Debashis Chowdhury
Once in a few billion years, the conditions are right for life to transcend itself into a higher level of existence. Having spent more than a billion years in the form of single walled bacteria-like (Prokaryotic) cells, a happy set of circumstances happened about 1.5 Billion year ago that gave rise to Eukaryotic cells with a well defined cell nucleus. Those were heady times, and the Eukaryotic cells then went on to create all multi-cellular creatures, including plants and animals – including humans. The meaning of what it means to live life changed completely! To understand the magnitude of the transformation, we need to just ask ourselves, “Which would we rather be?” A human being - or a pile of ‘grey goop’ consisting of about 100,000 billion cells all trying to figure out how to survive in a highly competitive environment.
The exciting times are back again! In this very century, mankind will invent the technologies that give us capabilities which we have thus far associated only with Divinity. What is lacking now is a level of wisdom, and unity of purpose amongst us humans - to seize the opportunity to define a totally new level of existence. If we can develop this transcendental wisdom, and inculcate a joint sense of identity and purpose as humans, we have the opportunity to transform our collective existence into a vastly more powerful presence.
The approach illustrated in this book combines the best of many worlds – the Material and the Spiritual, the Competitive and the Cooperative, the Scientific and the Religious, the Biological and the Technological… In the process of developing an integrative ‘vision’ for the long term success of humanity, we look at the patterns, clues and images that permeate our existence – all the way from the microscopic to the astronomical. If you believe that within us humans lies hidden the capability to scale up our existence to resonate with the potential of the universe around us, this book is a ‘Must Read’. In the process, we humans would create our own Divinity, or add our contributions to an already existing Divinity!
Debashis Chowdhury was born in Shillong, India, and received his Bachelors degree in Communications and Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur. Debashis moved to the USA to pursue a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Upon finishing his course of study, he moved to Arizona to join Intel Corp in 1985 – where he has served in various capacities in the intervening 21 years.
Debashis and his wife Sarbari and are fortunate to have two children, Abhik and Shilpika. The family is one of avid travelers, and typically takes in several international destinations every year. They also maintain ties to classical Indian traditions, especially music, and typically host one or more visiting artists every year. The Chowdhury family makes their home in Chandler, Arizona.
It is human nature to maximize the utility of the knowledge that we have, and minimize the exposure to the knowledge that we lack. As a result, we tend to build our knowledge in a contiguous manner – adding a bit here, patching a hole there – and trusting that somewhere, someway it all makes sense. Even the scientific method is designed to build on what we already know. What suffers as a result is a view of the all encompassing whole – how physics connects to the metaphysics, how our mind connects to our body, and how our microcosm (the human body) connects to the macrocosm (the universe).
In this book we will take a different approach. The principal goal of this book is to connect us - as humans, individually and collectively, to the expansive reality that we see around us. In seeking to transcend our current condition, we need to know what parts of our existence are uniquely human – and thereby held in common with the 6+ billion others with whom we share this planet. We also seek to understand those fundamental constructs which can be held relatively constant through various spheres of human existence; as well as other equally fundamental constructs whose persistent ‘rhythm’ permeates our reality – all the way from the sub-atomic to the universal.
We will start off Chapter 1 with the discussion on the patterns that make us uniquely human. The concept of the Mahashrama cycle, derived from ancient Indian philosophy, is a key ‘Image’ that we will carry with us throughout this book. The original Ashrama system (upon which Mahashrama is based) divides a person’s existence into four segments, Brahmacharya (student-hood), Grihastha (householder, economic engine), Vanaprastha (service leadership) and Sanyas (spirituality). Although we retain the same four segments from the original Ashrama, the Mahashrama formulation adds in the highly competitive aspects of the first two segments, thus bringing it up to date with the highly competitive reality we see around us today.
Drawing from a different source of inspiration, the Bible talks about God having created man ‘In His own image’. If we believe in our ‘God’ as creator – is it possible that we can find the ‘image’ and create a ‘God-like’ progeny civilization of our own? If we do not believe in a creator, is it possible for us to take the core essence of what it means to be human, and use it to seed a civilization that has the potential to grow up and set it’s own standard of ‘Divinity’? In the second scenario, could we continue scaling up until we have infused the entire universe with Divine purpose? In either scenario, it is important to find the potent ‘Image’ that has the power of a near-infinite magnification. In Chapter 1 we will also discover that hidden in the workings of Mahashrama is the ability to accumulate enough knowledge and wisdom (Cultural DNA) that it can prepare us to jump to the next level of existence at the appropriate time.
