FROM THE FUTURE OF THE BODY TO TRANSCENDING BIOLOGY THE SINGULARITY APPROACHED IN THE LIGHT OF A WESTERN ESOTERIC PERSPECTIVE

Gaëtan Goswin Reinout van Vloten

Religious Studies Master’s Thesis, Western Esotericism

Student ID number: 10221212

Submission date: 20 August 2019

Supervisor: prof. dr. W.J. (Wouter) Hanegraaff

Second examiner: dr. R.L.A. (Richard) van Leeuwen

‘[Man] must find the strength, the inner force of knowledge, in order not to be overcome by Ahriman in this technological civilization.’ – Rudolf Steiner, 1925.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 2. BIOGRAPHY ...... 4 2.1. MICHAEL MURPHY AND ESALEN ...... 4 2.2. RAY KURZWEIL AND TRANSHUMANISM ...... 5 3. The EVOLUTIONARY NARRATIVES ...... 8 3.1. MURPHY AND EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE ...... 8 3.1.1. FERTILE GROUNDS: CATASTROPHE, PROGRESS AND THE FORMATIVE ROLE OF CULTURE ...... 10 3.1.2. EMBRACING EVOLUTION’S DYNAMISM; MYSTICISM HAND-IN-HAND WITH SCIENCE ... 12 3.2. KURZWEIL AND THE LAW OF ACCELERATING RETURNS ...... 14 3.2.1. EVOLUTION; A PROCESS OF CREATING PATTERNS OF INCREASING ORDER ...... 17 3.2.2. PATTERNS; THE SIX EVOLUTIONARY EPOCHS OF KURZWEIL ...... 18 3.3. A COMPARISON OF THE EVOLUTIONARY NARRATIVES ...... 20 4. EXPLORING THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE AND THE SINGULARITY ...... 22 4.1. BEYOND THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE ...... 22 4.1.2. INVOLUTION-EVOLUTION AND PANENTHEISM ...... 24 4.2. THE IMPACT OF THE SINGULARITY ...... 27 4.2.1. THE SINGULARITY: A ‘SPIRITUAL’ PHENOMENON ...... 30 4.3. RELATING THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE TO THE SINGULARITY ...... 32 5. EXPERIENCING THE SINGULARITY AND THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE ...... 34 5.1. THE EXTENSION OF OUR BRAIN; AUGMENTATION OF THE SENSES ...... 34 5.2. THE EXTENSION OF OUR BRAIN; UNLIMITED KNOWLEDGE ...... 36 5.3. THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OUR BRAINS; TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION ...... 37 5.4. THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OUR BRAINS; TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION ...... 38 5.5. REVERSING AGING WITH NANOROBOTS; EXTRAORDINARY SELF-REGULATION ...... 39 5.6. VIRTUAL REALITY THROUGH NANOROBOTS; MOVEMENT INTO OTHER WORLDS ...... 40 5.7. MANIPULATING PHYSICAL REALITY THROUGH NANOROBOTS; PSYCHOKINESIS ...... 43 5.8. OVERCOMING GRAVITY; LEVITATION ...... 45 6. CONCLUDING REMARKS ...... 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... I APPENDIX 1 ...... V

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1. INTRODUCTION The renowned historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari remarked in his bestseller Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow that the future will hold ‘new godlings, who might be as different from us Sapiens as we are different from Homo erectus.’ According to him, in search for bliss and immortality, humans will upgrade themselves into gods in the nearby future.1 However, such desire is actually far from new as remarked by O’Connell in his book To be a Machine: ‘As long as we have been telling stories, we have been telling them about the desire to escape our human bodies, to become something other than the animals we are.’2

In fact, such desires can be traced back to one of the earliest created pieces of literature; the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (approx. 1700 B.C.). Gilgamesh was a famous hero-king of the ancient Mesopotamia, four thousand years ago. As Gilgamesh was terrified by death from the moment that his best friend Enkidu died, he decided to go on a quest to beat mortality;3 overcoming the injustice between the Gods and humankind.4 Along the way, Gilgamesh met various people who told him that his journey was pointless. One of them was alewife Shiduri, who attempted to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life and warning him for the futility of his efforts.5 However, he was determined to follow on and did not even take time to sleep.

Eventually, he met Utnapishtim, the only human who had been made immortal and who told him to find a plant in the sea that would provide him with forever youthfulness.6 Gilgamesh did not hesitate and jumped in the sea to find the plant, but as soon as he found the plant, it was stolen away by a snake and gone forever.7 Beating mortality, although dearly desired by Gilgamesh, turned out to be impossible.8

Hence, this myth exemplifies the preoccupation of ancient people with overcoming the division between humankind and the Gods. The prognosis of Harari is based on the Gilgamesh of our time, Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil is an American inventor, futurist, and writer who is determined to succeed in overcoming the division between humankind and the Gods as tried in the Epic of Gilgamesh four thousand years ago, but now with the help of technology.

He is involved in Google’s company called ‘Calico,’ devoted to harness advanced technologies to increase our healthspan in order to solve the daunting problem of death.9 With the help of nanorobots

1 Harari, Homo Deus, 49–50. 2 O’Connell, To Be a Machine., 1. 3 “Gilgamesh.” 4 Kovacs, The Epic of Gilgamesh. 5 Ackerman, When Heroes Love, 130–31. 6 George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, XI. 280-285. 7 George, XI. 306-307. 8 “Gilgamesh.” 9 “Google’s $1.5 Billion Research Center to ‘Solve Death.’”

1 and artificial superintelligence, he proclaims that humanity will transcend its biology limitations in 2045. This will be the year in which the accelerating technological developments in the world will give way to the event what Kurzweil calls ‘the Singularity.’ This event will create a world wherein ‘essentially all of the [Harry] Potter “magic” will be realized through technology.’ From playing quidditch to transforming people and objects into other forms, it will all be feasible in virtual, as well as in, real reality, according to Kurzweil.10

Therefore, it is understandable why Egil Asprem once referred to Kurzweil as The Magus of Silicon Valley. In this article written in 2013, Asprem called Kurzweil the ‘prophet of the so-called transhumanist movement.’ Transhumanism believes that humanity has the power to transcend its current form, reaching its true potential.11 Furthermore, Asprem argued that a structural similarity between the ideas of Kurzweil and western esoteric discourse exists, as his ideas share some key elements with so- called ‘esoteric currents.’12

Indeed, one example of an anticipation of the argument made by Asprem can be found in the vision of Michael Murphy. Murphy, being influenced by Indian philosophy, made an effort to integrate Eastern and Western thought. In an effort to release the latent potential hidden in humanity through various techniques, he founded the Esalen Institute, which became the center of the Human Potential Movement.

While Kurzweil is the main protagonist of Transhumanism, Murphy can be regarded as the vanguard of the Human Potential Movement. Therefore, this research will try to make a contribution to the identification of the structural similarities between Kurzweil’s ideas and ideas that are generally known as ‘esoteric,’ more specifically the ideas brought forward by Murphy. More specifically, a comparison between the works will be made, which can both be regarded as the magnum opus of these writers. For Murphy that is his substantial work called The Future of the Body: Explorations Into the Further Evolution (1993); for Kurzweil that is his book called The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005). This will make for the following research question:

‘How does Ray Kurzweil’s vision as presented in his magnum opus The Singularity Is Near, relate to the vision of Michael Murphy as presented in his magnum opus The Future of the Body?’

This research question will be answered along the following lines. Firstly, a short introduction of the main protagonists of this research will be given, together with their related ideological current. This, in order to be able to put their ideas - which will be encountered later - in the right cultural and temporal perspective. Interestingly, in both of the works underlying this research, the authors present an

10 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 4. 11 Silicon Valley serves as a global center for high technology, innovation, and social media. 12 Asprem, “The Magus of Silicon Valley,” 2.

2 evolutionary narrative which has as its aim to lead to the introduction of a new kind of man and with it, a new kind of world. Therefore, secondly, their evolutionary narratives will be examined and compared. Thirdly, the desired destination of both of those evolutionary narratives will be explored in chapter four. This evolutionary stage is by Murphy called the third evolutionary transcendence and by Kurzweil the singularity. Fourthly, in chapter five, an attempt is made to compare the supposed human experience of their envisioned destination. Fifthly, in the last chapter, this research is ended with a conclusion.

Ending this introduction, it is important to remark why the comparison between the vision of Murphy and Kurzweil is relevant. Whether science or pseudo-science; cult or technology, it is clear that the singularity and Kurzweil’s vision as a whole is appealing to the imagination of many. This can be understood from the widespread knowledge of his theories, his best-selling books, the popularity of singularity University, the huge popularity of the singularity website kurzweilai.com,13 and not in the least place because of the eager anticipation to the singularity by many of the leading thinkers of the world’s technological center Silicon Valley. Influential people varying from the PayPal mastermind Peter Thiel, to Google co-founder Larry Page or technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, all have a significant impact on the world of today being leaders in the technical center of an already technical world. Hence, as Kurzweil’s ideas capture the imagination, his ideas are relevant to and capable of structuring people’s ideas of the world they are living in. Therefore, it is essential to try to understand them. This research attempts exactly that; understanding these ideas from an (often referred to as) esoteric perspective, by means of comparing them to Murphy’s persuasions.

13 Miller, Singularity Rising, x–xix.

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2. BIOGRAPHY In order to understand the visions of Murphy and Kurzweil on their own terms, it is necessary to be able to place those visions in the right cultural and temporal context. By this, one can understand its background and approach the central issue from a broader perspective. Therefore, this chapter will introduce the authors through their biography and the ideological current related to them.

2.1. MICHAEL MURPHY AND ESALEN Michael Murphy was born in 1930 to a Basque mother and Irish father in California. After he enrolled in the pre-med program at Stanford University, he walked into a class of comparative religions by mistake, which inspired him to study the integration of Eastern and Western thought and to start practicing meditation.14 He completed his B.A. in psychology in 1952. After graduation, he was drafted by the US Army and spent two years stationed in Puerto Rico as a psychologist. In 1955, he went back to Stanford and graduated in philosophy one year later. After that, he went to India to study and practice meditation for a year and a half at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry. This was a forming experience for Murphy as his ideas later were greatly influenced by this Indian yogi and philosopher, as will become clear later in the present research.15

He wrote eleven books in total, some of which are novels but most of them concerning psychology and realizing the potential of humanity in relation to evolution. An example thereof is The Life We Are Given: A Long-Term Program for Realizing the Potential of Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul published in 1995,16 or The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation (1997),17 and God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution published in 2002.18

During his experience with Sri Aurobindo, he developed the spiritual and philosophical foundations that led to the founding of Esalen. He began the Esalen Institue, at Big Sur, in California in 1962 together with Richard Price on 175 acres of his family’s property. The founder’s intention with Esalen was inspirited by what Aldous Huxley called ‘human potentialities’; they wanted to release the potentialities that remain hidden in people through the support of alternative methods for exploring human consciousness.19

The Esalen Institute, commonly referred to as Esalen, started as a center for lectures on a variety of ideas that were appealing to the budding California counterculture.20 Famous writers and thinkers such as Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Gregory Bateson, Kenneth Rexroth, Abraham Maslow, and Aldous

14 “In Murphy’s Kingdom.” 15 Trahair, Utopias and Utopians, 274. 16 Leonard and Murphy, The Life We Are Given. 17 Murphy, Donovan, and Taylor, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation. 18 Redfield and Murphy, God and the Evolving Universe. 19 Kripal, Esalen, 85. 20 Goldman, The American Soul Rush, 2.

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Huxley endorsed the project and became actively involved in it. Esalen focused on the mind-body connection and experimentation with personal awareness, mysticism, philosophy, religion, the occult, humanistic psychology, psychedelics, and Oriental cultures.21 Later, out of this range of elements, the paranormal, Eastern philosophies and altered states of consciousness were soon given a privileged place To sum up the wide variety of subjects addressed at the meetings, the term Human Potentiality was created.

After being a place dedicated to intellectual discussion for a year or two, the direction of Esalen changed: ‘Esalen would now be devoted to experiential sessions designed to actively bringing out the hidden capacities of its visitors.’ Because Esalen was run privately, therapists could experiment with a variety of unorthodox methods such as gestalt therapy and body therapies.22

Esalen is closely linked to the Human Potential Movement as it played a crucial role at the beginning of this movement in 1960. The Human Potential Movement opened the gates of ‘Western psychology to make way for states of consciousness previously ignored or written off as gibberish or madness.’23 Starting from the idea that human beings have tremendous untapped potential within themselves, the Human Potential Movement represents the most ‘serious’ side of the New Age.24 The Human Potential Movement is connected to the rise of humanistic psychology, which ‘presented a view of human beings as constrained and alienated by negative social forces, living far below their natural capacities.’ It carried the seeds of a psychological utopia: if individual people could find the capacity to truly love, create, and fulfill their potentials, society would be transformed almost beyond recognition. The idea was that in order to achieve social change, a consciousness revolution was required.25

The Human Potential Movement emerged as an intellectual movement wherein the fundamental idea was that humans, in their normal mode of existence, remain unaware of vast inner potentials. It developed a variety of practical methods invented to bring out the full capacities of the human being: ‘not in order to elevate pathologically malfunctioning individuals to normality, but to raise normal individuals to realize their full human potential.’26 It was this ambition to which Human Potential Movement - with the Esalen Institute as its center of gravity - owes its name.

2.2. RAY KURZWEIL AND TRANSHUMANISM Raymond Kurzweil was born in 1948 and is an American, inventor, engineer, entrepreneur, futurist, and writer. He is known for a range of companies, from the text to speechwriter Kurzweil 300027

21 Misiroglu, American Countercultures, 238–39. 22 Hanegraaff, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, 575. 23 Davis, TechGnosis, 180. 24 Manzocco, Transhumanism, 36. 25 Hanegraaff, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, 573. 26 Hanegraaff, 574. 27 A software program that can read texts aloud from a computer.

