Reading about the Global Conscious Project was fascinating to me because it is so interesting to think that there could be some factor that causes humans to collectively react to events in the same way. The GCP emphasizes its focus on engaging global events and studies patterns in brain activity in the universal collective consciousness. Researchers study these patterns in relation to random event generators and have noticed that during particularly captivating events there is a collective deviation from the expected pattern. This represents a collective shift in consciousness. This idea reminded me of Jung's concept of the collective unconscious of which everyone is supposedly subconsciously aware of. While it seems unlikely that all human minds are somehow linked, despite our differences, humans do all share similar reactions and thought processes to certain stimuli. However it is hard to conclude whether this is a result of nature or nurture.
As researchers begin to study the patterns of neurons in the brain, they not only discover more about their functions, but also create beautiful pictures. With a technique originally used to make mouse brain cells glow, scientists have developed images of the brainbow- which shows neurons distinguished by color based on fluorescent proteins.
"Brainbow." Center for Brain Science. Center for Brain Science, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"Collective Unconscious." Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Global Consciousness Project." Global Consciousness Project Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Piepmeyer, Anna. "Collective Consciousness." The Chicago School of Media Theory RSS. N.p., Jan. 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"The Global Consciousness Project." Frist Wall Display of GCP. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
I am intrigued in your ideas about the collective unconscious!
ReplyDeleteFurther, I want to hear what you think about how maybe everyone is linked in a giant stream of consciousness. Do you perhaps feel that sometimes your thoughts coincide with anothers because of some greater link between humans?
An example I feel quite often is when I want to text, msg, or instant message someone on the internet, at the exact moment when I am about to send my message, somehow they beat me to it! Were they thinking the same thing? Were they somehow on the same thought process as me?
Is it possible that there are triggers in our lives that lead us to think the same or process information in uniform to one another? I don't know, but I think it's interesting to think about how you and your friend can be so in synch with each other even when you are separated from them by so many miles! (ah, the internet)
Hey Kristina! I really enjoyed your description about the Global Conscious Project with its focus on studying brain activity and patterns of the collective conscious. It was definitely a good informational read, but how would you compare this with art? You briefly talked about Carl Jung's idea about the collective unconscious, but there was no discussion of how it relates to art. But I do see your understanding of neuroscience and art with the "brainbow." You expand on this topic when explaining how different brain patterns and functions receive different color pigments, which create beautiful artworks. I would have never guessed that this project started off with experimenting on mice!
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts on the collective conciousness of mankind are very interesting, and also reminiscent of the movie Avatar (with the tall blue people). Like you, I don't believe there actually exists any link between two or more humans' minds. That said, there have been several instances where human twins have exhibited near-identical behavior, but that is probably the result of their brains being wired so similarly.
ReplyDeleteI am also very glad that you mentioned brainbow; I must wonder if that technique is useful for diagnosing certain disorders.