Intelligence Rising: From Instinct to Intelligence to Super Intelligence

It started with a bang. The big bang! And after eons evolving here on Earth we find ourselves firmly ensconced within the cosmic cradle of space/time -- constrained by the one-way march of time, confined by physical limitations, and not really sure where we came from or where we are going.

Before the big bang there was neither space nor time, at least not as we now know them. Anyway that is what the best scientific minds tell us; fact is, we know nothing about the realm that preceded the big bang. However, with the big bang space opened, time flowed, and the evolution of complexity commenced. Immediately following the onset of the big bang, the process of evolution began its developmental activities by combining tiny particles of matter. Atoms merged with atoms and soon were forming molecules. The zeal of the evolutionary process to reach for increased complexity continued its march until molecules formed cells and in time these inanimate cells crossed the critical threshold to become tiny living entities.

To enable this occurrence, the laws of force and energy joined to form matter in evermore intricate arrangements making a universe where in time on one planet the rare event of life occurred. After eons of slow development in the water, muck and mud of an obscure planet called Earth, aided and abetted by the sun's radiant energy and perhaps supercharged by a bolt of lightning, a few molecules coupled to start the inexorable march toward life. Slowly, molecules joined and rejoined, combined and recombined until finally a single-celled entity appeared with the rudimentary features we recognize as life. Inanimate matter had complexified and joined the long upscale journey toward higher forms. At some point in this long evolutionary process, cellular recombinations were identified as the act of mating, a mere extension of the mysterious early attraction of tiny particles of matter for each other. Continuing over time this tendency to merge brought about more complex cellular arrangements and led to living entities. Bundles of brain cells became organized in intricate networks that enabled the birth of the life-preserving attribute of instinct, soon to be followed by intelligence.

This process has proceeded under the auspices of natural law, the software package instilled in the universe at the beginning of time. These universal rules of operation guided the formation of matter in the direction of life as unremittingly as imbedded software directs the operation of your computer toward a specified output. It is only natural then to ask the source of this intelligent set of laws. More will be said later about some of the proposed explanations for how natural law originated. Now, as human intelligence reaches new levels, we are beginning to apprehend the pervasiveness of the phenomenon of consciousness. We are in awe of the power behind its origin and find ourselves wondering where this awareness will take us. The earth, our solar system and the entire universe can be thought of as immersed in a huge energy field of intelligence and consciousness. Whether this field is a faint electromagnetic force field or some other still-mysterious energy or quantum field, we are not yet certain. Time will tell as our high-tech instruments grow more sensitive and our own individual awareness gains more access to the universal source of this field.

What we do know is that when brains evolve to a sufficiently high level of complexity, they have an increased capacity to tap into a super field of intelligence.