for the New York State Lottery for September 11, 2002 (9/11) were drawn, they were 9 1 1 . This time there was not only an apparent shift in consciousness, but a pronouncement from the Princeton Sci folk that the reason those were the winning numbers that were drawn might well be because so many people expected those to be the winning numbers. New York had already stopped selling tickets before the actual drawing with those numbers when they surpassed over 12,000 in sales of tickets for the numbers 9 1 1 .

Now, for those who might think, "this is a little over my head," I would advise you to listen to my own story. When I first got started in the field of computers almost 30 years ago, I used to read a lot in magazines and in manuals that I didn't understand. I was young and more foolish in those days, so I didn't want to let on how little I knew so I was hesitant to ask questions. But somehow I innately knew that if I kept reading, even though I didn't understand everything that I was reading, that eventually someday it would make sense and when it did, I would already know it. I would advise that this is still a good premise, as it has worked for me for decades.

Note: for those who are new to "surfing the net," most sights have a selection called "links" or something similar. Check these out. It's amazing where they sometimes take you. I'm sure that many of us are familiar with the concept of "six degrees of separation," in which it is claimed that we all know people who know people who know people, etc. By the sixth "who know people" person, we are connected to every person on the planet. A similar story is the one where a dog barks in a back yard in New Jersey, and the dog next door starts to bark and then the dog across the street begins to bark, awakening the dog down the street who begins to bark, and on and on until the bark eventually travels around the world, only to return to the original dog, who once again barks when the bark that he started returns.

One final example of this in is Isaac Asimov's excellent book, "Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology," if one follows the cross references listed under any of the 1,510 scientists listed in this epic tome, I'm certain that one will be led to read the entire book, for, of course, its all connected. And so it is with the Internet. That's one of the reasons it can appear to be so addicting, because the connections are sometimes so intriguing, and even, at times, amazing.

So, enjoy the Global Consciousness Project and remember that we are all one. Everyone is connected to every one. And it shows.

 
Viridian Manifesto

A little over a dozen years ago I had a book recommended to me by a friend who worked for an 8th grade-educated West Texas multimillionaire who made his multi-millions selling self-help subliminal audio tapes to people through seemingly nonstop television infomercials. At the time, I managed the company's computer department. My friend was in charge of creating the subliminal tapes and putting together new TV shows (infomercials). I worked for Subliminal Promotions and he worked for the Subliminal Research Foundation. He was big into Amiga computers and, at the time, he showed me things that expanded my mind. His name was Bill Flannigan and one day he told me about a book by Stewart Brand entitled, "The Media Lab." It was subtitled, "Inventing the Future At M.I.T."

What a great book. A watershed, similar in some respects to Gene Youngblood's 1970 classic, "Expanded Cinema." I have recommended it, and quoted from it, time and again over the past two decades. The "Media Lab" introduced me to Peter Schwartz and Jay Ogilvy. It also introduced me to John Brunner, Vernor Vinge, and William Gibson (more on all three of these people at later dates). And Gibson, in turn, introduced me to Bruce Sterling (together, they are attributed with creating the science fiction genre known as CyberPunk). And that's who and what this entry is all about, Bruce Sterling. Several years ago, Bruce created the Viridian Manifesto. I won't begin to try to synopsize the green deed, but I would like to steer you in its direction. I think that many of you will find it exceptionally intriguing, particularly if you are into green. You'll find the latest at http://www.viridiandesign.org

The original talk which resulted in the Viridian Manifesto is posted there at http://www.viridiandesign.org/viridiandesign.htm . I guarantee you that this is Green like you have never seen it before. Many of these people are cutting edge. I warn you not to just give it a cursory glance. Spend some time there. It gets deeper the further you enter into its logs. While you're at it, you might wish to read some Bruce Sterling, like "Islands In The Net".