Noösphere is a word that was coined by the French, priest-scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.[1],[2],[3]Teilhard's hypothesis of radial energy,[4] referring to the energy associated with drawing matter to higher degrees of organized complexity, requires an amendment in the form of an addition to the kinetic atomic theory. His hypothesis has been duplicated in the theoretical work of F.S.C. Northrop.[5] Northrop's doctoral thesis under Lawrence J. Henderson,[6] Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard, was “The Problem of Organization in Biology.” The experimental work to verify Northrop hypothesis was done by Harold Saxton Burr, Section of Neuro-Anatomy, Yale Medical School and his colleagues.[7] Among the findings: an electrical technique for the early detection of cancer (an organization anomaly), and the early detection of ovulation (an organizational change).[8] The linking of the work of Pierre Teilhard and F.S.C. Northrop was the subject of a paper that was published in 1983.[9] There are fifty years of positive experimental verification of Northrop's Macroscopic Atomic Theory[10], making Pierre Teilhard's theory of radial energy and Northrop's Macroscopic Atomic Theory a fundamental law of nature.
The solution to the problem of organization in biology is key to linking the abiotic-biotic-noöspheric (Vernadsky)[11] to physics. It happens that the physical amendment to the kinetic atomic theory is cosmic in extent and gives us an organic physical conception of the universe in which human beings are an integral part.5,[12]
The solution to the problem of organization in biology turns out to be the solution to the general problem of organization in the universe as a whole. Something this important cannot be ignored. These ideas will fundamentally change our physical conception of the world, and, as a result, change our culture. 5a,13
“The three conceptions of nature which Greek science formulated [the real is the physical, the real is the mathematical, and the real is the functional] are uniquely defined in terms of four basic principles:
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Principle of Being
The principle of being means that the real does not change its properties, the principle of becoming, that it does. To assert that the real is being and is physical is to maintain the physical theory of nature; The real is being and rational, The mathematical theory; and that the real is becoming, the functional theory.” 5b
Pierre Teilhard states that all energy is psychic in nature 4, and Einstein's equation E=mc2 shows the equivalency of mass and energy. The implication is that matter has a psychic aspect to it.
According to Northrop, “Man is conscious because he is the entities of the macroscopic atomic theory in one of their many particularizations, which the pluralistic principle of this theory necessitates, and these atoms are inherently conscious. And observed nature is more than physical and formal nature, and is in part constituted by the perceiving subject, because the ultimate entities which constitute both it and its part, the observer, combine psychical with physical and formal properties in its synthesis. Hence, because colors and sounds and pains and pleasures are in part psychical, it by no means follows that they are illusions or mere appearances, for even the psychical, which is a necessary factor in their existence, is as ultimate and irreducible and essential a property of atomic nature, as the physical and formal. ... [W]hen one senses what it is to be oneself, the atoms of our theory [the Macroscopic Atomic Theory] are joined to the knowing subject by the relation of identity; one knows the atoms which constitute oneself and nature by being immediately aware of what it is to be them. Now, I am conscious. Hence, they must be also. Thus we discover that the subjective and psychical factor, which the presence of colors and sounds reveals, is an inherent property of the atoms of our theory.” 5c
The work of Pierre Teilhard addresses the development of consciousness directly. The Arizona architect, Paolo Soleri, [13] effectively applied what Teilhard calls The Law of Complexity and Consciousness which links further human evolution with an increase in organized complexity and a corresponding increase in consciousness. 4 The physical elements in the current stage of evolution are reflective beings, and the instrument of organization, a 3-dimensional, highly organized, urban infrastructure. This will dovetail nicely with the Eurasian Land Bridge, or New Silk Road, proposal for infrastructure and utility corridors.
First Principles
The first principles of science have their logical consequences, whether we foresee them or not. According to Northrop, the death of science in the middle ages was due to the prevalence of the mathematical theory of Plato under St. Augustine. “..... [T]his theory with its doctrine of of ideal forms, does not become reasonable unless one accepts the conclusion that the real world is not what nature appears to be. But to accept this doctrine is to deprecate the importance of the observable world of sensation. A loss of interest in nature for its own sake follows. Without this interest, empirical science dies, and without empirical science, there is no mathematics or mathematical theory.” 5d An emphasis on the functional theory of Aristotle to the exclusion of the mathematical theory of Plato gives us the dangers of positivism. If Northrop's reasoning is correct, by emphasizing the Platonic or mathematical theory of nature to the exclusion of the Aristotelian or functional theory of nature, one is undercutting the discovery of fundamental scientific truths.
Teilhard is not mentioned as the source of the word noosphere, or his work discussed for that matter by Executive Intelligence Review or in 21st Century Science & Technology, because he represents the Aristotelean or functional theory of nature: that the real is becoming, and its corollary, as Northrop points out, the epistemological principle that the real world is contained in the world of sensation. This is in contradistinction to the Platonic or mathematical theory of nature, that the real world is suggested by, but not contained in, the world of sensation. But, both the rational and the world of sensation are real when the psychical is added to Northrop's Macroscopic Atomic Theory, a thorough-going physical theory of nature that requires an amendment in the form of a physical addition to the kinetic atomic theory. This theory has solved the problem of organization in biology, and its experimental verification has brought us a technique for the early detection of human ovulation and cancer.
The three fundamental theories of nature and their corollaries, as well as the nature of the psychical and consciousness, therefore, deserve careful study and discussion. It will not be surprising that the mathematical and functional theories of nature will eventually be replaced by an amended physical theory of nature, the Macroscopic Atomic Theory. This would help to bring about a new era in the history of humankind.
Both Plato and Aristotle would be pleased
Proponents
Noösphere proponents, including Teilhard, saw the development of a noosphere as an organic whole system that develops in the same way as the biosphere and geosphere did. Like a living superorganism, it combines geological, biological, and human activity in a new form of planetary interconnection. This interconnection also includes our growing awareness and capacity for transforming the Earth.
Advocates
Noösphere advocates like Teilhard, Edwin Berger, and Dane Rudhyar saw the noosphere as a planetary sense organ that opens our world to “galactic consciousness.” Reiser builds on their ideas with more scientific detail and incorporates Carl Jung’s notion of synchronicity into his description of the noosphere. He argues that the noosphere is evolving through a psi bank program maintained between the Van Allen electromagnetic radiation belts and regulated by four bipolar psi plates. This system moderates the noosphere’s polarizing processes and speeds up its growth. In this way the noosphere is a powerful integrative force that will rebalance our ecological and cultural transformations. It is this type of thinking that can reconcile rupture and formation and allow us to move past the Anthropocene.
Think & Act Globally
The noosphere is a new stage of evolution that allows us to think globally and act globally. The noosphere also connects our minds and our technology in ways that we’ve never been able to do before. This vision of the future is one that does not have the critical and material tone of Crutzen’s Geology of Mankind, but rather carries the promise and meaning of global interconnection and conscious co-operation in facing the ecological challenges of our time.
Some scientists argue that the emergence of the noosphere is essential to reversing the damaging impacts of the Anthropocene and moving beyond it to a more hopeful and constructive future. The noosphere is a unique future vision at the intersection of three other visions: the Cosmic, the Green, and the Geek.
Although a little-known concept in the West, the noosphere has had enormous influence in Russia where it is considered the cornerstone of Russian science. It has spawned schools of cosmism, the perception of cosmic processes in terrestrial affairs, and numerous subgroups within the Russian Academy of Sciences focused on exploring the implications and aspects of this theory.
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