5 and the Kurzweil synthesizer to the company named ‘Ray and Terry’s Longevity Products’ which specializes in food supplements that promise to increase lifespan.28 In 1999 Kurzweil was given the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor in technology, in acknowledgment of his numerous innovations.29

Kurzweil wrote eight books, five of which have been national bestsellers. The Age of Intelligent Machines was his first book.30 It was published in 1990 and discussed the philosophical and mathematical roots of artificial intelligence and argues that the creation of humans through evolution suggests that humans should be able to build something more intelligent than themselves. After writing a book on nutrition named The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life, he published the book The Age of Spiritual Machines in 1999. This latter book took off where his book of 1990 had left: further elaborated on his ideas concerning his theories of the future of technology. Themes such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and virtual reality were central in this book, and he predicted that machines ‘will appear to have their own free will’ as well as ‘spiritual experiences.’31

After writing Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever in 2004, he published in 2005 the book The Singularity Is Near, which was also made into a movie. Furthermore, he wrote, Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever, How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed in 2010. His latest book was called Danielle: Chronicles of a Superheroine.32

Kurzweil was brought up in a secular Jewish family in Queens, New York, where his parents ended up after fleeing Austria because of the Holocaust. Already at the age of fourteen, they fostered an early interest in science, letting him work as a computer programmer.33 His spiritual upbringing took in in a Unitarian church, which according to him meant that he ‘spent six months studying one religion— going to its services, reading its books, having dialogues with its leaders—and then move on to the next. The theme was “many paths to the truth.”’ According to himself, he noticed many parallels among the world's religious traditions. Furthermore, he stated that the inconsistencies were illuminating because, through them, it became clear to him that the basic truths were profound enough to transcend apparent contradictions.34

In 1970 he got a B.S. in computer science and literature at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He founded the Singularity University in Silicon Valley in 2008, offering an annual 10-week summer program focusing on scientific progress and technologies that evolve exponentially. Google co- founder Larry Page hired him in 2012 to become director of engineering at Google, where he works on

28 Asprem, “The Magus of Silicon Valley,” 1. 29 “National Medal of Technology and Innovation.” 30 Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines. 31 Kurzweil, 6. 32 Kurzweil and Grossman, Transcend; Kurzweil, How to Create a Mind. 33 “Ray Kurzweil | Biography, Predictions, Books, & Facts.” 34 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 1.

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‘projects involving machine learning’ as well as ‘language processing.’35 This proves that Kurzweil must be regarded as an ‘influential leader at the heart of one of our days’ most powerful industries.’36 Furthermore, Kurzweil joined the cryonics company Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Joining this company has as its consequence that when Kurzweil dies, his body will be preserved and stored at an Alcor facility, waiting for future medical technology that will be able to repair his tissues and resuscitate him back to life.37

Within the field of Western Esotericism, Kurzweil had been regarded as standing at the center of transhumanism. The term Transhumanism was coined in 1927 by Julian Huxley,38 a distinguished biologist who was the first director‐general of UNESCO and the brother of Aldous Huxley, and who said: ‘transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.’39 Hence, a transhumanist is a person ‘who aims to move beyond the human being via science and technology.’40

Transhumanism is a radically utopian movement concerned with overcoming humanity’s biological limitation and attaining our ‘true potential.’ Interestingly, this is an apparent parallel between the Human Potential Movement (with Esalen as its center of gravity). As understood, both strive for unlocking the human potential to release the potentialities that remain hidden in us. Whereas Aldous Huxley was the main inspiration for the Human Potential Movement, so was his brother, Julian Huxley, for Transhumanism. Although, not much research has yet been done on the connection between the Human Potential Movement and Transhumanism, according to Roberto Manzocci, ‘an important role for the starting point of the historical-cultural phenomenon of Transhumanism’ was played by the Human Potential Movement.41

Furthermore, just like the center of gravity of the Human Potential Movement, Esalen, Transhumanism’s center is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Silicon Valley, its ideological and spiritual ideas flourish at the core of the tech industry. They envision the tools for transcending biology in developing technologies such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence. The unrestrained use of such technologies ‘is considered the road to total freedom, promising to make us a species of immortal, omniscient, space-travelling demigods.’42

35 “Google Hires Famed Futurist Ray Kurzweil - Digits - WSJ.” 36 Asprem, “The Magus of Silicon Valley,” 4. 37 Philipkoski, “Ray Kurzweil’s Plan.” 38 Bostrom, “A History of Transhumanist Thought,” 7. 39 Huxley, Transhumanism, 17. 40 Istvan, “A New Generation of Transhumanists Is Emerging.” 41 Manzocco, Transhumanism, 36 Further reading:; Grant, “Will Human Potential Carry Us Beyond Human?” 42 Asprem, “The Magus of Silicon Valley,” 3.

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3. The EVOLUTIONARY NARRATIVES Both the new man created by the third evolutionary transcendence as formulated by Murphy and the world emerging by means of the singularity follow upon and are inevitable consequences of their evolutionary narratives. Before examining these stages of evolution in the next chapter, the evolutionary narratives will be discussed in order to create insight into the origin of the predictions of Murphy and Kurzweil. Firstly, the evolutionary narrative of Murphy is explored. That being his evolutionary scientific framework, the next chapter will examine what kind of role the influence of Sri Aurobindo plays within that framework. Secondly, the evolutionary narrative of Kurzweil will be discussed.

3.1. MURPHY AND EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE Evolution, according to Murphy ‘implies adaptation of organisms to their environment through natural selection and refers to the long-term process of change in plant and animal species.’ Murphy further states that evolution is ‘employed as well, in a very general sense, to denote different kinds of human growth.’ Although the term evolution refers to these forms at once, Murphy finds it important to differentiate between three kinds of evolution: inorganic, biological, and psychosocial. This distinction is made because the forms of development are shaped by different processes and have different patterns.43

Inorganic evolution, refers to the evolution of inorganic elements, covering the prevailing scientific hypothesis that the transition from non-living to living entities consisted of an evolutionary process of increasing molecular complexity as opposed to a single event.44 Thus, this first evolution, also known as abiogenesis, explains the chemical origin of life. The second form of evolution called biological evolution concerns the development from lifeforms into the animal and plant species of today. The third evolution, called by Murphy the evolution of the psychosocial, refers to the evolution of humanity.45

Although these three kinds of evolution interact, they operate according to separate principles; having ‘unique patterns that are best understood on their own terms.’ For example, while humans share many features with their primate forbears; zoology is not capable of adequately accounting for human culture. As the inorganic, biological and psychosocial evolution progresses according to their own distinctive patterns, Murphy stresses that we must study them on their own terms.46

The demarcation between these three evolutionary sequences is important for Murphy as it lays the groundwork for the central notion of his evolutionary narrative: ‘evolutionary transcendence.’

43 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 24. 44 Witzany, “Crucial Steps to Life,” 52–56. 45 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 25–27. 46 Murphy, 25.

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Namely, according to him, these ‘three levels or kinds of existence’ are comprised of an evolutionary triad in which the inorganic and the biological have transcended themselves: while inorganic elements have produced living species, animals gave rise to humanity. These ‘epochal transitions’ marked the beginnings of new evolutionary eras, as the previous era was transcended.47

The term evolutionary transcendence was coined by the evolutionary theorists Theodosius Dobzhansky and Francisco Ayala. Instead of being prone to a gradually moving evolution before these grand transitions, a new order of existence arose out of a preceding dramatic and unforeseen change. For example, the stage for living cells was set by the creation of new elements in exploding stars and the formation of complex molecules on earth some four billion years ago. Along the same lines, the realm of the mammalian evolutions that eventually resulted in homo sapiens, was created by the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates from fishlike ancestors.48 In the words of Ayala, whereas ‘inorganic evolution went beyond the bounds of [its] previous physical and chemical patterning’s when it gave rise to life, (…) biological evolution transcended itself when it gave rise to man’.49

Concerning the work of Dobzhansky and Ayala, the paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson wrote Tempo and Mode in Evolution.50 Simpson called these dramatic and unforeseen changes amidst living species occurrences of ‘quantum evolution,’ because they ‘involved relatively abrupt alterations of adaptive capacity or bodily structure’ while leaving little or no evidence in the fossil records of the transitions between them. 51 These big changes during the development of inorganic matter and life were in turn made possible by many smaller steps that paved the way for the quantum evolution.52 This idea of quantum evolution is also found in the work of Ayala as she observes that species appear abruptly while the preceding species lasted for millions of years without change. Therefore, she concludes that evolution proceeds not by gradual change, along the lines of bursts separated by periods of stasis when little change occurred.53 As such, quantum evolution amounts for the accelerations in evolutionary change.54

Before coming to his own interpretation of these observations, Murphy refers to the American botanist and geneticist G. Ledyard Stebbins, widely viewed as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century.55 In his book Variation and Evolution in Plants, he provided a broad explanation of how evolutionary mechanisms operated at the genetic level of plants.56 His analysis brought plant

47 Murphy, 26. 48 Murphy, 26. 49 Dobzhansky and Ayala, Humankind, a Product of Evolutionary Transcendence, 9. 50 Fitch, Ayala, and National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Tempo and Mode in Evolution, iii. 51 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 26. 52 Simpson, Tempo and Mode in Evolution, 205–6. 53 Ayala and Valentine, Evolving, 261. 54 Smocovitis, Unifying Biology, 135. 55 Raven, “G. Ledyard Stebbins (1906-2000).” 56 Stebbins, Variation and Evolution in Plants.

9 evolution into line with the framework of animal evolution as set out in the work of Dobzhanksy.57 Stebbins concluded that there is a contrast between large and small steps in organic evolution: minor and major developments in a state change of plants and animals are discernable. According to him, in several hundred million years of eukaryote evolution (the evolution of plants, animals, algae, and fungi), there have been about 640,000 small steps in evolution as opposed to a radical smaller number of 20 to 100 larger steps.58 For Murphy, this reflects the great complexity and many steps of evolutionary progress by which life gave rise to homo sapiens.

Murphy introduces the notion of evolutionary transcendence through the works of Dobzhansky, Ayala, Simpson, and Stebbins, although, strengthened by their ideas he takes this concept one step further. Taking their theories as a starting point, he suggests that humanity shares the same fate as the inorganic and biological evolutionary sequences: humanity has evolved through minor and major steps towards the point that brings humanity on the verge of another epochal transition. While from inorganic elements life appeared and from our primate ancestors humankind arose, now by quantum jumps in the development of humanity such as the discovery of fire, the development of language, and the coming into being of religious awareness, a new evolutionary domain is slowly emerging in the human race; the third evolutionary transcendence. This extraordinary human development can, according to Murphy, be understood from the emerging metanormal capacities of human beings that are presented in his book. This is because they draw attention to the fact that ‘a new level of existence has begun to appear on earth, one whose patterns cannot be adequately specified by physics, biology, or mainstream social science.’59

In the coming sub-paragraphs, it will be examined what conditions must be set according to Murphy in the psychosocial evolutionary sequence in order that the third evolutionary transcendence can take place.

3.1.1. FERTILE GROUNDS: CATASTROPHE, PROGRESS AND THE FORMATIVE ROLE

OF CULTURE Concerning his evolutionary narrative, Murphy points out that although greater life is latent in humanity, its lasting establishment is far from being certain. The first signs of the development of metanormal capacities, do not necessarily bring about that humanity as a whole will graduate ‘to higher kinds of functioning’ in the foreseeable future.60 The first possible spanner in the works that Murphy mentions is catastrophes. He refers to challenges such as overpopulation, nuclear war, and ecological disaster by which life on earth could be harmed to such an extent that few people would have the will

57 Dobzhansky, Genetics and the Origin of Species; Smocovitis, “George Ledyard Stebbins (1906–2000),” 562. 58 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 26–27. 59 Murphy, 27. 60 Murphy, 38.

10 or resources to cultivate metanormal capacities. Events like these are capable of destroying ‘the conditions for any kind of widespread human progress, let alone a third evolutionary transcendence.’61

But not only in case of catastrophe a third evolutionary transcendence would be in jeopardy as Murphy observes that even privileged civilizations do not always produce lasting moral or spiritual growth. Just as animal evolution, he concludes that human evolution is not progressive automatically. Both of them often remain static or regress.62 With reference to Simpson, Murphy points out that while we speak of progress when there is a change towards a better condition, human evolution proves at times to be regressive. Indeed, evolution is not the same as progress, as in the words of Simpson, ‘progress has occurred within it but is not of its essence.’63 For Murphy, correspondences between stasis or regression of species and numerous failures of human individuals and culture are easily discernable. Such is the case, for example, when evolution leads to the extinction of a species or culture.64

Thus, human culture for Murphy can measure whether evolution is progressive or regressive. However, the importance of culture for his vision for the future becomes even more apparent as he emphasizes culture’s formative role in human development. This is because exceptional abilities develop most fully in cultures that prize them; ‘they are valued by the groups in which they flourish, (…) conversely, such abilities are often distorted or inhibited by social conditioning’.65 Therefore it is feasible to say that culture is not only an indicator but also a formator.

To endorse his argument of the formative power of culture Murphy refers to Aristotle, Hegel, Durkheim, and Marx who all ‘have observed that we are social animals and that different milieus produce different kinds of human functioning.’ Similar to all our other capacities, metanormal capacities are subject to culture's formative workings because culture constantly shapes us, reinforcing or extinguishing our (greater) possibilities. The fact that no aspect of human nature is immune to social influence is illustrated by Murphy with the example of mystical illuminations, which are generally understood as to ‘appear to transcend all conditionings.’66

While Aldous Huxley and Frithjof Schuon emphasized that mystical experiences are universal,67 Steven Katz argues that neither mystical experience nor more ordinary forms of experience give any indication or any grounds for believing that they are universal. He finds the notion of unmediated mystical experience self-contractionary and empty as according to him ‘the Hindu mystic does not have an experience of x which he then describes in the, to him, familiar language and symbols of Hinduism, but rather he has a Hindu experience, i.e., his experience is not an unmediated experience of x but is

61 Murphy, 31. 62 Murphy, 31. 63 Simpson, 1960, p. 261 64 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 31. 65 Murphy, 160. 66 Murphy, 161. 67 Schuon, Nasr, and Schuon, The Essential Frithjof Schuon, 458; Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, vii.

