The evolution of a consciousness "singularity"

Paul Evans The Sapphire Institute

This presentation was given at the Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference June
12, 2009: Investigating Inner Experience, Brain, Mind and Technology.

The '''Consciousness Singularity''' refers to a hypothetical point of time in the

future when human consciousness, at both the personal and species level,
experiences an abrupt transition into a collective state of transcendence.

The evolution of a consciousness "singularity" as a possible next stage in Julian

Jaynes' model of the breakdown of the bicameral mind is detailed in this
monumental work. The proposition that consciousness singularity will come about
not from the "uploading of consciousness" but will be the result of escalating
interaction with machines creating a new kind of mentality even more significant
than that created through human use of language is explored. Questions of
transhumanism and the seat of the new consciousness: human, human-machine, or
machine are addressed.