Conversation Arnab – Jean-François Noubel

Arnab: I just completed a first read of your insightful thought-piece on Collective Intelligence.

Here are few random thoughts/comments/queries that ran into me as I read through your article.

What you call ‘Collective Intelligence’, Sri Aurobindo? and the Mother? have perhaps termed that Integral Entity as ‘Consciousness’ both at an individual or collective level. What do you think?

JF: Collective Intelligence insists on the operational aspects of being in action together. It is a powerful entry door for people whom point of consciousness is pretty much positioned on the mental and the external experience of the world. Collective Consciousness? and Collective Wisdom, which manifests as a true experience for those who have already gone through a deep exploratory journey (and which need Collective Intelligence to manifest) is certainly closer to what Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have expressed in their writings and actions.

What is your own experience that generated this question?

Arnab: Perhaps the emergence of Collective Intelligence – centered age is the equivalent of ‘Subjective Age’ preceded by the Individualistic and Rational, Typal and Conventional, and Symbolic Ages in the Aurobindonian context. These Ages are treated in his book called ‘The Human Cycle’.

JF: I don't have yet enough readings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother to be precise in comparing what they meant with the insights that are offered to me. So far my experience has been that each time a new insight emerges in me, it gets correlated with earlier writings or productions from others in the recent or far pasts. What a powerful validation gift from the Universe!

Only the wording, the cultural “furniture” and the ontological classification differ, but both productions relate to the same direct experience. It's exactly like 2 different maps describing the same land (for instance a topological map and a route map). Although the maps might look very different and focus on different levels of details, walking on this land is what generates the shared, compassionate direct experience.

Arnab: What do you think of Complex Adaptive Systems? (CAS) vis-à-vis Collective Intelligence?

JF: Complex Adaptative Systems (CAS) and more generaly the General Systems Theory are powerful mental tools to map our direct experience of reality in its ever transforming, dynamic aspects. It is definitely a part of Collective Intelligence as a research discipline, and a powerful ontological tool.

Arnab: I also appreciated your concrete examples of social phenomena taking place in the Cyberspace which perhaps are characterized by the four cornerstones of the digital economy: digitization, immediacy, globalization and virtualization.

JF: I am always cautious about concepts such as 'information society', or 'digital economy'... because these are description seen from the ancient paradigm. Although information is definitely flowing everywhere in the next emerging society, it cannot be reduced as an information society. It's like if our former primitive living ancestors would call the human specie the 'nerved society' because we have a nervous system. This is not false, but it is somewhat reductive don't you think?

The same applies for 'digital economy': by stressing on the visible part of the iceberg, we forget what the fundamental emerging properties of the forthcoming economy are. Personally I would prefer concepts such as the 'Wealth Economy?'.

I have a special uneasiness with the word 'virtual'. Who can tell me what is real and what is virtual? We talk a lot about 'virtual spaces' for instance. But isn't a book a 'virtual space' too? People have a very 'real' experience of books because it has entered into their daily experience of life. What is 'real'? The table I have in front of me because if's made of matter? Well, this matter is totally empty, it's just a certain manifestation of energy... and what is energy? We could ask endless questions like this, which shows that everything is either 'virtual' or 'real'. It's just a question of wording and parti-pris. We could also decide that what is 'real' is what can be directly perceived by our organic senses, but again, the difference between a person and another person is way too big to agree on such a distinction between real/virtual.

As a conclusion I prefer to rely on our direct experience in the exploration of consciousness, and our relationship to the the Good, the True, the Beautiful.

Does this correlate with your own experience?

Arnab: Interestingly, you might be interested in the final page of our flyer which showcases three tiny case studies instances wherein we have tried to resolve a challenge by instilling Consciousness to achieve their intrinsic Potential. I would be happy to hear your views.

JF: I am sorry, but what I read rings as a very corporate description of what you have done, on superficial levels. None of what I read gives me any hints of what has been done on deeper levels. Can you explain more?

Arnab: Last but not the least; I loved your deep sense of humor in ‘copyleft’ vis-à-vis the Open Source movement. I guess the Leftists will be happy to see that!

JF: I would be glad if you could explain to the visitors and participants here what is the humoristic situation that you see. Maybe not everyone is familiar enough with these questions to see the distinctions that you see.