11 itself the, at least partially, pre-formed anticipated Hindu experience of Brahman’.68 After discussing these authors, Murphy determines his own position being that mystical experiences take different forms in different religious traditions, while at the same time exhibiting certain features that appear to be universal; ‘they are subject to social influence, even if they are rooted in a primordial Ground that transcends all conditionings.’69

Concerning metanormal capacities in general, Murphy comes to a similar conclusion. Out of his presented research, it is on the one hand clear that extraordinary capacities such as communication, environmental influence, volition, sense of self, and kinesthesis are strikingly similar in different traditions. On the other hand, however, Murphy acknowledges the fact that there are also many differences between the cultural determinations, realizations, and reports of metanormal capacities in different traditions, and thus demonstrate cultural shaping. For him, the similarities actively demonstrate that all humans share the same potentials for extraordinary life. Simultaneously, we must not forget to appreciate the formative influence on individual development.70

Therefore, in order to give maximum opportunity for the third evolutionary transcendence to occur, we must create fertile grounds in the psychosocial evolutionary sequence by avoiding catastrophe, acknowledge the fact the evolution is not inherently progressive – but it surely can be – and grasp these windows of opportunity to make sure that the formative role of culture can act as a catalyst for the development of metanormal capacities.

3.1.2. EMBRACING EVOLUTION’S DYNAMISM; MYSTICISM HAND-IN-HAND WITH

SCIENCE Another condition that would help the psychosocial evolutionary sequence to reach the third evolutionary transcendence is the embracement of both mysticism together with science. Most scientists conclude that extraordinary human attributes cannot exist because they are not verifiable by regular scientific procedures. Some have stated, for example, that ‘that spiritual healing seems to occur independently of observable agencies proves ipso facto that such things are figments of the imagination.’71 According to Murphy, such systematical exclusion of mystical truth claims and evidence for paranormal phenomena by reductionists counteracts the integration of insights regarding metanormal human development, which should lead to the third evolutionary transcendence.72

However, this argument in favor of exclusion of extraordinary human attributes can be turned around. Murphy argues that ‘the same apparent violation of natural laws that scientists invoke against various kinds of extraordinary functioning, and the same resistance to laboratory experiments or

68 Katz, Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis, 26. 69 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 165. 70 Murphy, 167. 71 Murphy, 29. 72 Murphy, 196.

12 verification through the physical senses, can be taken as signs that such functioning is part of a new domain, one that transcends ordinary human activity and methods developed to study it.’73 Given that the discovered metanormal capacities apparently violate assumptions of contemporary science does not require us to deny the evidence for them. Indeed, the fact that those patterns are novel and non-ordinary which cannot be adequately specified by this mainstream, indicates that these capacities mentioned are instances of a new evolutionary domain. This new type of evolution is distinguishable from ordinary psychosocial development, having its own distinctive features and patterns.74

However, while scientific methods exclude the spiritual, asceticism excludes the body. Murphy exemplifies this be referring to Thomas a Kempis, a canon regular and mystic from German-Dutch origin of the late medieval period, said the ‘The body is a dung heap.’75 Indeed, this attitude does not come out of the blue, keeping in mind that for many Christian contemplatives the world apprehended through the ordinary senses was separated twice from God; by Creation and by the Fall. Furthermore, for Buddhists the world is a grinding wheel of death and rebirth, and Neo-Platonists regarded it as the lowest on the great scale of being. Therefore, for many ascetics, it seems logical to seek liberation from embodiment, now the body personifies suffering and transience. Therefore, for them, life’s extraordinary potential of metanormal capacities do not have any more value than any other embodied capacity that is manifested through our material state.76

Thus, seeing the manifest world as a place to escape from, ‘some of the greatest mystics have helped orient religious practice away from the integral development of human nature.’77 However, by withdrawing into ascetic solitude humanity amputates a large part of its connection with the earth, and according to Murphy, such attitudes should not rule our thinking anymore.78 Therefore, as is the case with his above-mentioned attitude regarding reductionism, Murphy rejects these ascetic worldviews that denigrate the body’s place in human self-actualization: such attitudes counteracts the integration of insights regarding metanormal human development.

That these attitudes are dated follows according to Murphy from modern science as it has shown that our world is not static or cyclical, but a planet in which species have graduated bit by bit, suggesting that humans might develop further. With reference to first and second evolutionary transcendence Murphy points out that the world exceeds its established laws and patterns by evolution, and therefore evolution is ‘a supreme inescapable gesture, pointing toward a mysterious future for living forms.’ This

73 Murphy, 29. 74 Murphy, 29–30. 75 Thomas, On the Passion of Christ According to the Four Evangelists, 8–12. 76 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 172. 77 Murphy, 172. 78 Murphy, 220.

13 vision of human advance embedded in the facts of cosmic development, according to Murphy, gives a new perspective to certain phenomena associated with religious life.79

Hence, Murphy rejects the reductionist as well as the ascetic approach the human fulfillment. Correlating our sense of greater human possibilities with evolution’s dynamism shown by the two previous evolutionary transcendences, we should broaden our imagination to best appreciate our possibilities for extraordinary life. The secret to doing this lies according to Murphy in embracing ‘both the facts of evolution revealed by modern science and the witness of sacred traditions East and West.’80 This integration of these two fundamental aspects of existence is fundamental to his inquiries. Looking away from either of these aspects of existence constitutes for Murphy of a ‘supreme philosophic avoidance,’ and therefore he preaches an integral practice; embracing the world we now perceive and any domains that subsume it.81

3.2. KURZWEIL AND THE LAW OF ACCELERATING RETURNS Central to the evolutionary narrative of Kurzweil is the law of accelerating returns. Based on this law, he assesses how humanity will develop. On that basis he considers that the future will be completely different than expected by most people, and therefore calls the future a ‘wildly misunderstood phenomena.’ According to Kurzweil, due to the fact that the rate of change itself is accelerating, the future will be far more surprising than most people realize. The conceptualization of this idea resulted in the law of accelerating returns, ‘which describes the acceleration of the pace of and the exponential growth of the products of an evolutionary process.’82

Technology is such a product of an evolutionary process, and therefore, the ongoing acceleration of technology is the implication and inevitable result of this law. This is according to Kurzweil exemplified in Moore’s Law on Integrated Circuits. This law was formulated by and named after Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of the American technology company Intel that has its headquarter in Silicon Valley and invents the processors that are found in most personal computers. In 1965 he described in his paper a doubling in the number of components per integrated circuit every year and estimated that this rate of growth would continue for at least another decade.83 However, according to Kurzweil, this law of accelerating returns is not only applicable to the development of the number of transistors on integrated circuits (i.e., computer chips), but to the whole of evolution.

Concerning his idea of the law of accelerating returns, Kurzweil emphasizes the importance of the difference between the ‘intuitive linear’ view versus the ‘historical exponential’ view. Most prognosticators, make the same important failure when considering the future: they take the intuitive

79 Murphy, 173. 80 Murphy, 179. 81 Murphy, 180. 82 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 35. 83 Moore, “Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuits,” 83–84.

14 linear view as a starting point for making predictions about the future, ignoring the historical exponential view of technological progress. In contrast, the law of accelerating returns derived from the ‘exponential historical’ view. Therefore it is important to point out its difference, as Kurzweil’s evolutionary narrative stands or falls with the law of accelerating returns.84

In relation to the intuitive linear view Kurzweil points out that people intuitively assume that the current rate of progress will continue for future progress. This is because ‘unexamined intuition leaves one with the impression that change occurs at the same rate that we have experienced it most recently.’ This makes for the ‘intuitive’ aspect of this intuitive linear view.85 The ‘linear’ aspect is derived from the mathematician’s perspective because an exponential curve looks like a straight line when examined only over a (too) short of time. Hence, even experts in predicting the future use the current pace of change as an indicator for their forecast.86

In the wake of the intuitive linear view, ‘scientific pessimism’ arises according to Kurzweil. Kurzweil uses this term to denote the scientist who so absorbed in the complicated details of a contemporary scientific challenge, that they fail to appreciate the ultimate long-term implications of technology and science. Therefore, they do not account for the far more powerful tools that are accessible with each new generation of technology. Although scientists are trained to be skeptical and seldom speculate beyond the current generation of scientific progress, in the eyes of Kurzweil, this is no longer suitable. As a generation of scientific and technological progress does not last longer than a human generation anymore, nowadays a generation of scientific and technological progress encompasses only of a few years.87 Therefore, by refraining from speculation beyond the current generation of scientific progress, the current human generation will not be able to anticipate upon the coming generation of scientific progress.

Kurzweil illustrates this by the example of the Internet. In the 1980s, skepticism was expressed about whether the Internet would ever be a significant phenomenon. This skepticism came from the fact that the Internet then comprised of only tens of thousands of nodes (also understood as servers that can communicate with each other). However, the fact that the number of nodes was doubling every year – resulting in tens of millions of nodes ten years later – was not (yet) acknowledged by the people who worked on this technology in 1985.88

Next to the fact that people tend to underestimate what can be achieved in the long term because exponential growth is ignored, Kurzweil points out another mistake made by people who speak about the future. Namely, prognosticators ‘consider the transformations that will result from a single trend in

84 Kurzweil, “The Law of Accelerating Returns.” 85 Teuscher, Alan Turing, 382–83. 86 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 12. 87 Kurzweil, 12–13. 88 Kurzweil, 13.

15 today’s world as if nothing else will change’. He thereby means that if for example technology would make radical life extension possible, the concern that this will result in overpopulation and the exhaustion of limited material resources to sustain human life is unsubstantiated, because technology will find solutions for these kinds of problems along the way.89

Due to these misconceptions of the future related to the intuitive linear view, the technical possibilities of future time should, instead, be forecasted based on the historical exponential view according to Kurzweil. This conclusion is extracted from a genuine valuation of the history of technology, which reveals that technological change is exponential. It does not matter whether one examines ‘the data in different ways, on different timescales, and for a wide variety of technologies, ranging from electronic to biological, as well as for their implications, ranging from the amount of human knowledge to the size of the economy:’ acceleration of progress and growth applies to each of them according to Kurzweil.90 Because the growth of these processes is exponential rather than just being added to incrementally, Kurzweil comes to the conclusion that exponential growth is a feature of any evolutionary process. Technological processes, such as Moore’s law, are just a primary example thereof.91

For the history of technology this means in concrete terms that humanity will not experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century, but will rather experience 20,000 years of progress measured at the rate 2005 (time of Kurzweil’s writing); about ‘a thousand times greater than the technical progress that was achieved in the twentieth century.’92 This is because, ‘we often find not just simple exponential growth, but “double” exponential growth, meaning that the rate of exponential growth (the exponent) is itself growing exponentially.’93

In his book, Kurzweil illustrates the historical exponential view on the basis of a graph wherein biological and technological key events from the evolution since the Big Bang to the Internet are plotted. Therein, an unmistakable exponential trend is visible: ‘key events have been occurring at an ever- hastening pace.’94 In order to improve the insightfulness of Kurzweil’s train of thought, I have added these graphs in Appendix 1.

As the practical effect of Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns upon the developing processes has been discussed, now the impact of the law of accelerating returns for his evolutionary narrative will be examined. The nature of evolution is according to Kurzweil ‘a process of creating patterns of increasing order.’95 Furthermore, he believes that the evolution of patterns constitutes the ultimate story

89 Kurzweil, 13. 90 Kurzweil, 12. 91 Kurzweil, “The Law of Accelerating Returns.” 92 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 11. 93 Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, 12. 94 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 35; this graph is added in appendix 1. 95 Kurzweil, 14.

16 of our world. Such an evolved pattern is created by a sufficient degree of order. In order to explain what emerges out of the evolutionary process when governed by the law of accelerating returns, first, the workings of increasing order in the evolutionary process will be examined. After that, the patterns (epochs) of information which arise out of this inevitable increasement of order will be discussed.

3.2.1. EVOLUTION; A PROCESS OF CREATING PATTERNS OF INCREASING ORDER To begin with, it is necessary to define what is actually meant by ‘order.’ According to Kurzweil, order ‘is information that fits a purpose (…), and the measure of order is the measure of how well the information fits the purpose.’ Hence, within Kurzweil’s evolutionary trajectory order requires information. He defines information as ‘a sequence of data that is meaningful in a process,’ such as the DNA code of an organism or the bits in a computer program.

Furthermore, information is only information if it is unpredictable (otherwise it cannot be qualified as new information). Thus, a predictable alternating pattern (such as 020202…) is orderly, but cannot be regarded as information as it is predictable beyond the first two numbers. However, not every unpredictable sequence is information; a meaningful sequence of information needs to be discerned from a random sequence of noise. While information and noise share the feature of unpredictability, a random sequence of noise ceases to carry workable data. Therefore, orderliness does not necessarily constitute order, because order requires a meaningful sequence of information.96

Nonetheless, simply having more information does not necessarily result in a better fit. Sometimes greater order – i.e., a better fit to a purpose – is attained ‘through simplification rather than a further increase in complexity.’ To exemplify this, Kurzweil notes that a new theory that ties together apparently disparate ideas into one broader – wherein the purpose is to precisely model observed phenomena – a more coherent theory reduces complexity but nonetheless may increase the order for a purpose. This can also be understood from an evolutionary perspective in one of the key steps in the evolution of hominids. Namely, the shift in the thumb's pivot point did not significantly increase complexity but nevertheless did constitute an increase in order. It provided the means for better manipulation of objects, for more adequate fine-motor coordination to write or to shape objects and enabled the development of technology.97

This being said, evolution has shown that the general trend towards greater order does typically result in greater complexity. So did the evolution of DNA allow for more complex organisms. Because of the coming into force of DNA, the biological information processes of organism could be controlled by the DNA molecule's flexible data storage. As DNA laid the basis of a stable set of the body plan of animals in the Cambrain explosion, DNA created sufficient order so that the evolutionary process could concentrate on more complex cerebral development. Likewise, in technology, the creation of the

96 Kurzweil, 38. 97 Young, “Evolution of the Human Hand,” 168–69; Wilson, The Hand.

17 computer provided a means for human civilization to store (i.e., create order) and manipulate ever more complex sets of information.98 Hence, increasing order and the increasement of complexity in an evolutionary process, although being not necessarily interwoven, generally go hand in hand.

The above means that order is very difficult to measure: as opposed to measuring complexity, the measurement of order constitutes measuring the success of fitting in the purpose of the information that is present in each situation or evolutionary process.99 Not only the ‘amount’ of information needs to be measured, but also how well this information ‘fits’ the purpose. It goes without saying that in an evolutionary algorithm applied to a technology, the purpose is different than in the biological evolution. In the first, the purpose is to optimize computation performance, efficiency, and so on, whereas the purpose in the evolution of life forms is to survive. Nonetheless, whatever the purpose may be, providing a solution to a problem – which usually increases but sometimes decreases complexity – increases order.