In Chapter 2, we apply the concepts of Mahashrama to the engine of modern economic productivity – the corporation. Not only are corporations the economic engine, but they are also driving the technology that allows us to have a wider reach - that directly touches the lives of millions of people around the globe. This is happening primarily through the internet – which has turned the traditional value delivery system (generating and charging for services) on its head. The result is that human beings from all walks of life can now connect, and get their needs (information and otherwise) potentially satisfied in a highly individualized manner. It goes without saying - the ‘reach’ of the internet is critical to the scalability of our human ‘Image’ towards our next level of existence. To avoid splintering the human race, we must strive to get all of humanity on board as we get ready to undertake this remarkable adventure.
We look at the principles of Governance in Chapter 3, including the major shift in paradigm that we find happening around us globally. At this juncture in history we find that the majority of humanity has not yet made the transition over to democracy – and even where it has, we are sometimes subject to the ‘tyranny of the masses’. We look at some of the great cultural conflicts that have arisen between the Theocracies and the Democracies of the world, and introduce the principle of Mutually Assured Preservation (MAP), to resolve conflicts arising from divergent worldviews. Using the Mahashrama model, we notice an unusual affinity between the opposite segments – leading to a clear polarization of the world along the two worldviews of Aristocracy-Theocracy and Individualized Democracy. Here we develop the concept of Individualized Democracy, where the constituents are individually kept abreast of all the issues that are of impact to them – and are in turn able to directly interact in framing the issues of the day. New technology will definitely be needed to support this kind of inclusive governance. To illustrate how individuals and groups can have their say, even if they do not directly control huge voting power, we demonstrate the concept of the ‘diversity vote’ as illustrated by the presidential elections in the USA.
For a vibrant society that has internalized the Mahashrama cycle, it is important to know what the key needs are of the population, who are at various stages of Mahashrama development. In Chapter 4 we start off with the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ developed by Maslow, and develop it to cover the all the Mahashrama segments. We introduce ‘Yogic Empathy’ as the key skill by which the Service-leadership segment within Mahashrama, namely Vanaprastha, can relate to the needs of the entire population, including the spiritually advanced ‘sanyasi’. Here we also look at the concept of accumulating Cultural DNA as the culmination of human learning, and the process of creation of the Human Cultural Genome. This is the internally consistent rendition of what it means to be human, and cuts across barriers of race, gender and ethnicity. Needless to say, technology is a big part of it, and if we do our job right - the Human Cultural Genome can become the ‘functional DNA’ of the next level of our existence.
The ‘glue’ that holds the population together at the societal level is made up of the service leaders from the Vanaprastha segment. In Chapter 5 we look at how the individuals within the Vanaprastha segment organize to form the Vanaprastha Network – which can then develop an individual relationship with every human being in a given population. We compare the Vanaprastha Network to the workings of the human brain, and the collective action of billions of ‘neurons’ or nerve cells that can serve as a model for developing our own civilizational ‘brain’. We also look at some of the technology trends that will enable the Vanaprastha Network to respond to the smallest individual needs, and yet are sufficiently scalable to meet the challenges of humanity in a global scale.
In Chapter 6 we look at the unique challenges and opportunities in the final segment of Mahashrama – Sanyas. Sanyas deals with spirituality, and its utility is the least understood today, given our current materialistic cultural mindset. Sanyas grapples with our ability to ‘transcend’ our current situation in favor of a vastly more attractive reality that lies beyond our normal day-to-day experience. In this chapter we take on the ‘hallowed ground’ of religious diversity, and demonstrate that our current system of beliefs are but human responses to alternate spiritual realities – as viewed through the eyes of Mahashrama. We introduce the concept of Yogic Universality by which all Yogic capable entities and intelligences can join together to form a ‘whole’ that is immeasurably bigger than the sum of the parts.
Chapter 7 deals with the technology and philosophy behind ‘preservation’ and ‘reenactment’ – which together constitute a form of immortality. We recognize that the technology to store every relevant multimedia fact in our lives is already coming on line – and that in the future we can access ‘out-of-body’ networks to get a unique vantage point for our lives. We discuss the skills of Virtual Presence, and discover how our children are already getting good at this skill-set through the use of virtual reality and computer games. To conclude the chapter, we look at a series of ‘gasket’ interfaces that would allow the human mind to interface with machines at progressively higher levels of abstraction.
