‘The Omega Point’ is another in Jason Silva’s series of monologues on topics including science, consciousness and the future (see the list below for more). The video quotes a number of deep thinkers, including Carl Sagan, Terence McKenna, and Erik Davis, but takes as its jumping-off point the original term as defined by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:
Omega Point is a term coined by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) to describe a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving.
In this theory, developed by Teilhard in The Future of Man (1950), the universe is constantly developing towards higher levels of material complexity and consciousness, a theory of evolution that Teilhard called the Law of Complexity/Consciousness. For Teilhard, the universe can only move in the direction of more complexity and consciousness if it is being drawn by a supreme point of complexity and consciousness.
Grail regulars will recognise a lot of themes we’ve touched on over the years, from the idea that human consciousness is the cosmos becoming aware of itself through to Terence McKenna’s lovely quote about humans taking in unorganised material and extruding ‘psychic objects’ as technology (strangely, the McKenna quote, paraphrased in Silva’s video, isn’t attributed). A fantastic presentation of some wonderful topics.
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