3.2.2. PATTERNS; THE SIX EVOLUTIONARY EPOCHS OF KURZWEIL As noted above, according to Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns, through an evolutionary process, the increasement of order will lead to the creation of patterns. In essence, Kurzweil distinguishes six such evolutionary patterns in the history of biological followed by technological evolution, which he calls epochs.100 In this paragraph, these epochs will be examined.

The first epoch discerned by Kurzweil is called Physics and Chemistry. It takes off a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang when atoms began to form, as electrons became trapped in orbits around nuclei consisting of protons and neutrons. Due to the electrical structure of atoms, the atoms became sticky. On that account chemistry was allowed to come to life a few millions of years later: atoms came together and created relatively stable structures called molecules.

One of the elements was exceptionally versatile; carbon proved to be very useful as it was (and is) able to form bonds in four directions – instead of one to three, which is the case for most other elements. Therefore carbon enabled the rise of complicated three-dimensional structures which are – being a thread through the narrative of Kurzweil – information-rich. Namely, according to Kurzweil, we can ‘trace our origins to a state that represents information in its basic structures: patterns of matter and energy.’ In order to emphasize this point, he furthermore points out that ‘recent theories of quantum gravity hold that time and space are broken down into discrete quanta, essentially fragments of information.’101

The second epoch, is named Biology and DNA. This epoch started several billion years ago ‘when carbon-based compounds became more and more intricate until complex aggregations of

98 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 38. 99 Kurzweil, 39. 100 Kurzweil, 14. 101 Kurzweil, 14.

18 molecules formed self-replicating mechanisms, and life originated.’ Eventually, this resulted in the unfolding of a ‘precise digital mechanism (DNA)’ in the biological system. As a result of this information describing, a larger ‘society of molecules’ could be stored. In this epoch, DNA, together with its supporting apparatus of ribosomes and codons, made it possible to store a record of the evolutionary observations.102

The third epoch Kurzweil calls Brains. In this epoch, DNA-guided evolution produced organisms that could not only sense information with their sensory organs but also process and store that information in their brains and nervous systems. Early animals developed the capability to recognize patterns, which currently still accounts for the vast majority of the activity in our brains. This became possible because of the developments in the second-epoch. Namely, the mechanisms of ‘DNA and epigenetic information of proteins and RNA fragments that control gene expression’ of the second epoch, indirectly enabled and defined third-epoch information-processing mechanisms such as the brain and nervous systems of organisms. This illustrates what Kurzweil names evolution through ‘indirection’ that is apparent in all the epochs: each epoch uses the information-processing methods of the preceding epoch to create the next.103

In the fourth epoch, Kurzweil's hobbyhorse enters into the picture: the epoch of Technology. This epoch thrived on the eventually in the third epoch developed ability of humans to create abstract mental models of the world they experience and contemplate the rational implications of these. Together with this ability to redesign the world in the minds of humans and the gift of opposable thumbs 104 to put these ideas into action, the human species directed to the next level of indirection: ‘the evolution of human-created technology.’ While this started with simple mechanisms, it developed into more complex automata such as automated mechanical machines. Eventually, technology itself became capable of storing, evaluating, and sensing complicated patterns of information with the help of sophisticated communication and computational devices.105

Concerning epoch five, Kurzweil looks ahead several decades in time. In this epoch called The Merge of Human Technology with Human Intelligence, the singularity will begin. This will happen through indirection and is catalyzed by the unforeseen capacity of technological intelligence to evolve, as developed in the previous epoch. The singularity, ultimately, will result from the ‘merger of vast knowledge embedded in our brains with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing

102 Kurzweil, 16. 103 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 16. 104 Which means that they are able to simultaneously flex, abduct and medially rotate the thumb so as to bring its tip into opposition with the tips of any of the other digits, “Thumb Opposability | Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA).” 105 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 16.

19 ability of our technology.’ According to Kurzweil, this will enable us to transcend the human brain’s limitations of a ‘mere hundred trillion extremely slow connections.’

In the then created human-machine civilization, we will be able to ‘greatly magnify human creativity’ and ‘overcome age-old human problems.’ According to Kurzweil, we will preserve and enhance the intelligence evolution has bestowed on us. However, at the same time, we shall overcome the limitations of biological evolution. However, Kurzweil concludes this epoch with a disillusioning note. According to him, and indeed if what he predicts will become a reality, the singularity will not only magnify the ability to act wise but also act on our destructive impulses: ‘so its full story has not yet been written’.106

The sixth and last epoch is called The Universe Wakes Up. According to Kurzweil after epoch five, ‘in the aftermath of the singularity, intelligence, derived from its biological origins in human brains and its technological origins in human ingenuity, will begin to saturate the matter and energy in its midst.’ According to Kurzweil, this will be accomplished by reorganizing matter and energy to provide an optimal level of computation, not only here on earth but in fact, spreading out from here into the universe. So to say our civilization in this epoch will infuse the rest of the universe with its creativity and intelligence. Kurzweil forecasts that the ‘dumb’ matter and mechanisms of the universe will be transformed into exquisitely sublime forms of intelligence. This, he calls, the ‘ultimate destiny of the universe.’107

3.3. A COMPARISON OF THE EVOLUTIONARY NARRATIVES The evolutionary narrative of both Murphy and Kurzweil incorporates mainstream science and facts and finishes with more personal challenging ideas of both the authors. Both of them started their narrative at the inorganic stage of evolution and after that, worked their way up to their prolonged stages: the third evolutionary transcendence and the singularity. Hence, evolution serves to bring humanity to a higher stage.

Furthermore, another similarity between their theories is that they both involve grand stages, which have their own distinctive patterns and together build their narratives as a whole. Whereas Murphy discerns three of them, Kurzweil distinguishes six epochs. In both ideas, these grand patterns evolve along the way of particular moments of dramatic change to the next; wherein abrupt change occurs after a long period of almost standstill. Whereas in the theory of Murphy, these instances are called quantum evolution, in Kurzweil’s theory, they are called a paradigm shift. These instances for both of the authors involve an acceleration in evolutionary change. These accelerations eventually will

106 Kurzweil, 21. 107 Kurzweil, 21.

20 have as their consequence the development of an epochal transition leading to the new evolutionary era for Murphy, and for Kurzweil, in similar fashion, of a new epoch.

Interestingly, both of them reject partly mainstream science in that it does not take into account their future prognosis. For Murphy, it is of great importance to put aside the reductionist systematical exclusion of evidence for paranormal phenomena as these phenomena violate contemporary science. This tendency to put mainstream science aside in order to see the right picture can also be found in the theory of Kurzweil. Regarding his historical exponential view, Kurzweil rejects ‘scientific pessimism.’ According to him, mainstream science fails to appreciate the ultimate long-term implications of technology and science and does not account for the far more powerful tools that are accessible with each new generation of technology.

However, there are also some differences. Whereas Kurzweil’s evolutionary narrative is occupied mostly with technology, Murphy’s narrative considers only the psychosocial sequence of evolution. Inherently, Murphy presents his narrative in relation to the uncertain development related to humanity. Therefore, belonging to his evolutionary narrative for the future, he formulates some conditions which have to be met in the psychosocial evolutionary sequence in order to be able to progress. For Kurzweil, on the other hand, his evolutionary narrative is depended on patterns of increasing order, which inevitably will proceed to a higher stage.

21

4. EXPLORING THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE AND THE

SINGULARITY After examining the evolutionary trajectories of Kurzweil and Murphy, this chapter concerns their desired destination worlds after the singularity and third evolutionary transcendence. Examining these envisioned worlds, an attempt is made to grasp what these worlds will consist of and what harnesses them.

Important to mention here is that these visions of the new world are inherently constructed differently. Kurzweil takes the technical development as a starting point which eventually results in the singularity. Therefore the underlying mechanism of the singularity is clear: technology. As this mechanism is clear, the extraordinary human capacities of the singularity are easily understood from – and come as a consequence of – the emergent technologies within Kurzweil’s theory. On the other hand, the book and theory of Murphy is built up the other way around. The Future of the Body, takes empirical evidence of extraordinary human capacities as a starting point. These extraordinary human capacities are taken as indicator of an evolutionary development. This suspicion is then linked to a scientific evolutionary framework as seen in chapter 3. Lastly, Murphy concludes that a third evolutionary transcendence is approaching and speculates about which mechanism is capable of facilitating the extraordinary capacities available in the third evolutionary transcendence. Thus, whereas Kurzweil takes as a starting point the mechanism (technology) which results in the singularity, Murphy only speculates about probable mechanisms on the end of his theory.

Therefore, as these ideas are built up in their opposite, they cannot be synchronically compared. This will become apparent in this chapter. For example, while the framework of the singularity is the emerging technologies as understood from the last chapter, its possible counterpart within the third evolutionary transcendence can firstly be discussed in this chapter. Although being constructed the other way around, it will be shown in this chapter that it is rewarding to put them into each other’s perspective.

4.1. BEYOND THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE The coming epochal transition for Murphy is the third evolutionary transcendence. With new types of extraordinary human development he identifies in his book, ‘a new level of existence has begun to appear on earth, one whose patterns cannot be adequately specified by physics, biology, or mainstream social science.’108 Although an in-depth discussion of these types of extraordinary human development will follow in chapter five, due to the fact that the central argument of Murphy is based on the empirical proof of the presented extraordinary capacities, they will be shortly addressed now, so it will be made possible to relate them to his other ideas.

108 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 27.

22

The central characterization (and announcement at the same time) of the emergent third evolutionary transcendence are twelve sets of human extraordinary attributes. They involve extraordinary perceptions such as clairvoyance or contact with entities that are inaccessible to the ordinary senses; extraordinary awareness of the body; extraordinary communication abilities such as the transmission of thoughts; superabundant vitality which is not accountable by ordinary bodily processes; extraordinary movement abilities such as out-of-body experience and levitation; extraordinary capacities to alter the environment such as abilities to influence things at a distance without reliance upon direct physical action; self-existent delight, not depending on the satisfaction of needs or desires in the manner of ordinary pleasure; mystical knowledge; volition that exceeds ordinary will in order to be able to unify separate impulses, to produce extraordinary actions; personhood that simultaneously fulfills one’s ordinary sense and transcends it, experiencing a fundamental unity with others; extraordinary love; and, alterations in bodily states, processes and structures that support the experiences and capacities of the before mentioned metanormal capacities.109

Because of the appearance of these extraordinary capacities, Murphy believes that a new kind of life will emerge on this planet when these extraordinary capacities are realized by enough people. It will constitute a break with ordinary consciousness and behavior, self-mastery of the mind and flesh and ‘the transcendent of certain needs.’ This new life would be characterized by new types of social interaction, greater care for the physical environment, more exceptional ability to prevent human aggressiveness, new styles of energy consumption and new rituals of work and play. On the other hand, Murphy also remarks briefly that these extraordinary capacities can be used destructively.110 The third evolutionary transcendence would eventually constitute of features and regularities that cannot be predicted from the patterns of our contemporary existence.

Indeed, this novelty and incomprehensibility only strengthen Murphy’s idea that these extraordinary capacities are representing a new type of evolution, in which patterns are distinguishable from normal psychosocial development. As understood in chapter three, the fact that they violate the mainstream assumptions of science, strengthens, in the eyes of Murphy, the fact that these extraordinary capacities are part of a new domain.111 Indeed, the fact that ordinary science is not able to account for the possibilities in the third evolutionary transcendence only endorses and supports Murphy’s claims. That contemporary science cannot grasp the evolutionary transcendence is central to its understanding, as by means of the evolutionary transcendence, we evolve into a new evolutionary domain that has its distinctive features and patterns. What is there to evolve to, if the new world fits into the old paradigm?

A continued realization of these metanormal capacities constitutes according to Murphy ‘a break with ordinary human activity,’ while their permanent integration by many people ‘would constitute a

109 Murphy, 27–28. 110 Murphy, 100. 111 Murphy, 29.

23 new kind of life on this planet.’ These extraordinary capacities which the third evolutionary transcendence would consist of are accompanied with the experience of entities, powers, processes, and a dimension which goes beyond the familiar patterns of existence. As such, the observation can be made that in the world as pictured by Murphy after the third evolutionary transcendence, the experience of a plane of reality beyond the now perceived world will be central.112

Murphy points out that humanity already experiences such a kind of practice commonly. For example, when people have a spiritual insight that elevates them to ‘certitudes’ as not experienced before, they might already say that ‘something came over us.’ According to Murphy, this is a recognition of ego-transcendent powers which are already reflected in our common language. Such recognition of ego-transcendent powers is, according to Murphy, a recognition of a Something beyond. This recognition of Something beyond together with the fact that ordinary science is not to specify its workings, ‘points toward a new kind of human development.’ Therefore, this Something beyond is essential for understanding the workings of the extraordinary capacities presented by Murphy.

However, because Murphy is said to be agnostic about his collections of empirical data in his book, he does not make statements about what this Something is. Although he does speculate about this topic.113 In fact, from his book, it appears that he is intrigued and fond of the vision hold by Sri Aurobindo referred to as involution-evolution. That is, actually, not surprising taking the influence of Sri Aurobindo understood from chapter 2 into account. In this philosophy, Sri Aurobindo tried to comprehend or explain the developing universe in relation to something ultimate or eternal. According to Murphy, the concept involution-evolution is a beautiful concept that supports extraordinary human experience,114 and its insights illuminate particular processes which ‘facilitate metanormal capacities.’115 Although it goes beyond the scope of this thesis to have an in-depth discussion of this theory, I will highlight its fundamental aspects in order to make it possible to place this notion within the spectrum of Murphy’s third evolutionary transcendence; finding a possible answer to what Something beyond refers to within Murphy’s vision and which processes facilitate metanormal capacities.

4.1.2. INVOLUTION-EVOLUTION AND PANENTHEISM The theory of involution-evolution is related to Sri Aurobindo’s interpretation of the evolution of Consciousness. Consciousness (or, Existence, Truth, and Bliss) is in the philosophy of Aurobindo understood as Satchitananda.116 More precisely, Satchitananda is the subjective experience of Brahman (or Supreme reality); the ultimate unchanging reality in Hinduism (Brahman).117 By the process of

112 Murphy, 28. 113 Murphy, 29. 114 Murphy, 195. 115 Murphy, 180. 116 Raju, The Philosophical Traditions of India, 228; Werner, A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism, 88. 117 Jones and Ryan, Encyclopedia of Hinduism, 388.

