THE BOOK & COLLECTIVE MEMORIES
From genetic memories, to personal memories, to collective memories, the earth is now self-organizing into anew form of global consciousness. But how did this situation emerge? It all began with genetic self-interest. Because of symmetry, DNA makes itself, so our first allegiance is to our own genes. But we also share genes with our family, so we owe some allegiance there. But then, to a lesser extent, we also share some genetic self-interest with distant relatives, and finally this extends to the ‘brotherhood’ of the tribe.
The process of creating societies is also pushed forward by the fruits of cooperation, and religious ideology, where religious ideology, if believed to be true, functions as a kind of social DNA. But as society has evolved, we’ve seen how new ‘truths’ are needed for each new level of organization. We’ve gone from ancestor worship, to monotheism, to seeing the earth from space. Now it seems that global democracy and secular economics, (with its extra feedback loops) is the religion most favored by evolutions’ tendency toward complexity.
We are primates with an instinct for the holy. This adaptive feeling protects needed information, just as it helps us outwit death by passing on ‘sacred’ information to our young. But religion is an addictive meme, a technology of ultimate truth that gives us a feeling of calm and fearlessness. But like all addictions, it pushes other things aside, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. THE OCTAGOD can be addictive, especially because it resolves so many paradoxes. It’s a symbol of our family history. But instead of God the father, our history belongs to evolution. It’s a family crest for the cosmos, and fulfills a very human need for salvation through context.
So the last circle represents collective memories, including, technology, art, law, and religion. Here science reveals our true history and shows culture as a recent development. Because of this, the last circle separates science from technology, placing technology in the same category as religion. Where science is about the past and religion (even if it only wants to repeat the past), along with technology is more about the future. Religion and technology have always been close, from the pyramids, to the cathedrals, and now with the space program. The key ingredients being collective intention and action in the service of some perceived truth.
Finally, in the last circle, technology and religion merge on the verge of space. So with some perspective, we can now imagine the future. Being fearful, we see human culture as a thin shell. Then, contemplating the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, (or some other global disaster) we wonder about the defense of our own future. Or, being hopeful, we can see an eye, searching the sky for someone winking back. So we wait, in hope and fear, for an incoming message, either asteroid or alien, bringing Armageddon, or an emerging cosmic connection.