The largest ant colony on planet Earth was found in Hokkaido Japan, in 2009. The estimated population of the colony was a whopping 306 million ants, all existing in total harmony and working towards the same goal: the continued survival of the colony.

The current human population of planet Earth is 7.3 billion individuals. Each of these individuals has their own sociological imperative, their own wants and desires and they all pursue different aims in very different ways. Everyone is trying to have it all, regardless of their community and the planet around them.

But what if they didn’t, what if every person worked towards the same goal, the ultimate benefit of the colony/planet as a whole?

What would that entail and would it benefit mankind to sacrifice individualism in pursuit of something better, the success of the species?

The sceptics among you would argue that we already sacrifice individualism for a collective set of aims and ideas when we turn on our electronic devices, our phones and televisions and indeed our computers. I would be inclined to agree with this scepticism having seen so many people become addicted to their computers and so many phone zombies on the streets in the mornings on my way to work.

Although there is a perceived collectivism, there is a crucial distinction as we can choose to ignore these distractions when we are proceeding on our individual set of goals. Collective ideas and thoughts explored in media may influence our thinking to varied degrees but they do not motivate us.

One could argue that this media could be used to make this collectivism a reality, through the use of manipulation both conscious and subconscious. Is the internet a first step in this journey?

When thinking about it, we all connect to it and it does determine what many people do, is it a collective intelligence by another name? Or is it just a method of communication.

The logical progression to this would be a centralised system which humanity could plug into to receive its objectives and plans for the day/month/year in the same way that the ant receives its own biological imperatives through its genes. Ants are grouped and perform tasks based on their biological disposition. Soldier ants are geared differently to worker ants and so on.

Humans, while not possessing the clear biological distinctiveness of Ants could be split into groups based on things like their location, their age and their natural attributes. Those intellectually gifted individuals could be tasked with improving the earth as whole while those predisposed to physical labour could be tasked with commensurate tasks to their abilities.

Individuals unable to work or too old to do so would not have to work as their imperatives could be tailored to their situation, they could be tasked with recording and documenting the collective history of the species. This would avoid the ostracising of these individuals which exists in our independent society, in so much as everyone would have a purpose.

In the same way as ants follow a queen, humans could follow a technological queen. That is to say a computer system which could devise and impart imperatives to every member of the species. It is crucial to ensure that this computer is not corrupted or co-opted by an individual/group of individuals and used to further their own ends.

The base for this collective consciousness exists already and would only need to be augmented by new technologies which would need to both integrate into our bodies and likewise integrate into our minds.

Physical technological integration would involve a similar set up to the human nervous system, with various parts transmitting and receiving data to a central hub in the same way that the brain currently does.

Technological integration from a mind based standpoint would most likely involve the integration of a device into the cognitive areas of the brain. This device could impart the imperatives of the greater human colony as a whole and given time/technological expansion could send and receive messages in a way far more efficient than any other current human method of communication.

Additionally, greater pooled intelligence would lead to quicker achievement of technological advances because one person tackling a problem takes time to solve it but 7.3 billion people solving one problem at the same time will solve the problem far sooner.

Biological advances gained from collectivising human consciousness could be used to breed generations of humans which can be of greater service to the colony as a whole. The problem is that increased manipulation may result in aberrations in the species and could also result in a kind of genetically lead society.

Sociological structures, groups and pastimes may survive but under a collective banner. The pastimes and entertainments of the few could become the collective entertainments and pastimes of all. They would provide the populous with an outlet while also enabling the collective to reinforce their collective consciousness or imperatives, which could be of great benefit to both.

Also the possibilities of species expansion to other planets are greatly increased due to the collective pooling of both intellectual and physical labour. Greater exploration and expansion of our own presence on this world could be beneficial to the indigenous animals but it may not. The collective consciousness imperative to preserve the colony could potentially slant towards a conservation imperative and with the absence of independent thought many species which are being hunted could be left alone to eventually thrive.

The problem is the one thing that defines us as individuals, our own free will. It is the greatest evolutionary gift we have and it has enabled us to achieve so much as individuals, but does free will hinder us from achieving our true potential as a species?

This question cannot be answered without diverging from the purpose of this blog which is to establish if humankind would benefit from a collective consciousness….

Would a human being be able or willing to suborn their own free will in order to have a greater purpose or be happy?

For many people, having a sense of purpose and being happy are things that remain elusive despite all their efforts to achieve them. Discontent with individual situations can often cause emotional disorders like depression or a desire to escape from reality which in turn can lead to bad habits/addictions. Being happy becomes an entire life’s pursuit, a pursuit which can often lead to naught.

But if these individuals were willing to suborn their free will in order to achieve this sense of purpose and happiness then theoretically they would achieve it. Their new purpose would be the collective purpose or whatever duties they are assigned to under this collective consciousness. The achieving of their tasks would be supported by the collective and ultimately their happiness could be drawn from the collective purpose.

They would be happy because they wouldn’t know any better as the free will to choose another vocation or be stimulated by other pursuits would not exist. The grass wouldn’t be greener on the other side because there would be no grass other than the collective grass.

Those who are already happy and have a purpose would undoubtedly rail against this attempt to collectivise the human species. Those that have it all will fight the hardest to keep it. But would they succeed against a newly collectivised humanity? Maybe, Maybe not.

Currently a collective will can topple governments and impart great change to structures both political and sociological, so one could argue the fight against a collective will would be a losing one.

Other casualties of collectivising human consciousness would be many of the world’s religions which would flounder due to the absence of free will and the absence of individuals to participate in worship. The potential side effect of this could be the growth of a neophyte religion within the collective consciousness. The collective will and imperative could become the religion for the newly collectivised populous.

The nation state with all its trappings may lead to the growth of independent colonies in the guise of states but as humanity collectivises itself the nation state could become irrelevant. Distances and borders are already to some degree irrelevant and greater sharing of information/consciousness would only serve to exacerbate this.

In any transaction involving a group of individuals there are winners and losers. Whether the losers outnumber the winners will play a significant part in whether the collective consciousness is implemented.

The question that needs to be asked is if the human race does implement this collective consciousness does it become something other than the human race. Would it simply be the human collective and could it be considered as one rather than a number. As we continue to evolve we may naturally develop a collective consciousness as a biological imperative and the collectivisation of humanity may occur anyway.

At the moment the human species is so split and discordant that the implementation of a collective consciousness becomes a virtual impossibility but it is possible to see a time in the future of our species where a collective consciousness could become both appealing and potentially implementable.

© R Simmons. All Rights Reserved.