InternetRising - the internet and global consciousness

I found this documentary film via the anoncentral.tumblr website. It is called Internet Rising (#internetrising), and it details the relationships between the internet and the growing global consciousness as a result of the internet. It is moving and thought-provoking and I just had to share it! I want as many people to see this as possible.

In the sense this film talks about, ATS is a part of the worldwideBRAIN.. as insignificant as we think our impact may be. ATS connects like-minded people around the world, allowing us to bounce ideas off eachother and slowly work our way into a well-defined well-thought-out consistent view of things. ATS has woken me up to just about everything & I will be eternally grateful for it, I'm sure others feel the same. (:

Spread this like the plague.

reply to post by nihonjindesu08


Dear nihonjindesu08,

Thank you for posting the video. I will disagree with it's statement that "everything is information", it is not. For information to exist, there must be a receiver. The Chinese say "the world in a grain of salt". Nothing has meaning if there is nobody to create the meaning, rocks do not have meaning in the absence of beings who can find meaning in them. How can everything be information if there is nobody to understand it, information cannot exist as a concept if there is no being that can conceive of it as information? Peace.

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by nihonjindesu08

 

Dear nihonjindesu08,

Thank you for posting the video. I will disagree with it's statement that "everything is information", it is not. For information to exist, there must be a receiver. The Chinese say "the world in a grain of salt". Nothing has meaning if there is nobody to create the meaning, rocks do not have meaning in the absence of beings who can find meaning in them. How can everything be information if there is nobody to understand it, information cannot exist as a concept if there is no being that can conceive of it as information? Peace.

Can the Universe not conceive information?

reply to post by AQuestion


If nothing is around to see the sun, it still emits light. The absence of perception does not dismiss the information. Everything IS information. Existence is nothing more than what we call nature (natural) and what more is nature than science in motion? ( or information in motion ) We could sit here and argue semantics about is being is in the absence of everything, but there would be no one around who gave a flying F about the semantics and no one to view our conversation and therefore in your opinion no information at all so whats the point

reply to post by AQuestion


I'm not positive that there has to be a receiver for information to exist, you might be right, I honestly am not sure. Is that the whole reality-collapsing, thing? Until someone looks at an electron for example, you can't find out where it is?

Not sure if it's related, sorry if I'm incorrect. (:

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH skynet is active..... we all gunna die

It is an interesting topic. I am reminded of the amazing philosophy of Alan Watts, who in 1966 () predicted this of the future:

All information will come in by superrealistic television and other electronic devices as yet in the planning stage or barely imagined. In one way this will enable the individual to extend himself anywhere without moving his body—even to distant regions of space. But this will be a new kind of individual—an individual with a colossal external nervous system reaching out and out into infinity. And this electronic nervous system will be so interconnected that all individuals plugged in will tend to share the same thoughts, the same feelings, and the same experiences. There may be specialized types, just as there are specialized cells and organs in our bodies. For the tendency will be for all individuals to coalesce into a single bioelectronic body.

Taken from his book The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.

IMO the internet, and the direction it is heading fits this description quite accurately. As populations rise, technology increases and current trends continue, we will be doing more and more daily tasks and living online which in the past would be done offline (shopping, socializing, working, exploring, etc). With everybody interconnected and a merging of biology and technology I don't think it's that much of a leap to go from something like individual living cells in a brain communicating with each other to create a consciousness to the same thing on the next higher scale.

reply to post by AQuestion

Thank you for posting the video. I will disagree with it's statement that "everything is information", it is not. For information to exist, there must be a receiver.

I would argue that shorty after the Big Bang information existed while no receivers existed (but were possibly implied to exist in the future). The information eventually arranged itself into receivers (who are then able to experience information subjectively).

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


The Universe cannot conceive except that people are part of the universe and conceive, we have no evidence that hydrogen or rocks can think.

reply to post by welcometoreality


Dear welcometoreality,

If nothing is around to see the sun, it still emits light. The absence of perception does not dismiss the information. Everything IS information.

You are confusing two different issues. The sun emits light, to even understand that requires a receiver. We create meaning, it does not exist on its own. War is not peace and words have meaning. All things may have properties; but, it is only used in terms of "information" if there is a receiver. We should not promote ignorance, we should promote a better understanding of the words and concepts that we use. Peace.

