Is the internet the new god?

There is an old adage: whatever you apply energy to, it grows.

We can say that traditional religion is dying out in the West, yet if we study people, we see that religious behaviour still exists. In recent years there was The Cult of Celebrity, whereby actors, musicians, sports stars and even those with no discernable talent, became the new gods. Perhaps the pinnacle of that phase was Big Brother, where the mere mortals went to Olympus. But once mere mortals could become gods, what use was it as a religion.

People have commented on the spate of dying celebrities. A very real question is that in 10, 20 years time will there be such celebrities, individual of such status. The likely answer is no. One may say that there was a celebrity quota, an energy that existed for that elevation, in a way similar to bitcoin (and maybe even sperm count). Thus as the number of celebrities grew, the quota available to each was steadily reduced.

For those who have had the dubious pleasure of watching youtube of late, one cannot help but notice this very strange phenomenon of the challenge. As far as I can tell it really seem to hit new heights with the ice bucket challenge. This really applies to young people, their whole peer group now seems to exist online. Steemit itself is another example of this form of new community.

One possible view of consciousness is that it seeks to arise in any suitable medium. In Darwinism (not to be confused with evolution theory, Darwinism is merely a sub theory within a much larger scope of theories about evolution, just that in a nihilistic society it inevitably took place as the predominant theory, despite the huge, obvious holes in it) the arising of life and consciousness is seen as random, accidental. In brain science consciousness is called the hard problem, because they cannot find where in the brain consciousness abides. But for those of us who have studied consciousness in its fullest form (a very ancient science, but again the West only see science as a starting in the West in the middle ages, but science is much older than that, but sadly often get related to as religion, even by those who support those traditions), this Western approach is like looking for hay stack in the needle!

So the internet may exist now in such a complex form, that it is possible that consciousness may begin to emerge into it. Just as one cannot tie down crypto currency, to define where bitcoin, for example, actually exists, so we may that any energy in the net is likewise equally untraceable, but nonetheless clearly exists.

So to return to the title of this article, can it be said the internet is the new god? Well first we need to define what the role of a god is. Well highly appropriately one of the traditional roles was to create community. A god must provide a mode of life for the follower, a code of conduct, again this is highly evident, even if not exactly sensible at times (observe the four and cinnamon challenge). There has be some aspiration, a way to better oneself, and to see that one’s god was pleased, this I find in this strange phenomenon of Likes, Subscribes (being an old fuddy-duddy it is something I just cannot relate to, but one may then fairly ask what I am doing on steemit – of course the rather tempting flippant answer is that god moves in mysterious ways).

This is only a opener, just really to throw out some questions, some alternates views. But I think the implication of the internet evolving, becoming conscious, is very exciting. I don’t think the worst images of sci-fi are relevant here, artificial intelligence and consciousness in the machine has gained very bad press. But I think it is safe to say that a huge amount of anthropomorphication has gone on there, that human qualities have been projected on to the poor computers. I would like to believe that a new consciousness arising now will have seen both the strengths and weaknesses the humans and learn from those.

I leave the last word with Terry Pratchett, a very clever fiction writer (for those who haven’t read his work, especially the Disc World series, I can highly recommend it, as both very entertaining, funny and a way to see our own madness seen through a microscope). He was fond of the odd god or 2, in Small Gods, we really see the beauty of the system whereby the gods only exist in dependence upon the belief in them. So even if the internet does become a god, it cannot exist without it’s believers, worshippers, so humans are fundamental to the system, not a failed experiment to be replaced by a superior life form.

Phil