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Likely To Be Subtle

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Christof Koch, Consciousness, Is The Internet Conscious?, Las Vegas, Meghan O'Gieblyn, Philosophy, Quotes, The Internet, Times Square, Wired Magazine on November 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »

When asked how we will know when the internet is becoming conscious, (Christof) Koch replied that the surest sign will be when “it displays independent behavior.” It’s hard to imagine what exactly this might look like. But considering that this process will also involve the waning of human consciousness, you might look inward, at the state of your own psyche.

The early stages of this process will likely be subtle. You might feel a bit scattered, your attention pulled in multiple directions, such that you begin to suspect that the philosophers are right, that the unified self is an illusion. You may occasionally succumb to the delusion that everyone you know sounds the same, as though their individual minds, filtered through the familiar syntax of tweets and memes, have fused into a single voice. You might find yourself engaging in behaviors that are not in your self-interest, mechanically following the dictate to share and spread personal information, even though you know the real beneficiary is not you or your friends, but the system itself.

The great merging, when it comes, might feel — and I confess I find this most probable — like nothing at all. There will be no explosion, no heavenly trumpet, just that strange peace that is known to overcome tourists standing in Times Square, or walking the Las Vegas strip, a surrender to over-stimulation that is not unlike the numbness that sets in after hours of scrolling and clicking. In such moments, the noise is so total it becomes indistinguishable from silence, and even there, amidst the crowd, it is possible to experience a holy solitude, as though you are standing all alone, in the center of a great cathedral.

— Meghan O’Gieblyn
From the article: “*Is The Internet Conscious?*“
Appearing in: Wired Magazine; dtd: Dec 2020
The article also appears online at: https://www.wired.com/story/is-the-internet-conscious-if-it-were-how-would-we-know/
(I don’t guarantee the printed article matches the online version — kmab)

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