24 involution, the Brahman ‘extends itself to create a universe of separate forms from out of Its own Force.’ Involution hence is Aurobindo’s cosmological account on how matter came to exist. Satchitananda becomes by this process the intermediate between higher (Supermind) and lower nature (Matter).118

The reason for involution is the part of Satchitananda that is translated into Bliss: it (has the urge to and) dives itself into matter and then becomes lost, as matter is the opposite of consciousness. So, the Brahman secreted a portion of its infinite nature to become finite matter. This descending process through which Spirit becomes matter is called involution by Aurobindo.

Evolution, then, is the secondary process through which Spirit slowly rediscovers the divine potential involved in matter.119 In the words of Aurobindo: ‘In a sense, the whole of creation may be said to be a movement between two involutions, Spirit in which all is involved and out of which all evolves downward to the other pole of Matter, Matter in which also all is involved and out of which all evolves upward to the other pole of Spirit.’120

Hence, the concept of involution-evolution constitutes the declension and ascension from and to the highest principle.121 Whereas involution signifies world-creation by the self-projection of Brahman into inconscient matter, evolution is its reverse.122 Therefore, the theory of involution- evolution accounts for the evolutionary process of how Matter is progressing with long intermediate ranges towards the Supermind, ‘a supramental consciousness to meet what appears to be its contradictory,’ Brahman.123

The above makes clear that evolution is the inverse of involution, a process in which the absolute involves itself more and more in existence. Therefore, for Aurobindo the evolutional process, marked by the experiencing of metanormal capacities as described by Murphy, are the marks of an evolution at work. According to Aurobindo human beings are only a transitional species on the way to a more spiritual life-form that will evolve in the future.124 For him, the ‘Evolution of Life in matter supposes a previous involution of it there, unless we suppose it to be a new creation magically and unaccountable introduced into Nature.’125

The involution-evolution philosophical doctrine is according to Murphy justified and supported by the realizations reported by philosophers and mystics since antiquity of virtually every sacred tradition.126 This is important to mention, as it gives empirical validation to the theory of involution-

118 Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 87–98. 119 Aurobindo, 132–39. 120 Aurobindo, 137. 121 Mullen, “Aurobindo’s Supermind, Teilhard’s Omega Point, and Plato’s Doctrine of Recollection,” 8. 122 Odin, “Sri Aurobindo and Hegel on the Involution-Evolution of Absolute Spirit,” 184. 123 Sen, “Sri Aurobindo’s Theory of the Mind,” 47. 124 Miovic, “Sri Aurobindo and Transpersonal Psychology,” 115. 125 Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 197. 126 Murphy explicitly names Buddhist, Hindu, Platonist, Christian, and Islamic traditions.

25 evolution, according to Murphy. Namely, these philosophers and mystics reported ‘that they enjoy a secret contact, kinship, or identity with the founding Principle of this universe.’127 These realizations reflect a realization ‘of a Reality ordinarily hidden but immediately recognized as our original face, our true identity (…) our secret at-oneness ‘with all the Gods’.’128

In order to make this point, Murphy refers, among others, to (Neo-)Platonists thinkers who proclaimed that humans are rooted in Divinity and can realize that fact through the practice of virtue, the pursuit of beauty, and philosophic inquiry (or dialectic). A beautiful example he gives is found in the Enneads by Neo-Platonist Plotinus, as he says:

‘God is outside of none, present unperceived to all; we break away from Him, or rather from ourselves; what we turn from we cannot reach; astray ourselves, we cannot go in search of another; a child distraught will not recognize its father; to find ourselves is to know our source.’129

Indeed, this example testifies of striking similarities between Neo-Platonists thought and the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution. Namely, we break away through a process of involution, and the process of evolution is represented by the finding of our source once again. Such realizations support and give rise to the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution, according to Murphy. By this, Murphy is reinforced in his thought that it is natural to see the manifest world – like Aurobindo – as a ‘universal evolutionary process by stages expressing its secret Divinity.’130 Hence, in the eyes of Murphy, the involution-evolution idea resonates with his proposals that transformative practice (like evolution) can evoke our latent capacities for extraordinary life (that is, secret Divinity). Namely, human nature can realize extraordinary capacities because that is its predisposition.131

While reflecting on the involution-evolution idea, Murphy concludes that the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution is constituted of an evolutionary emanationist as well as a panentheistic component. An evolutionary emanationist view because – in the philosophical doctrine of involution- evolution – the manifest world is regarded as an emanation of Divinity, but at the same time as a dynamic process creatively seeking to reveal God in the physical world.

Furthermore, the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution is panentheistic according to Murphy. Namely, ‘panentheism holds that the being of God includes and penetrates the whole universe, so that every part of it exists in him, but - as against pantheism - that his being is more than, and is not exhausted by, the universe.’132 In this vision, there is no ontological separation between the Divine and

127 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 191. 128 Murphy, 192. 129 Plotinus, Mackenna, and Dillon, The Enneads, col. 6.9.7. 130 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 192. 131 Murphy, 193. 132 Murphy, 193.

26 the world, as the world participates in infinite Divinity as its source.133 Because of this, according to British theologian John Robinson, as we already exist in God we do not seek Him, but rather ‘explore into Him’.134 As the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution is based on both transcendent and immanent aspects of Divinity, it must be regarded as panentheistic.

Interestingly, Murphy states that panentheism ‘has become more and more compelling’ to himself while studying the reports of religious experiences from different cultures. All of them have described experiences of a familiar but forgotten Reality that is both immanent and transcendent to our world, and therefore, it seems to him that panentheism is beyond culture or belief.135 Furthermore, Murphy states that these experiences of an immanent and transcendent reality are frequently accompanied by metanormal capacities. Because of this, he states that ‘virtually every type of metanormal attribute has been deemed to arise from a transcendent Reality fundamentally linked with ordinary human nature.’ Therefore, it appears to him that the evidence of extraordinary capacities as presented in his book leads us toward panentheism.136

Taking all of the above into consideration, it is possible to see how the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution can facilitate metanormal capacities. Firstly, because out of this philosophical doctrine, it follows that the realization of extraordinary capacities by humanity is its predisposition. Secondly, as this doctrine is inherently panentheistic, according to Murphy, it makes for a world that is totally penetrated and transcended by the Divine. Because of these aspects, panentheism is a structure on which extraordinary capacities can act freely. Namely, at the moment everything of this world is (penetrated by the) Divine, thus being a constant creation of the Divine; at the instance that somebody is connected to the Supermind, he could influence and alter creation itself. At that moment extraordinary capacities become possible and are on humanity’s hands.

4.2. THE IMPACT OF THE SINGULARITY At the end of chapter three, it has become clear that the singularity will start in the 5th epoch with the merger of humans and machines and will end with the 6th epoch when technology will wake up the universe. In order to understand what this actually will mean for humanity and our perception of the world we are living in according to Kurzweil, in this paragraph, the impact of the singularity will be discussed.

Regarding this discussion, he compares the singularity to the sun: ‘it’s hard to look at directly; it’s better to squint at it out of the corners of our eyes.’137 So where do we end up, squinting from the corner of our eyes to the singularity? It brings us to the question of why we have to squint at the first

133 Clayton, The Problem of God in Modern Thought, 477–581. 134 Robinson, Exploration Into God, 96. 135 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 194. 136 Murphy, 194. 137 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 371.

27 place. Its answer is that the concept is inherently shrouded in the fog of incomprehensibility – at our current level of understanding at least. This is due to its key characteristic; the characteristic where the singularity derives its name from.138

The singularity derives its name from astrophysics, wherein a ‘gravitational singularity’ is used to denote the ontological and epistemological discontinuities idiosyncratic to black holes. When a massive star goes through a supernova explosion, its residue in due course collapses to the point of apparently zero volume and infinite density. At its center, then, a ‘gravitational singularity’ is created. For the reason that light was thought to be unable to escape the star after it reached this infinite density, it was called a black hole.139

The metaphor here is twofold. Firstly, in a gravitational singularity central to a black hole quantities such as density and spacetime curvature that were otherwise meaningful, become infinite. The result is that these quantities become meaningless. This discontinuity is thus analogous for the aspect of the singularity that the quantitative measure of intelligence, at least as how we know it today by traditional IQ tests, may become a meaningless notion after the introduction of superintelligent minds.140

In the wake of this analogy, the second metaphor to the gravitational singularity is even more striking: the ‘event horizon.’ In the sense of a gravitational singularity, an event horizon is a boundary surrounding the singularity beyond which events cannot be observed from outside. Beyond this horizon, gravitational pull becomes so strong that nothing can escape as noted above, making it a point of no return.141 In human affairs, such an event horizon is also surrounding the – technological – singularity. Namely, since it is almost impossible to imagine what the minds of superintelligent intellects will come up with – whilst having an enormous influence on how we organize our life – the outcome of the singularity will be challenging to comprehend or predict, according to Kurzweil.

Thus, as the comparison with the gravitational singularity reinforces: change will be radical and unforeseen constituting a turning-point in human history. Kurzweil, although he finds it difficult to look past the event horizon, states that it is not impossible to make some sense of what lies beyond.142 According to him, ‘despite our profound limitations of thought, we do have sufficient powers of abstraction to make meaningful statements about the nature of life after the singularity.’143

If one has to believe Kurzweil, one can be sure about one thing: that ‘as the singularity approaches we will have to reconsider our ideas about the nature of human life and redesign our human

138 Kurzweil, 23. 139 Lasota, “Unmasking Black Holes.” 140 Eden et al., Singularity Hypotheses, 5. 141 Eden et al., 5. 142 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 29. 143 Kurzweil, 30.

28 institutions.’144 One of the determining elements, which already has come across above, will be that humans will merge with technology and therefore become vastly smarter, having striking implications on their capability to understand.145

In an attempt to make this insightful, Kurzweil asks the reader ‘what would 1,000 scientists, each 1,000 times more intelligent than human scientists today, and each operating 1,000 times faster than contemporary humans come up with?’146 This will, obviously, be different for the people who will choose not to merge with technology, so-called unenhanced humans. But other than unenhanced humans, humans will be able to keep up with the rapid pace of technological progress according to the law of accelerating returns.147

However, in the view of Kurzweil, the merger of human and machine will not erode the fact that ‘our civilization will remain human.’ Indeed, Kurzweil acknowledges that ‘our merger with our technology has aspects of a slippery slope,’ but for him, this slope slides up towards greater promise, instead of, down into Nietzsche's abyss.148 In fact, it is his understanding that in many ways the new society will be more exemplary of what we regard as human than our society today, ‘although, our understanding of the term will move beyond its biological origins.’149 As the singularity comes out of the evolutionary process as elaborated on in paragraph 3.2, the nonbiological intelligence that will emerge should still be considered human in the eyes of Kurzweil, because it was humans who invented technology. Hence, the nonbiological forms will be derived from biological design, in other words; future machines will be human, even if they are not biological.

Thus, the perception of the world after the singularity will still be categorized by Kurzweil as human. This vision is opposing the vision of persons whom Kurzweil refers to as ‘some observers.’ They indicate the species of this period ‘posthuman,’ referring to the anticipation of this period as posthumanism. It is logical for Kurzweil to oppose this idea, because for him, ‘being human means being part of a civilization that seeks to extend its boundaries.’150 In this sense, reaching a new level of our evolution by means of stretching the boundaries with technology would just endorse humanity being human.

Furthermore, in relation to the question whether the merger with machines will create posthumans or not, Kurzweil notes that already at this moment in time, humanity is using artificial organs in health care. He states that drawing the line in terms of (post)human enhancement is already

144 Kurzweil, 299. 145 Kurzweil, 24. 146 Kurzweil, 24. 147 Kurzweil, 24. 148 Kurzweil, 374. 149 Kurzweil, 30. 150 Kurzweil, 374.

29 very difficult: why should someone with a bionic heart be human and someone with nanorobots in his brain be not.

In fact, according to Kurzweil, the merger of man and machine could in no way create a species. This is for the simple reason that the ‘whole idea of a species is a biological concept, and what we are doing is transcending biology.’ Because biological evolution will upend altogether according to Kurzweil, the transformation by the singularity cannot be seen as just one more transformation in a long line of steps in biological evolution.

Whereas the denotation of species is in place in a biological evolution, according to Kurzweil, this is not applicable to the singularity as thereby biology will be transcended.151 At first hand, this seems a far-fetched argument and contradictory to his earlier made argument that ‘we’ will still be human after the singularity. Namely, if the concept of species is a biological one, at the moment we transcend biology; we transcend the realm wherein the human species resides. So if we cannot be the human species anymore, how can we still be human? This is according to Kurzweil because the nature of being human is not the limitations of humans (biology), it is humanity’s ability to reach beyond its own limitations.152 As will be elaborated on further hereafter, the determining feature of humans is not the matter humans consists of in the first place, but the patterns they create. Therefore, we are human beings creating patterns whether we have a body or not.153

4.2.1. THE SINGULARITY: A ‘SPIRITUAL’ PHENOMENON An essential aspect of the singularity, according to Kurzweil is something that he refers to as spiritual. The first aspect of why the singularity is spiritual has to do with transcendence. While ‘to transcend’ means ‘to go beyond,’ that does not entail that transcendent levels of reality are not of this world, Kurzweil states. For him, it is possible to go beyond the ‘ordinary’ material world through the emergent powers of patterns. This makes Kurzweil, according to himself, a ‘patternist’ instead of a materialist. Because according to him the material stuff of which humans are made, turns over quickly, it is ‘the transcendent power of our patterns that persists.’ As it is the persistence and power of patterns that support life and intelligence, the pattern is far more important than the material stuff that constitutes it according to Kurzweil.154

He illustrates this by stating that random strokes on canvas are just paint, however, when they are arranged in just the right way, they transcend the ‘material stuff and become art’. As with music: whereas random notes are just sounds, when sequenced in an inspired way, they become music. Hence, ordinary matter is transcendent by the pattern that it creates. The ‘magic (transcendence) of technology’

151 Kurzweil, 374. 152 Kurzweil, 311. 153 Kurzweil, 388. 154 Kurzweil, 388.

30 can be created out of a pile of components when they are ordered in an innovative manner and when software (pattern) is added. For Kurzweil, ‘transcendence refers to all levels of reality: the creations of the natural world, including ourselves, as well as our own creations in the form of art, culture, technology, and emotional and spiritual expression.’155

While the singularity will take place in the material world, this does not mean that it cannot entail a transcendent meaning. On the contrary, for Kurzweil, it is precisely in the world of matter and energy that we encounter transcendence. Evolution, while started biologically and extended through a human-directed technological evolution, concerns patterns – and it is specifically the depth and order of patterns that grow in an evolutionary process. The singularity is the epitome of patterns, as it is the result of evolving patterns and results in more and more of them. Now, with the culmination of the evolution of patterns in the form of the singularity, the singularity will deepen the manifestations of transcendence. 156

The second aspect of the spirituality invoked by the singularity is illustrated by Kurzweil with reference to the connotation of spiritual as ‘containing spirit,’ which he equates with being conscious. He continues by saying that consciousness is regarded in many philosophical and religious traditions as to what is real, as opposed to, for example, in Buddhist ontology the physical phenomena which are considered illusions. According to Kurzweil, we consider humans as conscious, and at the other end of the spectrum, we consider simple machines, as not conscious. Therefore, ‘in the cosmological sense, the contemporary universe acts more like a simple machine than a conscious being.’

