Atlas of the noosphere

An atlas of functional anatomy allows the physiologist and physician to map, and therefore more completely understand, the organization of biological tissue, organs and systems. But imagine creating an atlas for a novel organism - how can one know how a particular component or connection is functionally organized? Of course, this is the work of the biologist: to study, map and characterize anatomy in the context of function. The biologist must define the critical categories. That is the goal of our mapping project - to categorize the functional anatomy of the noosphere.

Is the noosphere an organism? A superorganism? Or a global brain? By asking these questions we’ve begun to realize that the noosphere is unlike any organism or brain we are familiar with. And yet, the terminology of organisms and brains is helpful for describing the anatomy and physiology of the noosphere. Yes, it’s a “brain.” But it’s not like a brain dependent on glucose and blood flow. And it’s certainly not a computer running on electricity and fossil fuels. The global brain operates on the energy of humanity itself: not only the power of our technology, goods and services, but the movement of ideas, our values and ethics. That is, the global brain functions on the spread of human ideas and their significance, meaning and value to collective humanity. And it depends on the anatomical body of humanity and our technology. By examining and mapping these processes simultaneously, we’ve been able to see how the noosphere functions at a planetary scale.

This far, our team at Human Energy has made several important discoveries about the functional anatomy of the noosphere:

1) How its body grows. Like an embryo, the noosphere is reaching a critical size in terms of total mass, population and connectivity. This growth, which accelerated in the 20th century, heralded a new geologic age on earth because of the impact of this body on the very structure of the planet itself. This age is known as the Anthropocene.
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2) The nature of its physiology. All organisms combine signaling systems with metabolism in order to sustain, grow and develop. With new evolutionary advances, these systems have complexified and enabled novel functionality, including human consciousness. The physiology of the noosphere runs on the products and energy of human consciousness and its material and technological extensions.
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3) The noosphere has a brain. Not all organisms have brains. But even unicellular bacteria must adapt to their environment, remember and pass on their knowledge. Since the dawn of language, humanity has stored information in technology for widespread distribution. With the birth of the internet and in particular, the cellular phone, we are connected to information on a planetary scale and to something that resembles a developing global brain.

These findings are derived from the five major component processes present in all living organisms: (1) the body of the organism, (2) synthesis of biological material (production), (3) extraction, storage and exchange of energy (metabolism), (4) systems for signaling (communication) and (5) systems for the storage and utilization of biological information (knowledge). These core processes are based on our Bio-Organon theory. To better understand how these 5 core processes operate, it is useful to characterize them into two critical and overarching “axes” that delineate the structure and function of organisms: 1. A structural ‘axis’ of anatomical development via production to sustain a body and its core components, guided by the knowledge of the organism 2. A functional ‘axis’ of physiology based on the dynamics of metabolism and communication, also guided by knowledge. All organisms combine these processes, and the noosphere is no different.  
‍Using these principles we have categorized a geographic atlas of the developmental anatomy and physiology of the noosphere. This categorization mirrors the functions of single cells, and the functional anatomy of the human body. In the cell, genomic and genetic material regulates both protein synthesis to sustain the body and the signaling molecules that coordinate metabolic pathways. In humans, the brain regulates the production of behavior and the coordination of hormonal / signaling processes that direct our metabolic organs. By extension, the body of the noosphere is formed from human populations and our technology (the technosphere), while our physiology reflects the dynamics of daily cultural and economic exchange. Increasingly, the global internet, or infosphere, regulates and enables all of these processes. Next, we will examine each of these processes individually through geographic maps.