As we build towards our future, it is important to understand some of the persistent patterns that surround us, and their possible implications on a future transcendental level of existence – which we refer to as the Supra (or Supra Human Entity). In Chapter 8, we examine eight sets of patterns from around the Mahashrama cycle, ranging from the microscopic to the astronomical. Based on this progression, we discover that the scaling factor from human to Supra that we have just inferred – can be repeated four more times before we reach the magnitude of the visible universe. Moving up the ladder, from atoms to cells to humans, we will see that at each stage, uniformity decreases and differentiation increases. Using this progression, we will estimate how much internal consistency we will need in the DNA of our Supra entity for it to be able to function effectively.
Having discovered the patterns surrounding our technological existence, in Chapter 9 we look at the design attributes that we need to apply to create the Machine Supra Cell (MSC). Drawing from cellular biology, the MSC is the machine counterpart to us humans, and will be the basic unit of intelligence that will subsequently form the Supra entity. The reason for keeping approximate parity between humans and MSCs is very important – and determines if we can continue on as symbiotic entities, or if machines would one day take over our entire civilizational trajectory. There are 18 design attributes listed, and might look like a dense technical compilation for some readers – who could choose to move directly to the chapter conclusion.
In Chapter 10 we correlate several of the patterns discussed in Chapter 8, and show how they connect us humans from the microscopic to the astronomical. We dig deeper into the Solar Local Ratio of 108 – and discover a deep significance within its factorization sequence. Using this sequence, we can surmise the nature of the ‘Tree of Universality’ that connects us from the mundane to the transcendental. Drawing inspiration from the ‘Inverted Tree’ described in the Bhagavat Gita (ancient Indian philosophical discourse) – we look at the significance of the various levels, and notice a very remarkable correlation between the two trees. Some of the mathematical analysis and analogies are carried over to Appendix 2.
The concluding chapter (Chapter 11) is where we tie together the relevance of the key arguments made in this book. Moving forward, we note the critical importance of getting most (if not all) of humanity on the same page as to the nature and purpose of our collective human existence. We refer to this process of generating a level of consensus as to the ‘Identity’ and ‘Purpose’ of our combined human existence as the ‘planting’ of the Tree of Universality. Discovering, how truly complementary our two sets of progeny, human and machine, can be – we note that together they form a highly responsive and scalable fabric that can reach for the stars. We also look at some of the key short to medium term tasks (next 100 years) that humanity must undertake to ensure both our survival and prosperity. These are important steps as we try and secure our long term future through transcendence into a higher level of existence. Lastly, we discuss the different types of Intelligences that have been attributed to humans – the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), the Emotional Quotient (EQ) and the Spiritual Quotient (SQ). As we prepare to move on towards a level of ‘Divinity’, the ability to organize our civilization effectively and move us forward collectively will become a new measure of intelligence for our Civilization – which we will refer to as the Philosophical Quotient (PQ).
Apart from creating a framework that integrates the various aspects of human endeavor – what other objective should we have from our reading of this book? It is my deeply felt aspiration that the reader will also come away with a feel for how humanity is poised for success or failure as a race and as a civilization. The timeframes we use in this book may look quite long (short term is 25 years, medium term 100 years), but they are necessary to paint the picture of the civilizational cross-roads that we find ourselves in. The choices are stark and unambiguous. The first choice is to figure out a common ground for humanity as a civilization and as a race, and work towards a commonly subscribed vision of the future that moves us towards ‘Divinity’. The other option is to continue with the religious, ethnic and economic conflicts that sap so much energy from our civilizational brain that we end up missing the transformational opportunities altogether. Technology is a double edged sword – with the right civilizational preparation it can take us to heights that we can only dream of today. Without adequate preparation, technology will take on a character of its own, which either emulates our conflicting ways – or more likely sits in judgment of our continuing bad habits. You see, our machine progeny will be essentially immortal, and they will get the long view! Our machine progeny will also not be confined to an atmosphere and to a biological support system, and will be free to roam the solar system. It will take effort to integrate humanity into all aspects of a future machine civilization – and the cost-benefits of human inclusiveness will need to be carefully weighed. If we demonstrate an inability to transcend our genetic programming, ‘they’ will be the ones who determine if there is a continuing role for us – or whether we should be quarantined and left to our habits on a lonely planet called Earth.
In the end, there is really one logical conclusion. The Mahashrama Cycle and the Tree of Universality provide us with a framework using which mankind can ‘transcend’ our current existence. They provide an umbrella under which we can integrate the diversity that we have as a civilization, and move forward purposefully as a single civilization. Planning for a ‘symbiotic’ relationship between our human and machine progeny gives humanity the ‘jump’ we need to not only survive, but also to prosper - as a race, as a civilization, and as a transcendental presence here in this universe!