However, as understood from chapter 3, in the vision of Kurzweil by the singularity ‘the matter and energy in our vicinity will become infused with the intelligence, knowledge, creativity, beauty, and emotional intelligence (the ability to love, for example) of our human-machine civilization.’ 157 This saturating of matter and energy with our human-machine intelligence will first utilize the matter and energy patterns on earth to an optimal degree. Thereafter, this saturation will continue to spread outwards to the rest of the universe and eventually, ‘the entire universe will become saturated with our intelligence.’158

This means that all the dump matter and energy will be turned into exquisitely intelligent – therefore transcendent – matter and energy. Hence, Kurzweil states, ‘the singularity will ultimately infuse the universe with spirit.’159 In fact, because of this, Kurzweil claims in his book that there will be something comparable to God in the singularity: ‘Once we saturate the matter and energy in the universe

155 Kurzweil, 388. 156 Kurzweil, 388. 157 Kurzweil, 388. 158 Kurzweil, 29. 159 Kurzweil, 388–89.

31 with intelligence, it will ‘wake up,’ be conscious, and sublimely intelligent. That’s about as close to God as I can imagine.’160

Indeed, Kurzweil notes that in every ‘monotheistic tradition God is likewise described as all of these qualities, only without any limitation: infinite knowledge, infinite intelligence, infinite beauty, infinite creativity, infinite love, and so on.’ At the same time, according to the predictions of Kurzweil, the singularity will bring greater knowledge, creativity, intelligence, beauty, and love. Although, the ‘accelerating growth of evolution never achieves an infinite level,’ by means of the law of accelerating returns, these aspects of life will rapidly move in that direction after the singularity. Therefore Kurzweil concludes that evolution moves inescapably towards the conception of God as understood from the monotheistic traditions. Therefore, Kurzweil comes to the conclusion ‘that the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form,’ is essentially an spiritual undertaking.161

4.3. RELATING THE THIRD EVOLUTIONARY TRANSCENDENCE TO THE

SINGULARITY Having explored the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence, it is valuable to reflect on how the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence relate to each other. Firstly, important similarities must be discerned. Both of the ideas will constitute of a new kind of life of which the impact is not totally foreseeable yet. What is clear, though, is that according to Murphy and Kurzweil, their envisioned worlds will constitute a break with humanity’s current perspective of the world. Furthermore, these world’s cannot accurately be predicted or comprehended from the patterns of our contemporary existence. However, it will constitute its own distinctive features and patterns; what is meaningful now may be unimportant then. Their worlds will thus give way to new kinds of social interaction on all different layers of society, and we will have to reconsider our ideas about the nature of human life and redesign our human institutions.

Maybe even more interesting are their differences. Kurzweil remarks that humanity will transcend biology while remaining human: rejecting the idea of a new emerging species. On the other hand, Murphy does seem to hint upon the coming into being of a new species regarding the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution. However, it is questionable how much material value must be allocated to this difference because of the unusual definition of humanity as expressed by Kurzweil makes a comparison unequal. Concerning this, it must be mentioned that actually both authors regard humans as beings which are destined and defined by the ability to reach beyond their current stage of evolution.

Most significant, however, is the difference in their understanding of reality after the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence. While, after the singularity a new, and with the unaided eye

160 Kurzweil, 375. 161 Kurzweil, 389.

32 invisible, technological fabric will be constructed upon the now perceived reality. The third evolutionary transcendence will do the opposite: it will unveil the already existent but yet hidden framework that is capable of supporting extraordinary capacities and referred by Murphy to as Something Beyond.

Murphy proposes a possible understanding of this Something Beyond in the form of the philosophical doctrine of involution-evolution, with panentheism in its wake. According to Murphy, the concept involution-evolution illuminates particular processes which facilitate metanormal capacities. Within this train of thought, Something Beyond is both immanent as well as transcendent to the whole universe. This contains actually striking parallels in relation to Kurzweil’s singularity when considering why he calls this event spiritual: it will saturate the universe which means that all matter will become intelligent. Thus, matter wakes up, as intelligence penetrates and becomes immanent in the universe. Because of this, the universe can harness the extraordinary capacities experienced by humans in the singularity.

Therefore the following cannot be stressed enough: the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence are akin to each others mirror image, with the now perceived world as reflective center. The saturation will build a reality upon the new perceived reality, whereas the third evolutionary transcendence will unveil already hidden reality, which is hidden beyond our reality. As such, these mirror images have – as we will see in the next chapter – prominent similar appearances (i.e., extraordinary experiences) in this reflection point of the mirror (the experienced world after the singularity or third evolutionary transcendence).

The relating to something beyond the now perceived reality (third evolutionary transcendence) as opposed to something upon the now perceived reality (the singularity), is beautifully illustrated by the author’s ideas of a transcending experience as a key aspect of their new worlds. Namely, for Kurzweil ‘to go beyond’ is achieved through the creating of patterns in the material world and therefore, transcendent levels of reality will take place in the material world. As the singularity takes place in the material world and is the epitome of patterns, according to Kurzweil, it will deepen the manifestations of transcendence. On the contrary, according to Murphy the human experience of the third evolutionary transcendence is characterized by dimensions which reach to a substrate beyond the now perceived world. For him, the third evolutionary transcendence will make this substrate beyond the now perceived world more apparent.

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5. EXPERIENCING THE SINGULARITY AND THIRD EVOLUTIONARY

TRANSCENDENCE After exploring the new kind of man and world Kurzweil and Murphy have in mind for the future, in this chapter an attempt will be made to compare the presented possible experiences of extraordinary human capacities in this new world. Essential for envisioning the impact of the singularity on the human experience is according to Kurzweil the role of the imagination: this will become the only constraint to what people can create or do.162 According to him, technology will bring human’s imagination to life. Namely, as he says, ‘strong AI and nanotechnology will be able to create any product, any situation and any environment at will.’163 As a result, to the in this chapter mentioned types of extraordinary experiences, others could be added; it is a non-exhaustive list. This seamlessly matches Murphy’s idea about the metanormal experiences, as he also stresses that these are non-exhaustive due to the fact that human nature is ‘fluid and extremely complex.’

In this discussion of the presented possible experiences of extraordinary human capacities by Murphy and Kurzweil, Kurzweil’s description is used as a starting point. As the aim of this research is to understand Kurzweil’s ideas by means of interpreting them in the light of Murphy’s ideas, first (the workings of) the by Kurzweil presented possible experiences of extraordinary human capacities will be explained before these experiences will be related to a by Murphy presented extraordinary experience of human capacities.

While this research is written mainly in the third person, in this chapter, also the first person will be used, as it will be referred to humanity by means of the words ‘we’ or ‘our.’ This choice has been made in order to avoid taking a standpoint within the current discussion about whether we will remain human or not, as previously discussed in chapter four

5.1. THE EXTENSION OF OUR BRAIN; AUGMENTATION OF THE SENSES After nanotechnology can design nanobots – robots constructed and sized at the molecular level164 – by the end of the 2030s, the nonbiological segment of our thinking will start to prevail, according to Kurzweil. Namely, with the help of brain implants based on massively distributed nanobots, we will move beyond the basic architecture of the brain’s neural regions.165 As the nanobots communicate with(in) our biological brain they will be able to recreate any set of new neural connections, think of: creating new hybrid biological-nonbiological networks, break existing connections by blocking original neural firing. Furthermore, with these highly advanced brain implants,

162 Kurzweil, 299. 163 Kurzweil, 299. 164 Freitas, “Exploratory Design in Medical Nanotechnology: A Mechanical Artificial Red Cell,” 421. 165 Interestingly Kurzweil predicts that these nanobots will be ‘introduced without surgery, through the bloodstream, and if necessary can all be directed to leave,’ making the process is easily reversible.

34 it will be feasible to establish intimate interaction with nonbiological and biological forms of intelligence.166 Together, this brain implantation will, according to Kurzweil, result in the extension of a wide variety of our normal cognitive capacities: our memory and our pattern-recognition will be significantly enhanced as well as that our senses will be augmented.167

Murphy, on his turn, also mentions that augmented senses will be experienced in the third evolutionary transcendence. He identified extraordinary vision, tactile experience, hearing, sense of smell. Extraordinary vision, according to Murphy, such as improvements in visual acuity and field awareness has been noted in many forms of activity.168 For example, John Brodie (a famous National Football League's quarterback) learned to recognize moving targets in a swarm of once-confusing events. He described occasions during a game when ‘time seems to slow way down, in an uncanny way, as if everyone were moving in slow motion. It seems as if I have all the time in the world to watch the receivers run their patterns and yet I know the defensive line is coming at me as fast as ever.’169

Murphy also mentions Pittsburgh Steelers safety Paul Martha who described an extraordinary improvement of visual perception: ‘All of a sudden, midway through the 1967 season, (…) I realized I was following the quarterback all the way - and the receiver too. It just happened. It was like I had stepped into an entirely new dimension.’170 Evermore explicit formulated, running back MacArthur Lane described his improvement of field awareness, claiming to see with an ‘extra eye,’ at times from a point above his head.171

Concerning augmented tactile experience, Murphy mentions that it seems that some blind people can identify the colors of fabrics they hold in their hands.172 Furthermore, Murphy recalls a person who claimed that by touch alone, one could determine if a metal bar was magnetized or not. Murphy also describes a hypnotized person that could hear a hiss of constant volume at a distance of 230 yards, ‘although nonhypnotized people typically could not detect the same sound until they were within 30 yards of its source.’ This is expressing extraordinary hearing. Another example thereof is that some orchestra conductors can, according to Murphy, distinguish a single violin's wrong note during a symphony in which more than 100 instruments are playing. Also, Murphy mentions the possibility of an extraordinary sense of smell. Exemplifying this, he refers to a lay analyst who claimed that he detected complex emotions in his patients through scent. With his smell, he could sense what kind of

166 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 317. 167 Kurzweil, 317. 168 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 65. 169 Murphy and Brodie, “I Experience a Kind of Clarity,” 20. 170 Zimmerman, A Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football, 161. 171 Jones, “You Learn the Art of Invisibility,” 24. 172 Redgrove, The Black Goddess and the Unseen Sense, 28.

35 story the patient was going to recall: ‘I -am-about-to-recall-a-dream’ smells, ‘I-am-about-to-recall-a- insight smells,’ ‘I-am-about-to-recall-disagreement’ smells and so on.173

5.2. THE EXTENSION OF OUR BRAIN; UNLIMITED KNOWLEDGE Returning to Kurzweil, the extension of our brain as brought forward by him will allow humans to have communication ports in their biological brains, comparable to the communication between computer devices. Because of this, it will be possible to quickly download the intraneuronal connection and neurotransmitter patterns that represent our learning,174 turning the process of learning on its head.175 The fact that we will be able to download new knowledge and skills in our nonbiological partition of our brain, in combination with the fact that all (kinds of) knowledge or skills (comparable to software) will be available through the internet makes the following, according to Kurzweil, undeniable: the amount of knowledge available to humans will be unlimited.176

According to Murphy, mystical knowledge is a type of extraordinary cognition. Originally, mystical knowing is known for its revelation of a fundamental reality or direct experience of the divine without analysis and reasoning. To endorse his standpoint that mystical knowledge is a type of extraordinary cognition, Murphy refers to William James who says: ‘Although [they are] similar to states of feeling (…) mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect.’177

Relating to the vast available knowledge to people, as Kurzweil introduces with the singularity, Murphy for its part notes that philosophic inspiration is often regarded as transcending the philosopher whereby the philosopher achieves greater than human knowledge. They receive ‘inspiration from the gods, a higher self, daimon, or Divinity itself.’ Murphy illustrates this by referring citing the words of Nietzsche in his Ecce Homo, wherein he described the inspiration which led to his writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra:

‘Has anyone at the end of the nineteenth century a clear idea of what poets of strong ages have called inspiration? If not, I will describe it (…) the concept of revelation - in the sense that suddenly, with indescribable certainty and subtlety, something becomes visible, audible, something that shakes one to the last depths and throws one down - that merely describes the facts. One hears, one does not seek; one accepts, one does not ask who gives; like lightning, a thought flashes up, with necessity, without hesitation regarding its form - I never had any choice. (…) The involuntariness of image and metaphor is strangest of all; one no longer has any

173 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 66–67. 174 Freitas, “Communication Networks,” 186–88. 175 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 337. 176 Kurzweil, 26. 177 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 127–28; James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, chap. 16.

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notion of what is an image or a metaphor; everything offers itself as the nearest, most obvious, simplest expression.’178

To illustrate this further, Frederic Myers proposed that works of a genius involve a ‘subliminal uprush,’ an emergence into consciousness of ideas that the subject ‘has not consciously originated, but which have shaped themselves beyond his will, in profounder regions of his being.’179 Therefore, according to Myers, great poets are usually Platonists, ‘acknowledging forms of beauty beyond and independent of, yet sometimes accessible to, human knowing.’180

Furthermore, Murphy states that hypnotic suggestion ‘can improve performance on visual memory tasks, evoke comprehensive images for problem solving, reveal memories and perceptions that words do not adequately represent.’ As well as that, psychotherapy ‘can release intellectual inhibitions and stimulate new problem-solving styles.’181 Thus, next to greater than ordinary knowledge, Murphy also discerns greater than ordinary memory and problem-solving techniques.

