The Internet of beings

“Today, the western scientific progress has physically united the world. It has not only got rid of the ‘space’ factor, it has also equipped the various countries of the world with deadly arms. But they have not yet learnt the art of knowing and loving one another. If we want to save humanity at this most critical juncture, the only option is the Indian approach. India has a perception of life force and has a vital role to play in the performance of human conduct, which will be beneficial not only to India but to the whole world in the present sorry state of affairs.” (source: East and West: Some Reflections – By S. Radhakrishnan p.128)

Today, science and religion inarguably agrees to the fact single entity or force created the universe and is omnipresent, maintaining and governing the fundamental scheme of things in this and other universes. In Sanatana Dharma, Brahman (the Vedantic concept) is the one supreme, universal spirit that is the origin and support of the universe. Physicists and cosmologists call this divine source the Unified Field. In a profound sense, Brahman and the Unified Field of physics appear to be synonymous.

“Ekam Sat, Viprah Bahudha Vadanti,” which means “there is only one truth, only men describe it in different ways.” - Rig Veda

The fourth industrial revolution with other socio-economic and demographic factors is coming as storm, resulting in major disruptions to every sector. From intelligent robots and self-driving cars to gene editing and 3D printing, dramatic technological change is happening at lightning speed all around us. There is immense emphasis on interconnectedness is surging in all these sectors. Internet of computers has enabled us to think beyond computers, to Internet of things(IoT), Internet of economics(IoE), and Internet of everything(IoE). I want to take internet of everything one step further and ask basic question, are we connected as beings? If yes, there must be a way to access each other, communicate with each other without the help of silica. It is called Internet of Beings(IoB). In Vedic system of thought, this internet of beings is called collective consciousness or Unified Consciousness.

Synthetic unity VS integral unity

Internet is a synthetic unity as it is, meaning it is a unity of separately existing things that are being put to together in a most coherent fashion. Devices like routers, servers, cell phone towers, satellites, radios, smartphones etc work together with the help of protocols to create the network of networks. Protocols are sets of rules that machines follow to complete tasks. Without a common set of protocols that all machines connected to the Internet must follow, communication between devices couldn't happen. The various machines would be unable to understand one another or even send information in a meaningful way. The protocols provide both the method and a common language for machines to use to transmit data.

In Vedic philosophy, we have this concept called integral unity, meaning consciousness is inherently unified to begin with. It is not that we must artificially stick them together like how we do in internet. But this unified consciousness includes structure, includes potential to manifest into all sorts of ways. From this unified entity emerges diversity, no matter how much diversity there is eg: animals, plants, sand rock, water etc. there is fundamental unity which unifies it all. This is different premise on nature of reality. This idea fundamentally distinguishes from synthetic unity of the world. This state of consciousness is available to everybody, it is not something which is limited to prophets, messiahs. Discoveries of how to attain this consciousness is what our gurus teach, lineages teach, sampradayas teach in Vedic tradition. The whole philosophy of tantra, meditation, yoga is all about people have being to achieve that. There many methods and different methods may work different people just like internet protocols. If you evolve people in that way, you don’t need machines or mechanical devices to make connectivity. You achieve higher states of consciousness, and thereby exhibit (according to rishis) connectivity. People can see what somebody else is seeing, listen to other person, there is remote causation. Ideas we have about matter, space, time breakdown and superseded by other ideas in those states of consciousness. These ideas are not somebody wrote one time or some anecdotal stories based on trust on somebody. They are constantly rediscovered at different point in time and era. It is validated in a way empirical science validates the claims. Scientists are doing research in neuroscience studying yoga and meditation are validating those claims.

Neuroscientific research using functional MRI and various other techniques have been applied on advanced meditators to understand the human brain and mind. Google’s AI guru, Demis Hassabis says that great Artificial Intelligence must build on neuroscience. As Hassabis explains in an interview with the Verge, artificial intelligence and neuroscience have become “two very, very large fields that are steeped in their own traditions,” which makes it “quite difficult to be expert in even one of those fields, let alone expert enough in both that you can translate and find connections between them.”

After artificial intelligence went mainstream, ample of resources are being poured in research and development. On the other hand, Vedic system is not being studied with the same enthusiasm. Worst part is Vedic system of thought is being distorted and appropriated into science especially into neuroscience without any or less acknowledgement to the actual source. For instance, Vipassna becomes Mindfulness Meditation trademarked by jon-Kabat Zinn and turned into "Western medical breakthroughs".

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/
2. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608317/googles-ai-guru-says-that-great-artificial-intelligence-must-build-on-neuroscience/
3. Infinity Foundation