The Body of the Noosphere: Humanity and Technology

The body of the noosphere is formed from human populations and our technology. Depicted geographically, we can see the increase in population (shown in green, relative size) and our technological connectivity (the technosphere; from roads to internet cables, shown in orange). Since the dawn of time, humans have utilized technology to reach beyond our biologically given bodies. We refer to this as extrasomatic technology since it extends our soma (body), much like the evolution of new membrane proteins in a cell or our bodily appendages. Beginning in the 20th century, humanity and our structural technology has left an indelible impact on the planet: our built structures are visible from space and their total mass exceeds the biomass of life on earth. This impact has led to the coining of a new geologic epoch known as the Anthropocene. Our influence is most visible to us in our cities and roads, but also in the wires and cables that increase the reach of our communications technology. Thus by the 21st century, population growth has slowed, but technological growth continues to connect us. These developments parallel the development of organ systems in organisms, cellular growth and distribution must be optimized before connectivity can be enhanced.

The Physiology of the Noosphere I: Yearly Dynamics of Culture and Economy

Whereas the physiology of human beings can be examined through daily circadian rhythms, the physiology of the noosphere reflects the yearly dynamics of cultural and economic change. Geographically, we can see rhythms of economic growth (year-over-year percent change in GDP, shown by red countries), trade (year-over-year percent change in trade, shown by red networks) and culture (symbolic communication, articulation and dissemination of meaning, shown in blue networks) . The evolution of technology, economy and culture have always been inextricably linked, reinforcing each other. Further, social groups that cooperated through new technology to share resources and new ideas, were sustained and have spread across the globe. This process mirrors the early evolution and physiology of multicellular organisms, where cooperation, coupled with novel forms of energy extraction and communication (aka, the original “bio-technology”) brought individual cells together. With the development of planetary scale extrasomatic technology in the 20th century, economic and cultural exchange could now occur on yearly cycles to accelerate growth and innovation (and for visualization purposes, we plot them using the same trade data below).

Cerebralization of the Noosphere: Infosphere in the Web

As population growth and physical connectivity reached their zenith in the 20th century, new forms of technological connectivity emerged. Moreover, humans have become interdependent on a planetary scale such that it is impossible for us to go backwards. The degree of specialization in the economy has necessitated near instantaneous communication across the globe in order to coordinate the distribution of goods, services and ideas. This “evolutionary ratchet,” has coincided with the development of a new planetary system for the storage and manipulation of information in the global internet (a potential major evolutionary transition). Geographically, this global infosphere rises above the grounded body of the noosphere to establish a virtual repository of knowledge (purple networks) that connects all of humanity, our technology, culture and economy. The infosphere emerged from new forms of communications technology that essentially merged with our bodies (per capita cell phone use, orange countries and submarine cables, orange networks) and reflects a process of cerebralization. This term, coined by Teilhard, articulates how, like the neurons of a brain, the noosphere has reached all of humanity in one coordinating system. Like the brain, the infosphere forms a virtual or internal representation of knowledge for coordination of underlying structures and systems. And yet, both the brain and infosphere remain dependent on its embodiment.

The Cerebral Physiology of the Noosphere II: Culture and Economy in the Web Era

The birth of the web and infosphere enables the rapid spread of culture, ideas and symbolic meaning (blue networks) supported by an extended and grounded economy (red networks). In this manner, the noosphere has developed potential systems for knowledge and functional coordination in addition to an anatomical body of increasing sophistication; establishing a multilayered planetary coupling between information and energetics. Nonetheless, the ability of the infosphere to functionally coordinate culture and economy on a planetary scale remains immature, at best. In this sense, the global brain is much like a developing brain, with poor coordination between neural activity and metabolic supply. To understand this novel physiology we have applied the methods of neuroscience to examine the extent of functional connectivity in the web between countries, year-over-year, measured by the popularity of internet search terms. Below, we see that many of the most popular internet search terms briefly activate shared global attention, and few had a major impact on the economy on the ground (except for “coronavirus” in 2020). However, even this is a simplification, as cultural and economic exchange can now occur on the scale of hours, if not minutes. Similar to others, we see this cultural information content as the dynamic unconscious of collective humanity. As the noosphere continues to evolve, its very survival may hinge on the ability to coordinate activity across timescales to enhance day-today human flourishing and the long-term survival of our species.
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