5.3. THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OUR BRAINS; TELEPATHIC

COMMUNICATION Another extraordinary capacity that Kurzweil distinguishes after the singularity is related to the communication ports in our biological brain. According to Kurzweil, these will ‘provide wireless communication from one brain to another.’182 Through this wireless connection, instant communication without physical connection becomes possible.

Such wireless communication from one brain to another is very comparable to what Murphy understands as ‘telepathic exchange of communication.’ According to Murphy, there is sufficient evidence that some intimate friends and family members develop such extrasensory capacity. To illustrate this, he refers to a book called Parent - Child Telepathy written by psychiatrist Berthold Schwarz. In this book, he described 505 instances that came across as involving telepathic exchanges between himself, his wife Ardis, their son Eric, and their daughter Lisa.183 An example of a passage Murphy uses to endorse his point:

‘March 4, 1959. Ardis was thinking about whether she "should wear black suede or black patent leather shoes because of the snow." Lisa then said "Lisa going to find Indian shoes." Ardis's next thought was "I wonder where Eric's table is?" Lisa immediately responded telepathically by telling her where it was. At 6:00 P.M., at

178 Nietzsche and Hollingdale, Ecce Homo, chap. 3; Nietzsche and Common, Thus Spake Zarathustra. 179 Myers and Smith, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, 71. 180 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 132. 181 Murphy, 127. 182 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 316. 183 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 95.

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the conclusion of a TV show, two-year-old Lisa said, quite out of context, "Kugel [the babysitter] getting better - Papa get Kugel now." This was the time for Mrs. Kugel to come. Lisa did not know of our plans to go out and we didn't eat out frequently. Lisa seemed to be aware of the situation and of the specific person who was to take care of her.’184

According to Murphy, this clearly shows the telepathic possibilities between parents and child, and at the same time, he thinks that telepathic experiences are not limited to the parent-child relationship as it is also experienced among colleagues.185 These telepathic possibilities are strikingly similar to the possibilities that Kurzweil foresees with the help of communication ports in our biological brain.

5.4. THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OUR BRAINS; TELEPATHIC

COMMUNICATION In the extension of the just mentioned wireless connection, it would also be feasible according to Kurzweil that brain machines can become one, amalgamate their resources, intelligence, and memories, as well as separating again. Indeed, they ‘can do both at the same time: become one and separate simultaneously. Humans call this falling in love, but our biological ability to do this is fleeting and unreliable.’186

These possibilities of love in the singularity, relate to the possibilities mentioned by Murphy of ‘shared ecstasy and illumination’ in the third evolutionary transcendence. While according to Kurzweil, in the singularity brain(machines) can become one, and separate at the same time, Murphy refers to an event which is very similar but happening between humans without brain implantation. He states that lovers and friends have experienced such extraordinary states that arose spontaneously among them. The poet W. H. Auden, for example, described his own experience of this kind:

‘One summer night in June 1933 I was sitting on a lawn after dinner with three colleagues, two women and one man. We liked each other well enough but we were certainly not intimate friends, nor had any one of us a sexual interest in another. (…) We were talking casually about everyday matters when, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, something happened. I felt myself invaded by a power which, though I consented to it, was irresistible and certainly not mine. For the first time in my life I knew exactly because, thanks to the power, I was doing it - what it means to love one's neighbor as oneself. (…) My personal feelings towards them were unchanged

184 Schwarz, Parent-Child Telepathy, 34. 185 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 96–97. 186 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 26.

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they were still colleagues, not intimate friends - but I felt their existence as themselves to be of infinite value and rejoiced in it.’187

5.5. REVERSING AGING WITH NANOROBOTS; EXTRAORDINARY SELF-

REGULATION Besides permeating the human brain, nanobots will also penetrate the human body in order to reverse the human process of aging, according to Kurzweil.188 In his vision, billions of nanobots will move through the bloodstream of our bodies and brains. From within, they can eliminate toxins, correct DNA errors, and destroy pathogens. As aging is understood as a sickness, which by these nanobots can be cured, ‘as a result, we will be able to live indefinitely without aging.’189

Murphy does not explicitly mention that the reverse of the human aging process is possible. However, it is possible to see similarities between billions of scanning nanobots moving through our bloodstream (which consciously scan your body), with the extraordinary capacities of self-regulation that Murphy describes. Namely, Murphy states that humans can increase their capacities for voluntary self-control and develop a somatic awareness. According to him, there is ‘strong evidence that any aspect of bodily functioning, once brought to awareness, can be deliberately altered to some extent, for healing or the development of new abilities.’ This is made possible by the ‘central nervous system but also upon extrasomatic contact with one's bodily parts.’190 Such sensitivity by the nervous system can, according to Murphy, account for the possibility to alter the activity of even ‘a single nerve cell.’191 Furthermore, extrasomatic contact with one’s bodily parts can, according to Murphy, be seen at yogi’s that have attained the possibility of having an X-ray look into its bodily parts.192

According to Murphy, such an X-ray look is plausible to exist and must be understood as internal clairvoyance by which it is possible to develop a somatic scanning device. It works as ‘a microscope with a zoom lens as it were, by which we can focus upon our organs or cells in the service of bodily transformation.’193 As the nanobots undo aging by curing diseases in the body, this X-ray vision could fulfill the same function.

187 Fremantle, The Protestant Mystics, 26. 188 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 28. 189 Kurzweil, 299–300; as put forward in paragraph 3.2 the problems that could occur because of people living indefinitely without aging - such as overpopulation - would by that time be overcome by technology as well. 190 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 88. 191 Murphy, 89. 192 Murphy, 91. 193 Murphy, 93.

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5.6. VIRTUAL REALITY THROUGH NANOROBOTS; MOVEMENT INTO OTHER

WORLDS However, Kurzweil’s nanobots will not only have an influence on human experience within the body or brain as understood above but also upon the reality which is by humans conceived as being outside of the body. Namely, they will make virtual and augmented reality available.

In this context, it is relevant to mention that as the singularity represents the ‘culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology.’ Therefore, in the then existent world, there will be no distinction ‘between human and machine or between physical and virtual reality’ according to Kurzweil. This is important to mention regarding the present comparison. Namely, this brings – understanding Kurzweil’s vision on his own merits – the virtual reality created after the singularity as described by Kurzweil also into the spectrum for comparison as it is part of the experienced world

As nanorobots will become part of the human brain, they can provide fully immersive, wholly true-to-life virtual reality from within the nervous system.194 Although, it does work a little different from the expansion of human capacities aforementioned. Instead of a simple addition to the workings of the human brain and body, regarding the creation of real-time virtual reality upon the physical reality as we know it today, a more complex system of altering brain stimuli is needed.

Without making it to technical, this altering of brain stimuli will roughly go along the following steps. The nanobots will take up positions within the brain in close physical proximity to every biological intraneuronal connection coming from our senses.195 Through this way the nanobots can detect whether a nearby neuron is firing or non-firing signals, being able to suppress or cause a firing. At the moment we want (and so direct our thoughts) to experience original (real) reality, the nanorobots stay in position and do nothing. When we want to experience virtual reality (upon original reality), they suppress the appropriate inputs coming from our actual senses and replace them with the signals that give way to the wanted virtual experience of reality.

Thus, input (intraneuronal signals) from the body representing information about touch, temperature, acid levels, the movement of food and other physical events are intercepted, suppressed and replaced by internal signals produced by nanorobots; resulting in appropriately adjusting one’s vestibular system and providing the appropriate movement and reorientation in the virtual environment. By this, one’s brain experiences these synthetic signals as if they came from one’s physical body.196197

194 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 28. 195 Kurzweil, 300. 196 Kurzweil, 313. 197 Kurzweil refers to the Max Planck Institute which already have developed ‘neuron transistors’ which can accomplish the needed two-way communication between neurons and the electronic-based neuron transistors.

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Coming from within the nervous system, these nanobots will provide full-immersion virtual reality incorporating all the senses and neurological correlates of our emotions, which becomes competitive with real reality in terms of resolution and believability. Kurzweil predicts, therefore, that our experience will increasingly take place in virtual environments. He presents the idea of that it would become possible that ‘other people (such as your romantic partner) will be able to select a different body for you then you might select for yourself (and vice versa).’198

Furthermore, in combination with the Web, we will be able to create a great variety of virtual environments to explore. Think of re-creations of real places or fanciful environments that have no counterpart in the physical world. In the words of Kurzweil: ‘We will be able to visit these virtual places and have any kind of interaction with other real, as well as simulated, people (of course, ultimately there won’t be a clear distinction between the two), ranging from business negotiations to sensual encounters.’199

Is this virtual reality comparable to something that Murphy has in mind for the world as of the third evolutionary transcendence? The author is of the persuasion that this is indeed the case. The bottom-line of a virtual reality is while being agnostic about whether such reality is real or not and focusing only on the human experience, that it is experienced as a world that takes place outside of oneself, although not in the world of matter. In fact, Murphy recalls many of such experiences. Such experiences he specifies as ‘Movement into Other Worlds’ and ‘journeys into extraphysical worlds.’200 Murphy exemplifies this by referring to Stainton Moses, ‘a famous British medium’, who claimed that:

‘once or twice - once very lately in the Isle of Wight - my interior dormant faculties awoke and I lost the external altogether. For a day and a night I lived in another world, while dimly conscious of material surroundings. I saw my friends, the house, the room, the landscape, but dimly. I talked, and walked, and went about as usual, but through all, and far more clearly, I saw my spiritual surroundings, the friends I know so well, and many I had never seen before. The scene was clearer than the material landscape, yet blended with it in a certain way. I did not wish to talk. I was content to look and live among such surroundings.’201

In relation to this, Murphy refers to the well-known Swedish ‘scientist and philosopher’ Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who retired from ‘public life to explore the extramundane worlds revealed by his intense introspection.’202

198 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 29. 199 Kurzweil, 314. 200 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 116. 201 Myers and Smith, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, 551–52. 202 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 117.

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Furthermore, also other extraordinary capacities can be related to virtual reality of the ingularity. For example, the capacities that Murphy classifies as ‘perceptions of entities or Events outside the normally perceivable world.’ In this class of experiences, experiences fall that are not caused by any apparent physical sources.203 Murphy describes these as metanormal experiences that are similar to ordinary seeing, hearing, touching, taste, and smell, however, have no cause in the world of matter. In my opinion that is strikingly similar as to what Kurzweil regards as virtual reality. They share their main characteristic: experiences outside of oneself, however, not indicated in the world of matter. Murphy exemplifies this with reference to church father Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253)204 who in his First Principles, wrote:

‘This sense unfolds in various individual faculties: sight for the contemplation of immaterial forms, hearing for the discrimination of voices which do not echo in the empty air, taste in order to savour the living bread which came down from heaven to bring life to the world (John 6:33), and even a sense of smell, with which Paul perceived those realities which caused him to describe himself as a sweet odor of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15), and finally touch, which possessed John when he states that he has touched with his own hands the Word of life (John 1:1). This sense for the divine was discovered by the prophets. . . . Solomon already realized that there are two modes of sense perception, one mortal, transient, and human, and the other immortal, spiritual, and divine.’205

Furthermore, the perceptions of disembodied entities also interestingly relate to virtual reality. According to Murphy visions of extraphysical beings (such as angelic beings) have been reported in nearly every culture since the beginnings of recorded history. Although Murphy states that some of them must be dismissed as superstition, ‘some defy easy explanation.’ For example, this is the case with ‘apprehensions of phantom figures’ by sportsmen such as long-distance runners, sailors, and adventurers. In order to endorse his point, Murphy makes a reference to the successful ascent of Mount Everest by a British team in 1975. Two members of that team, Doug Scott and Nick Estcourt, sensed disembodied companions. Scott felt a presence ‘that guided their party by some sort of mental speech and warned them about dangers ahead. This presence seemed an extension of my mind outside my head.’ As for Estcourt, he saw a disembodied companion along the way who helped him through the difficult moments of the adventure.206

When abstracted from any belief, keeping an agnostic standpoint, and one only takes the human experiences into account, then, one cannot point out an objective difference between experiences such

203 Murphy, 72. 204 Catholic University of America, New Catholic Encyclopedia. 205 Rahner, “Experiencing the Spirit: Source of Theology,” 83. 206 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 77.

42 as Estcourt has of disembodied entities and seeing entities in the virtual reality of Kurzweil. Imagine, creating a friend in virtual reality, which only you can see and hear, who says comforting and encouraging things to you. This is quite comparable to the extraordinary experience as described by Murphy such as journeys into extraphysical worlds and perceptions of entities or events outside the normally perceivable world.

5.7. MANIPULATING PHYSICAL REALITY THROUGH NANOROBOTS;

PSYCHOKINESIS Next to the by Kurzweil mentioned realities that now (before the singularity) would classify as virtual, nanotechnology will also influence physical reality. On this plane, nanotechnology will, according to Kurzweil ‘enable the manipulation of physical reality at the molecular level’.207 As earlier explained, the physical reality on earth will be by the time of the singularity infused with nanobots. While the human brain, in turn, is upgraded with nanorobots as well, the (enhanced) human brain is wireless, but in direct contact with the physical world outside of the body. This means, according to Kurzweil, that the physical reality can be altered at will.208

This works on the basis of the Utility Fog; a swarm of nanorobots comparable to a water fog. They are also known as Foglets because if there is a sufficient density of them in an area, they can control that area in space and manipulate it. They are able to link together and through this way able to form a great variety of structures. Even more, this structural organization is able to change to any other structure at any moment.209 According to Kurzweil, they are essentially creating real and touchable objects externally, in the physical world, instead of internally through the nervous system.

The difference then between virtual reality established in the nervous system and the reality created by Foglets is that Foglets really project their realities so that everybody around is able to see them, while virtual reality is projected from the nervous system, and therefore, only the projector himself is able to see his projection. Thus, the Utility Fog ‘brings the morphing qualities of virtuality to the real (original) world.’210 They can take the shape of virtually anything, and ‘change shape on the fly.’211 As these Foglets are in direct wireless contact with the extended part of our brain, they can be directed from the capacity that we would now call the imagination.

The workings of this concept are described by nanotechnology pioneer and Rutgers University professor J. Storrs Hall, to which Kurzweil refers in his book, as follows:

207 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 28. 208 Kurzweil, 28. 209 Crandall, Nanotechnology, 163. 210 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 28. 211 Further readings, Storrs Hall, “Utility Fog: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.”