Originally posted by nihonjindesu08
reply to post by AQuestion

 

I'm not positive that there has to be a receiver for information to exist, you might be right, I honestly am not sure. Is that the whole reality-collapsing, thing? Until someone looks at an electron for example, you can't find out where it is?

Not sure if it's related, sorry if I'm incorrect. (:

Dear nihonjindesu08,

A better way to put it on my end is that thoughts exist in animals. Symbolic thought exists in humans. Symbolic thought is when a sentient being categorizes how it views the world and that occurs when a sentient being sees meaning or has a greater understanding of things. Information is a concept and that requires a self aware being and consciousness. The idea of all things being information is a relatively new idea and it just isn't true philosophically. It was a scientists way of understanding that everything had meaning. The Chinese had a saying that one could find the world in a grain of sand, we can find understanding and meaning in anything.

reply to post by DrinkYourDrug


Dear DrinkYourDrug,

I would argue that shorty after the Big Bang information existed while no receivers existed (but were possibly implied to exist in the future). The information eventually arranged itself into receivers (who are then able to experience information subjectively).

Objects existed; but, they in and of themselves have no "meaning" and therefore convey no "information". Information means something is defined using symbols, symbols do not exist without sentience. To call everything information is wrong both linguistically and philosophically. We destroy our ability to understand things when we destroy our language. If people said that we can find information in every object then we might be closer to the mark; but, in and of itself everything is not information. Peace.

Well I will agree that the Internet has served to awaken a great many people that were asleep before it became viral. The whole reason I even found, and joined ATS was my neighbor back in Indiana, who was an agent for one of our alphabet agencies, told me that CIA and NSA read posts and watched this site, and I figured, if they are interested in the site, there must be something to it.

I personally think ATS is the largest medium for this effort, and I cannot help but to applaud Skeptic Overlord and the others who made this site what it is today. I am proud to be a member.

Originally posted by AQuestion

Originally posted by nihonjindesu08
reply to post by AQuestion

 

I'm not positive that there has to be a receiver for information to exist, you might be right, I honestly am not sure. Is that the whole reality-collapsing, thing? Until someone looks at an electron for example, you can't find out where it is?

Not sure if it's related, sorry if I'm incorrect. (:

Dear nihonjindesu08,

A better way to put it on my end is that thoughts exist in animals. Symbolic thought exists in humans. Symbolic thought is when a sentient being categorizes how it views the world and that occurs when a sentient being sees meaning or has a greater understanding of things. Information is a concept and that requires a self aware being and consciousness. The idea of all things being information is a relatively new idea and it just isn't true philosophically. It was a scientists way of understanding that everything had meaning. The Chinese had a saying that one could find the world in a grain of sand, we can find understanding and meaning in anything.

I understand what you are saying, information is a concept. Makes sense, thanks. (:

Originally posted by autowrench
Well I will agree that the Internet has served to awaken a great many people that were asleep before it became viral. The whole reason I even found, and joined ATS was my neighbor back in Indiana, who was an agent for one of our alphabet agencies, told me that CIA and NSA read posts and watched this site, and I figured, if they are interested in the site, there must be something to it.

I personally think ATS is the largest medium for this effort, and I cannot help but to applaud Skeptic Overlord and the others who made this site what it is today. I am proud to be a member.

Couldn't agree more. ATS saved my life in a sense. I am very proud to be a member as well, this site has taught me so much!

Perhaps the most important thing it taught me is to keep questioning. (:

reply to post by AQuestion


AQuestion,

I believe you are confusing two different issues, Human interpretation of information, and information itself. I agree that for the most part we do create meaning through words, concept, and text. BUT meaning also comes from actions, and not all actions are human actions. The building blocks of existence ( atoms, gravity, energy, ect...) are always acting and reacting with eachother, always creating information. It is not something like music, which is a purely psychological construct of sound ( or even sound itself, which is a purely psychological construct of vibrations in the air), information is not a purely psychological construct. It is given meaning through its own actions, not from the perception of a receiver.