Page - 180 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
Image of the Page - 180 -
Text of the Page - 180 -
180 • Cyborg Mind
increasingly be limited in favour of the communion. An emergence of a
collective mind of humanity would subsequently take place, which would
increasingly integrate the thoughts of all individuals around the globe.367 This
means that the Noosphere would not only be formed by each individual’s
connected mind, but would represent a greater union as an entity in its own
right, a kind of planetarymind.368 Eventually, this would culminate in an
‘Omega Point’, which Teilhard de Chardin believed is the goal of history.
This is the stage in which a universal mind has been reached,369 representing
the proposed maximum level of complexity and universal consciousness of
the Noosphere.370
In an essay on the ‘Planetization of Mankind’, Teilhard de Chardin writes:
Whether we like it or not, from the beginning of our history and through
all the interconnected forces of Matter and Spirit, the process of our collec-
tivization has ceaselessly continued, slowly or in jerks, gaining ground each
day . . . It is as impossible for Mankind not to unite upon itself as it is for
the human intelligence not to go on indefinitely deepening its thought! . . .
Instead of seeking, against all the evidence, to deny or disparage the reality of
this grand phenomenon, we do better to accept it frankly. Let us look it in the
face and see whether . . . we cannot erect upon it a hopeful edifice of joy and
liberation.371
According to Teilhard de Chardin, everything within the cosmos is actually
converging its purposes through the ‘push’ of evolutionary forces and the
‘pull’ resulting from the Omega Point expressed by the affinity that persons
have for one another in mutual love.372 Moreover, for him, this Omega Point
at the end of history can be referred to as a person, whom he represents as
the Ultra-Human or the Trans-Human 373 and in whom there are global and
complex systems of collective self-consciousness374 that he likens to a ‘stupen-
dous thinking machine’375 – a kind of union with God.
This Noosphere was one of Teilhard de Chardin’s most controversial claims
and his views were eventually censured by the Catholic Church. Indeed, in
a system where each person is completely subsumed by the greater collective
consciousness, the notion of independent individuals, with their private lives
and their own thoughts, knowledge and opinions, could no longer exist.
However, though there are certain passages in Teilhard de Chardin’s writ-
ings that seem to suggest that human beings are merely a means to the
eventual existence of the Ultra-Human, or a super-organism made up of all
human individuals, some vagueness in relation to his thoughts seems to exist
at this stage. Teilhard de Chardin’s fellow Jesuit, the Frenchman Henry de
Lubac (1896–1991), who eventually became a cardinal and defended some
of his ideas, admits that this seems like the destruction of personality. But he
believed that Teilhard de Chardin was not actually suggesting that individual
This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.
back to the
book Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics"
Cyborg Mind
What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Title
- Cyborg Mind
- Subtitle
- What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Author
- Calum MacKellar
- Publisher
- Berghahn Books
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-015-7
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.9 cm
- Pages
- 264
- Keywords
- Singularity, Transhumanism, Body modification, Bioethics
- Category
- Technik
Table of contents
- Chapter 1. Why Use the Term ‘Cyberneuroethics’? 9
- Chapter 2. Popular Understanding of Neuronal Interfaces 25
- Chapter 3. Presentation of the Brain–Mind Interface 31
- Chapter 4. Neuronal Interface Systems 43
- Developments in Information Technology 44
- Developments in Understanding the Brain 45
- Developments in Neuronal Interfaces 46
- Procedures Involved in Neuronal Interfaces 47
- Output Neuronal Interface Systems: Reading the Brain and Mind 49
- Input Neuronal Interface Systems: Changing the Brain and Mind 57
- Feedback Systems of the Brain and Mind 67
- Ethical Issues Relating to the Technology of Neuronal Interfaces 84
- Chapter 5. Cyberneuroethics 99
- Chapter 6. Neuronal Interfaces and Policy 217
- New Cybercrimes 218
- Policy Concerns 223
- Conclusion 229
- Human Autonomy 232
- Resistance to Such a Development 234
- Risks of Neuronal Interfaces 234
- Appendix. Scottish Council on Human Bioethics Recommendations on
- Cyberneuroethics 239
- Glossary 244
- Index 251