Does it make sense to speak of "Universal Consciousness" or "Universal Intelligence"?

[Mudhammam]

A lot of times I hear terms such as these thrown around in the context of some quasi-religious, pseudoscientific assertion about telepathy or the placebo effect or the run-of-the-mill con-artist masquerading as a "card-reader" or "healer." I'm not really interested in these silly charlatans. I want to talk about the idea of Universal Conscious or Intelligence in a philosophical context, as a notion that logically proceeds from the realization that there really isn't an external world that is fundamentally separate from the mind. That is because the mind is itself a product of the external world, just another feature that arose from atomic interactions. In the sense that we are all part of the larger Cosmos, perhaps analogous to the cells that comprise one brain, it seems at least that something like a Universal Conscious or Intelligence can be made into an intelligible framework... no?

[FifthElement]

Problem with "Universal Consciousness" ideas (and that is all they are IMO) that nobody has no fucking idea what consciousness itself is (and by that I mean how it exactly woks an how it emerges) and where it begins and where it ends, so discussing it in terms like "Universal" seams like waste of time (at least to me).

I do however believe that awareness is a localized event, there is no connection between individual minds into some kind of global network, would be terrible if possible though ...

[max-greece]

A lot of times I hear terms such as these thrown around in the context of some quasi-religious, pseudoscientific assertion about telepathy or the placebo effect or the run-of-the-mill con-artist masquerading as a "card-reader" or "healer." I'm not really interested in these silly charlatans. I want to talk about the idea of Universal Conscious or Intelligence in a philosophical context, as a notion that logically proceeds from the realization that there really isn't an external world that is fundamentally separate from the mind. That is because the mind is itself a product of the external world, just another feature that arose from atomic interactions. In the sense that we are all part of the larger Cosmos, perhaps analogous to the cells that comprise one brain, it seems at least that something like a Universal Conscious or Intelligence can be made into an intelligible framework... no?

Just because the mind is a natural product of the universe doesn't mean they are in close contact. My car is a product of Toyota but I don't think they speak together.

We appear to have largely, if not entirely, independent minds from each other - let alone from other parts of the cosmos.

[pocaracas]

Of course! How else could you account for the Malkavian Network

[Confused Ape]

I want to talk about the idea of Universal Conscious or Intelligence in a philosophical context, as a notion that logically proceeds from the realization that there really isn't an external world that is fundamentally separate from the mind. That is because the mind is itself a product of the external world, just another feature that arose from atomic interactions. In the sense that we are all part of the larger Cosmos, perhaps analogous to the cells that comprise one brain, it seems at least that something like a Universal Conscious or Intelligence can be made into an intelligible framework... no?

Re-using bits and pieces from a post in another topic.

Here's a Carl Sagan Quote From Cosmos

“The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us . We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

This is very poetic and inspiring but it's not referring to a Universal Intelligence or Consciousness. I found an article which explains how it's possible for the universe to be aware of itself and how far we can take the idea. Is The Universe Conscious?

Humans are tiny fragments of the universe and we evolved the type of brain which produces consciousness. Our species also has the ability to do scientific investigations in order to gain some understanding of how the universe works. So, we can say that the universe is conscious when taking this point of view. It wasn't conscious before tiny parts of it evolved brains which produce consciousness, though, and it won't stay conscious if all conscious life forms become extinct. As the article points out, how long it stays conscious depends on how many conscious life forms there are in those billions of galaxies with billions of star systems

Cosmologists have come up with more than one model of the universe and some models suggest that everything is connected in some way. There is no evidence that all consciousness producing brains are creating a group mind, though.

[Chas]

In a word: No.

[bennyboy]

A lot of times I hear terms such as these thrown around in the context of some quasi-religious, pseudoscientific assertion about telepathy or the placebo effect or the run-of-the-mill con-artist masquerading as a "card-reader" or "healer." I'm not really interested in these silly charlatans. I want to talk about the idea of Universal Conscious or Intelligence in a philosophical context, as a notion that logically proceeds from the realization that there really isn't an external world that is fundamentally separate from the mind. That is because the mind is itself a product of the external world, just another feature that arose from atomic interactions. In the sense that we are all part of the larger Cosmos, perhaps analogous to the cells that comprise one brain, it seems at least that something like a Universal Conscious or Intelligence can be made into an intelligible framework... no?

I think this depends partly on what level or in what circumstances mind supervenes on matter.

Is it just organic brain chemistry? If so, mind is very unique and special indeed, and Universal Consciousness doesn't make sense.

Is it a product of all energetic interactions in the universe (on some level)? If so, the complex interaction of photons among stars and galaxies could be seen as a kind of Universal "thought."

[Neo-Scholastic]

Most of the people who refer to a universal consciousness have a New Age bent. I've seen it used to express two very different ideas: a Jungian collective unconscious or an Oversoul. I'm open to a generally psychological disposition based on shared ancestry. The Oversoul falls further out than I'm ready to go philosophically and does not align with my religious tradition. I do think Poltinus makes a good case for a Soul of All, that serves as the consistent informing principle of reality. That may qualify as a universal consciousness.

[Anomalocaris]

A lot of times I hear terms such as these thrown around in the context of some quasi-religious, pseudoscientific assertion about telepathy or the placebo effect or the run-of-the-mill con-artist masquerading as a "card-reader" or "healer." I'm not really interested in these silly charlatans. I want to talk about the idea of Universal Conscious or Intelligence in a philosophical context, as a notion that logically proceeds from the realization that there really isn't an external world that is fundamentally separate from the mind. That is because the mind is itself a product of the external world, just another feature that arose from atomic interactions. In the sense that we are all part of the larger Cosmos, perhaps analogous to the cells that comprise one brain, it seems at least that something like a Universal Conscious or Intelligence can be made into an intelligible framework... no?

What was your point again?

[bennyboy]

Let me take this further-- as devil's advocate only.

We know mind exists, because here we are. Whether we believe in substance dualism or not, it's clear that the minds we have are somehow related the brain, specifically the flow of information among the cells of the brain. Well, we have a complex flow of information among people, especially on the internet. It's possible to think of humanity now as a unified entity in some degree, as we are (almost) all interfaced through the internet-- our ideas, preferences, changing beliefs, etc. are represented in that context. Somehow, the Internet has an identity of its own that transcends our own reality.

So is the Internet a living thing? Does it have its own awareness, somehow greater than the sum of the individual human minds which contribute to it? I think somehow you could say it does. While some individuals contribute greatly to certain causes, there's a kind of cloud processing there which produces actual results that nobody could predict. In that sense, we are tools of the Internet rather than vice versa.