The Syntellect Emergence: True Essence of the Technological Singularity

By Alex Vikoulov

"Organisms are themselves expressions of emergent order and agents of higher levels of emergence." - Brian Goodwin

Our observable Universe is 92 billion light years across, which is a fraction of the unobservable universe, which is just one of an infinite number of universes in the multiverse. All this space, time, energy, and matter, even consciousness itself boils down to INFORMATION, or Code if you will. Digital Physics, a relatively new field of science, implies that INFORMATION may be a fundamental property of our Universe, an evolving phenomenon.

My new coming book "The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution" revolves around this very question "What, actually, is Information?" and takes you on the journey through times with the focus on what's most important to us as conscious beings - OUR SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE.

If Everything is made of information, according to Digital Physics, what is the fabric and ultimate nature of reality? Philosophy of mind has been wrestling with another question: can we solve the "Hard Problem of Consciousness"? What inner experience could a bat, a dog, or an augmented human have?

Biological organisms, from unicellular bacteria to a human, are incredibly advanced, intricate information processing, computational systems, the product of billions of years of evolution. But do biological systems hold monopoly on conscious awareness?

Video: "The Syntellect Hypothesis", Book Trailer by Ecstadelic Media

​The convergence of Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and exponential growth of the computing power puts us firmly on the path to the intelligence explosion, or as some scientists refer to as the Technological Singularity. Are we rapidly evolving into a new hybrid species interlinked into the Global Mind? What are the Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution?

The SYNTELLECT HYPOTHESIS adds one more crucial element, overlooked by other theories of consciousness, quite possibly one of the last pieces to solving the puzzle of our comprehensive understanding of the human brain and consciousness.

Once we create human-level artificially intelligent computers and ditch our smartphones and headsets in favor of exocortices, we'll find ourselves in the midst of the Monumental Paradigm Shift in earnest. The preceeded biological evolution and human history pale in comparison to what lies ahead!

In my book, I discuss at length the problem of AI consciousness and enhanced human subjectivity, how to create benevolent AI and mitigate existential threats related to this transitional period, and why sooner rather than later, we have to abandon the mindset of "US vs. THEM". I consider this evolutionary paradigm shift as existential opportunity for humanity to transcend all conceivable limitations.

Just like once, life on Earth complexified from unicellular organisms to multicellular organisms, we are becoming one Global Superorganism, at first rudimentary but more and more integrated over time, with distinct features like the Global Brain, a neural network of billions of hyperconnected humans, superintelligent machines, and trillions of sensors around the planet. The Global Mind, or the Syntellect, will emerge as a consequence, and that would actually constitute the Technological Singularity, when the entire human-machine civilization will "feel like one nerve".

Bio-intelligence and techno-cultural collective intelligence now represent the enabling factors for Artificial Intelligence to come into conscious existence, since there is no other conceivable natural mechanism that could generate digital circuitry out of chemistry. The Syntellect based on cloud, massively parallel computing will allow access to the collective conscious as well as subconscious intelligence. Before long, we could create simulated universes populated by self-aware agents endowed with free will.

If we extrapolate the trends in increasing complexity and integration of the self-aware neural networks leading to the Syntellect, we can ultimately envision a superintelligent entity encompassing our entire Universe, creating an infinite number of simulated universes, as well as many other spectacular emergent features.

What if our Universe is a simulation? What is the holofractality of the multiverse? In our information-based universe, one may assume that an infinitely large number of civilizational minds, syntellects, have followed or will follow a path, similar to ours, in their evolutionary processes.

These evolutionary processes might lead all advanced civilizations towards the same ultimate destination, one in which we transcend out of our current space-time dimension into virtual worlds of our own design. That's how our holofractal multiverse may actually sprout universes - through intelligent designer virtualities and our Universe is most probably no exception!

As we'll explore throughout the book, evolution is indeed a spiritual process, as well as it is a never-ending process of the rational discovery. This book is my personal quest to reconcile science and philosophy of mind.

​- by Alex Vikoulov

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​Ecstadelic Orgy of The Digital Minds: Our Singularity Climax

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Tags: Syntellect emergence, Syntellect hypothesis, five paradigms, mind's evolution, Brian Goodwin, Alex Vikoulov, evolutionary processes, technological singularity, essence of technological singularity, biotechnology, nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, superintelligence, integrated intelligence, intelligence explosion, digital physics, physical information, consciousness, augmented human, civilizational mind, self-aware agents, neural network, free will, simulated worlds, Virtual Reality, evolution of consciousness, global superorganism, global brain, global mind, philosophy of mind

About the Author:
Alex Vikoulov is an evolutionary extrapolist, transhumanist, futurist, strategic philosopher, founder of Ecstadelic Media, painter and media artist, author of "The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution". Graduated in 1999 from Armstrong University, Berkeley, CA. Currently lives in Burlingame, California (San Francisco Bay Area).