Customer Reviews

The Global Brain Awakens: Our Next Evolutionary Leap

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I am a programmer and technocrat, yet as I was reading the book, I could easily relate to many of the ideas and views of the science and the world presented in the book. When the book took on a spiritual view, I became a bit skeptical, but the incredibly logical arguments of the author dissolved my skepticism in favor of the new view of the world. World where greed and ego receed, and compassion and caring come to the front. It certainly is a reassuring view of the world, quite different from all the apocalypse theories that have been the craze of the media lately. The book moved me to such an extent that I now have a need to reevaluate all that is important in my life and to take on a new direction.

Every so often a book comes along that has the potential to "rock" the very fibre of your being, as well as impact society on a grand scale. This is one of those books! Peter Russell has put together a compelling story of how the "age of consciousness" will swamp the "information age" in comparison. It all starts with learning how to finally tap into that 95% of dead weight brain we carry around. If you are on the path to higher levels of consciousness (and who isn't?), then you will want this book. Guaranteed satisfaction!!

A beautifully written, wide ranging and thought provoking book. As a trained physicist, Russell distinguishes facts from his ideas. However his extrapolations are very plausible and echo conclusions I had reached myself. They are expressed in a most eloquent and readable style.
This book should be essential reading for all - especially youngsters of every race and religion. The contained message of hope is one of the few chances we have to make the future a better place for all.

Not too many philosophers have taken a serious crack at explaining what the advent of the Internet means to the future of human society. While technology takes a back-seat to spirituality in The Global Brain Awakens, author Peter Russell takes all the recent hype about global interconnectivity to a fascinating extreme: The Internet as the central nervous system to a newly evolved global organism. Russell draws parallels between the development of the central nervous system in living organisms and creation of Web communications here on Earth, which he argues is the biggest living organism of them all. Unfortunately, this intriguing line of thought is undermined by the book's conclusion, which collapses into a mire of hokey higher consciousness that lacks the same critical reasoning. We recommend this book to anyone interested in an alternative vision of a Web-enhanced future, provided you are not turned off by its new age clichés.

Mr. Russsell has provided an absolutely indelible stepping stone to the very being of our composure and identity. The reader sees him/her-self as an impressionable moving force towards the "wholeness" and hearth of this evergrowing vast system we are so fortunate to be a part of. Inspirational and Unforgettable-a driving force to a better I and a better sense of reality in itsself and its entirity.

I met Peter Russell years ago, when he was promoting this book. I bought a copy. I even read it. I agreed with what he wrote.

It has been the greatest of pleasures to find that what Peter published well over 10 years ago, stands the test of time as real and postiive.

I now work in the global brain called "the Internet" -- and I believe that it is true what he has written. All workers in this field would do well to have this book.

Following the explanation of the possible evolution path, Peter Russel speculates on our ability to evolve to a higher level. From a philosophical standpoint, he looks into the issue of self, which is a major subject for any philosopher. Our self as we see it, is mainly a skin-encapsulated ego. This is an essential concept as every human being is an individual entity. We see the world as activities interacting between ourselves and the outside world. This is the source of human survival as well as a problem as it is the root of much of the thoughts on self-interest, personal well being, both materially and spiritually. It creates a conflicting situation between oneself and everything else. I read in another article that this "I-ness" was considered the source of human evil. In fact, it is a necessary and natural characteristic for every human being to remain as an individual.

Throughout human history, there were instances where spiritual leaders spoke of the pure self. There are many theories, both philosophical and spiritual, that besides the skin-encapsulated ego, there is a pure self within everyone. However, this pure self is not the dominating reality of oneself because we are heavily affected by the interacting activities between ourself and the outside world in a conflicting situation. We are always trying to get what we need and want from the outside world, while defending ourselves from the intrusion of the outside world to our self-interest. To get to the pure self, one need to put aside the thoughts of everything of the material world. In fact, from a broad-based research, there were many cases where a person claimed that he suddenly saw the pure self. The general description has something in common: they all felt an unity between themselves and the whole world, or even the universe.

Peter Russel practices transcendental meditation TM. This is the main stream meditation method which is very popular and has it roots from India. He says that TM is one of many ways which could help people calm down, get rid of all thoughts, and find the pure self, even for a brief moment. He proposes that such ability to know the pure self could be seen from the teaching of many spiritual leaders. Examples are: Buddha spoke of Nirvana, Christ spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, Laozhi spoke of heaven and man becoming one, etc. These spiritual leaders all tried to preach what they knew and the method to know the pure self. However, such techniques were hard to learn and all religions which grew from such teachings all fell into superstition and indoctrination.

The author sees the trend and suggests that as more and more people found the pure self through TM or other appropriate methods, a larger group of human minds will be linked spiritually. When such mind links reach a critical mass, the evolution leap to a global brain will occur. The human race will then evolve into a superorganism acting as a whole instead of 6.5 billion individuals.

I consider such conclusion highly biased and heavily leaned towards the author's background as a practitioner of meditation. I think the conditions for an evolution leap as he proposed are not on the side of the spiritual mind alone. The complexity of the human society is from diversity, organization and connectivity. In particular, connectivity of the human mind is now aided by the advance of communication technology in the form of computers, Internet and artificial intelligence. Studies of intelligence all point to the destination of the awakening of artificial intelligence called the Singularity, where the entire computer network becomes one conscious mind. Although there are many horror movies and sci-fi stories about the machines dominating human, I tend to think that human would increasing become dependent on the technology he creates and they eventually merged into one. We and the entire computer network and all the artificial intelligence within would evolve together into the global brain. This global brain would strive to preserve plant Earth as Gaia and then look outwards for opportunities away from Earth.

There was never a more timely book..
It should be on everyone's wish list!

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The book arrived very quickly and was in awesome condition. I was impressed!!

Total nonsens, probably written by somebody who had a little bit to much L.S.D. in the 60's.