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‘Nanotechnology is based on the concept of tiny, self-replicating robots. The Utility Fog is a very simple extension of the idea: Suppose, instead of building the object you want atom by atom, the tiny robots [foglets] linked their arms together to form a solid mass in the shape of the object you wanted? Then, when you got tired of that avant-garde coffee table, the robots could simply shift around a little, and you'd have an elegant Queen Anne piece instead.’212

Murphy also speaks of extraordinary capacities to alter the environment. He clusters three subcategories of ‘mind-matter interaction’: telergy, telekinesis and ‘the direct modification of some portion of space by mental influence.’ Together these forms of ‘direct influence of mind upon either living or inorganic matter’ are known as psychokinesis.

Firstly, telergy is described by Murphy as ‘the direct influence of a mind upon the brain or other living tissue without any mediations observable by the ordinary senses (or extensions of them such as microscopes), as for example in spiritual healing.’213 Telergy is related to spiritual healing from a distance. According to Murphy, there are many testimonies by trustworthy witnesses of scientifically inexplicable healing. For example, ‘Christian desert fathers; shamans of Siberia, the Americas, and the South Seas; Indian and Tibetan yogis; Jewish mystics; Sufis and other religious adepts, it is said, can help others by their extrasomatic influence, often when the recipients of their healing power do not know how or why they are uplifted.’214

Secondly, telekinesis is described by Murphy as ‘influence upon inanimate objects at a distance from, and without material connection with, the motive cause or agent.’215 In reference to telekinesis, Murphy refers to Herbert Thurston, who told about testimony by the Cure d'Ars, a French priest of the nineteenth century who was, according to Murphy, famous for his saintly integrity:216

‘Two Protestant ministers came here the other day who disbelieved our Lord's real presence in the Blessed Sacrament. I said to them, "Do you believe that a piece of bread could detach itself and, of its own accord, place itself upon the tongue of a person who was approaching to receive it?" "No," [they said]. [One of them] desired to believe and . . . prayed to the Blessed Virgin to obtain the gift of faith for him. Now listen well to what I am going to tell you. I do not say that it happened somewhere or other, but I say that it happened to me. When that man presented himself to receive Holy Communion, the Sacred Host detached Itself from my

212 Storrs Hall, “"What I Want to Be When I Grow Up, Is a Cloud.” 213 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 120. 214 Murphy, 121. 215 Murphy, 120. 216 Murphy, 121.

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fingers while I was yet a good distance from him, and placed Itself upon the tongue of the man.’217

Furthermore, Murphy sees evidence to assume the possibility of telekinesis from the testimony of quarterback John Brodie. In a conversation Murphy had with Brodie, Brodie explained to Murphy that the ‘sense of that pass was so clear and our intention so strong that the ball was bound to get there, come wind, cornerbacks, hell or high water.’ He said this about a moment in which the ball seemed to jump over the safety’s hands which were, without the jump of the ball, certainly going to be intercepted by the safety. By this Murphy endorses the mind over matter idea.218

Thirdly, the psychokinetic alteration of physical spaces or objects. This involves the modification of some portion of space or the structure of physical objects. For example, Murphy refers to the healing power of many monuments, as this power has been attributed to the influence of their founders. Furthermore, there is, according to Murphy ‘good evidence that some people can deliberately imprint images on photographic film by mental influence.’ Although this phenomenon seems very unlikely, if one has to believe Murphy, it has been demonstrated again and again in Europe, Japan, and the United States since 1860. As such, ‘psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud studied an American, Ted Serios, who produced several thousand so-called thoughtographs in the presence of physicians, physicists, and other reliable observers under conditions that precluded trickery.’219

Thus, both Kurzweil and Murphy refer to the possibilities of altering the environment. Their understanding is that this will be possible by means of mind interaction over matter interaction. While for Kurzweil this is mediated through nanorobots, Murphy relies on Something Beyond as discussed in the previous chapter.

5.8. OVERCOMING GRAVITY; LEVITATION Further into the singularity, when intelligence saturates the matter and energy becomes available to it beyond earth, the universe becomes smart. This means according to Kurzweil that it is ‘fully saturated with intelligent processes.’ At that moment, through suitably powerful engineering, smart matter can manipulate other matter and energy to do its bidding. According to Kurzweil, because smart matter will be so extraordinarily intelligent, it will be able to manipulate the most subtle aspects of the laws of the universe. Although it will still nominally follows the laws of physics, it will be able to change matter and energy to its will.

Therefore, Kurzweil states that intelligence is more powerful than physics and therefore more powerful than cosmology. This gives an interesting perspective on future cosmology. Whereas nowadays ‘it is assumed that intelligence is irrelevant to events and processes on a cosmological scale,’

217 Thurston and Crehan, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism, 143. 218 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 122. 219 Murphy, 123.

45 in the future that could change according to Kurzweil. Namely, through the saturating of the universe, we will gain control over the cosmological forces, and as such, gravity could be overcome.220 This would make the floating of a human body in the air possible.

In comparison to this, Murphy discusses the possibility of levitation in the third evolutionary transcendence. Murphy argues that belief in this phenomenon has continued for at least two millennia in the shamanic and religious traditions. For example, Roman Catholic authorities of the contemplative life and furthermore its discussions can be found in some of the church’s canonization records.221 Murphy refers to Saint Teresa of Avila who was according to him ‘renowned for her integrity and strong common sense,’ and she wrote that her ecstasies were sometimes so great that her ‘whole body has been (…) raised up from the ground.’222 To endorse this statement, Murphy mentions that 10 witnesses before the Congregation of Rites described their firsthand observations of Saint Teresa's levitations.223 As such did Sister Anne of the Incarnation say:

‘As I was looking on, [Saint Teresa] was raised (…) from the ground without her feet touching it. At this I was terrified and she, for her part, was trembling all over. [Afterwards] she asked me (…) whether I had been there all the while. I said yes, and then she ordered me under obedience to say nothing of what I had seen.’224

However, in spite of this, Murphy recalls that no modern investigator has produced conclusive evidence that levitation occurs. Murphy, therefore, puts this against the testimonies of levitation in religious traditions such as mentioned above. While being optimistic about the possibilities for levitation to occur, according to Murphy there is reason to be cautious in ‘whether humans may upon occasion rise supernormally from the ground.’225

220 Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, 364. 221 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 109. 222 Avila, Complete Works St. Teresa Of Avila, 120. 223 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 110. 224 Thurston and Crehan, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism, 12. 225 Murphy, The Future of the Body, 1993, 111.

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6. CONCLUDING REMARKS The research question subject to this research is as follows: ‘How does Ray Kurzweil’s vision as presented in his magnum opus The Singularity Is Near, relate to the vision of Michael Murphy as presented in his magnum opus The Future of the Body?’ In this chapter, I will shortly summarize my findings.

Murphy and Kurzweil both made a name for themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the center of gravity is located for the currents they are a leading figure of, respectively the Human Potential Movement and Transhumanism. Both of these currents take potential humanity as a starting point. Although not much research has yet been done on the connection between the Human Potential Movement and Transhumanism, it is suggested that an important role for the starting point of the historical-cultural phenomenon of Transhumanism was played by the Human Potential Movement.

Both of the examined works present a new kind of life which emerges as a consequence of their evolutionary narrative. While Murphy uses empirical evidence of extraordinary capacities as a starting point to construct his theory of a third evolutionary transcendence; Kurzweil constructs his idea the other way around: from the evolution of technology he maps the human experiences in the coming singularity. Between these evolutionary narratives, both similarities, as well as differences, can be distinguished. Both of them incorporate mainstream science and facts and finish up with their own more challenging ideas; understanding evolution as a means to take humanity beyond its current stage. Furthermore, both of them partly reject mainstream science as far as it cannot be brought in line with their ideas.

As for their differences, it must be remarked that while Kurzweil’s evolutionary narrative is occupied mostly with technology, in contrast, Murphy’s narrative considers only the psychosocial sequence of evolution. As a consequence, Murphy formulates conditions which must be met in relation to the accurate development of the psychosocial evolutionary for the third evolutionary transcendence to occur. For Kurzweil, on the other hand, his evolutionary narrative is dependent on patterns of increasing order, which inevitably will proceed to a higher stage.

After examining the evolutionary trajectories of Kurzweil and Murphy, the singularity and third evolutionary transcendence were examined. Both of these envisioned worlds will constitute of a new kind of life of which the impact is not totally foreseeable, although it is clear that they will constitute a break with humanity’s current perspective of the world. The singularity and third evolutionary transcendence will thus give way to new kinds of human interaction.

The most substantial difference must be found in their distinctive signifier: their conception of reality. The world after the third evolutionary transcendence will be characterized by a previous hidden level of reality. In the third evolutionary transcendence this, by Murphy described as Something Beyond will be unveiled and will be capable of facilitating extraordinary capacities. In contrast, within the

47 singularity, a technological fabric of reality will be constructed upon the original reality. This technological fabric will be able to, in combination of the enhancement of the human body’s with nanorobots, provide for extraordinary capacities of human beings. Both these envisioned realities represent the characteristic of an immanent universe, whether saturated with intelligence or penetrated by the Divine. The singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence must be regarded as each other’s mirror image, with the now perceived world as reflective center.

That these mirror images have strikingly similar appearances (i.e., extraordinary experiences) in the point of reflection of the mirror (the experienced world after the singularity or third evolutionary transcendence) became clear in the last chapter. In this chapter, the presented possible experiences of extraordinary human capacities in the world after the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence were compared. It followed that by the extension of our brain with nanorobots, our senses would be augmented. Such strengthening of sense experience is also understood in the third evolutionary transcendence, for example, in extraordinary vision or metanormal tactile experience. Next, to the augmentation of the senses, parallels are to be discerned between unlimited knowledge in the singularity by means of brain extension and after the third evolutionary transcendence utilizing mystical knowledge, being a type of extraordinary cognition.

Furthermore, interesting parallels can be found between the communication between different brains as presented in the singularity through a wireless connection and telepathic exchange of communication after the third evolutionary transcendence. In the wake of this brain, machines will be able to become one and separate simultaneously; similarly, Murphy describes the possibility for humans to share ecstasy and illumination accompanied by the feeling of unity with another person. Regarding the health of the body, after the singularity, nanorobots will navigate through and cure our body’s. This capacity is similar to the extraordinary self-regulation that would be possible after the third evolutionary transcendence.

Next, to these similarities between human experience relating to the body as experienced after the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence, further similarities can be discerned in relation to the reality which is conceived by humans as being outside of the body. After the singularity, wholly true-to-life virtual reality will be realized from within the nervous system, due to which experience will increasingly take place in a great variety of virtual environments. These experiences can be understood as similar to the by Murphy brought forward experiences of journeys into extraphysical worlds as well as the capacities to perceive entities or events outside the normally perceivable world or the perceptions of disembodied entities.

However, not only virtual reality could be created, but it will also be possible to influence the physical reality after the singularity, as according to Kurzweil, nanotechnology will enable the manipulation of physical reality at the molecular level. Also, Murphy refers to possibilities of altering

48 the environment after the by him envisioned third evolutionary transcendence. Such mind over matter interaction is by Murphy referred to as psychokinesis. Lastly, parallels are to be drawn between overcoming gravity by means of the saturation of the universe after the singularity as similar to levitation after the third evolutionary transcendence as brought forward by Murphy.

So what can be ultimately understood from the comparison between the in this research presented vision of Murphy and Kurzweil? Firstly, there are numerous similarities which give us insight into the desires that are pursued by Kurzweil and his followers. Being able to place his ideas into a broader perspective, can enormously enlarge the understanding of this significant and influential current. Furthermore, it is also essential to acknowledge the fact that while there exist significant practical similarities between the world after the singularity and the third evolutionary transcendence, the constructed realities are each other’s mirror image. Both ideas have a radically different starting point; a fact that must not be overlooked. At the same time, my understanding is that it is likely that the idea of the singularity comes out of from the same desire as the third evolutionary transcendence.

Therefore, I make a preliminary proposal to understand the vision as articulated by Kurzweil as reversed re-enchantment. To understand my proposal, the idea of the problem of disenchantment must briefly be explained. Beginning in 1917, when, Max Weber proclaimed that ‘the fate of our times’ is the ‘disenchantment of the world.’226 This disenchanted world would be established when intellectualization takes place. Intellectualization is realized when everything is knowable. Hence, ‘it means that principally there are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, master all things by calculation.’227 In a disenchanted world, humanity is convinced that in principle, everything in the world can be understood by rational understanding. Weber understood the disenchantment as a process leading towards science, technology, and rational order of society, away from irrationalism and superstition.

According to Weber, it is necessary to make an intellectual sacrifice, because ‘redemption from the rationalism and intellectualism of science is the fundamental presupposition of living in union with the divine.’228 This is because, as Egil Asprem eloquently points out, ‘while science cannot answer questions regarding meaning and value, religion is only able to do so by forsaking the principles of science and rationality.’229 Though not everybody was willing to make this choice. Therefore, instead of disenchantment being a process in which the world is getting deprived of deeper meaning in favor of science, it has become a problem of how to preserve deeper meaning in a world that is dominated by science and rationality.230 My preliminary proposal, therefore, is that Kurzweil’s vision, known as the

226 Weber, “Science as a Vocation,” 155. 227 Weber, 139. 228 Weber, Science as a Vocation, 142. 229 Asprem, The Problem of Disenchantment, 37. 230 Asprem, “The Disenchantment of Problems,” 318.

49 singularity can be seen as a reaction to this problem of disenchantment: filling up the vacuum left by secular science and rationality. As such, the singularity can be understood as reversed re-enchantment. Re-enchantment, because the singularity attempts to restore deeper meaning in the world, as understood from the present research. Reversed, because it does not do so through religious means, but paradoxically, through the means of the technology itself.

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APPENDIX 1

Subscript: “Countdown to Singularity: Biological evolution and human technology both show continual acceleration, indicated by the shorter time to the next event (two billion years from the origin of life to cells; fourteen years from the PC to the World Wide Web).”

V

Subscript: “Linear view of evolution: This version of the preceding figure uses the same data but with a linear scale for time before present instead of a logarithmic one. This shows the acceleration more dramatically, but details are not visible. From a linear perspective, most key events have just happened ‘recently.’”

VI