Synopses & Reviews
As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement.-DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom-one of today's preeminent thinkers-offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a ""complex adaptive system,"" a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality.
Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a ""grand vision,"" says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.
Review
* ""...it is well written and well researched..."" (Fortean Times)
Review
"I have finished Howard Bloom's two books,
The Lucifer Principle and
Global Brain, in that order, and am seriously awed, near overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. I never expected to see, in any form, from anysector, such an accomplishment. I doubt there is a stronger intellect than Bloom's on the planet." --Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of
Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence.
"A soaring song of songs about the amorous origins of the world, and its almost medieval urge to copulate."
--Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large of Wired, author of New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World and Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World.
"Howard Bloom's Global Brain is filled with scientific firsts. It is the first book to make a strong, solidly backed, and theoretically-original case that we do not live the lonely lives of selfish beings driven by selfish genes, but are parts of a larger whole. It is the first to propose that sociality was implicit in the start of the universe--the Big Bang. Global Brain is the first book to present strong evidence that evolutionary, biological, perceptual, and emotional mechanisms have made us parts of a social learning machine--a mass mind which includes all species of life, not just humankind. It is the first to take this idea out of the realm of mysticism and into the sphere of hard-nosed, data-derived reality. And it is one of the few books which carry off such grand visions with energy, excitement, and keen insight."
--Elizabeth Loftus, immediate past president,American Psychological Society, author, Witness for the Defense and The Myth of Repressed Memory
"This lusty tome generated by Bloom's voracious reading habit and extraordinary talent for explanation proclaims that groups of individuals-from people to vervet monkeys to bacteria-organize themselves, create novelty, alter their surroundings, and triumph to leave more offspring than loner individuals. A stunning commitment to scientific evidence, this sequel to The Lucifer Principle ought to purge the academic world of 'selfish genes' and the neodarwinist dogma of 'individual selection'."
--Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, University of Massachusetts, recipient of a 1999 National Medal of Science, author of Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution.
"Howard Bloom has a fascinating vision of the interplay of life, and a compelling style which I found captivating."
--Nils Daulaire, President and CEO, Global Health Council.
"I have met God and he lives in Brooklyn. I could try to convince you that Howard Bloom is next on a very short list that includes Darwin, Freud, Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, but Howard can probably do a much better jobof convincing you himself."
--Richard Metzger, creative director Disinfo.com, host of Channel Four TV Britain's Disinfo Nation.
"In a superbly written and totally original argument, Howard Bloom continues his one-man tradition of tackling the taboo subjects. With a marvelously erudite survey of life and society from bacteria to the Internet, he demonstrates that group selection is for real and the group mind was there from the start. What we are entering now is but the latest phase in the evolution of the global brain. This is a must read for professionals and laymen alike."
--Robin Fox, University Professor of Social Theory, Rutgers University, co-author with Lionel Tiger of The Imperial Animal.
"A modern-day prophet, Bloom compels us to admit that evolution is a team sport. This is a picture of the universe in which human emotions find their basis in the survival of matter, and the atoms themselves are held together with love. I am awestruck."
--Douglas Rushkoff-author of Media Virus, Coercion, and Ecstasy Club
"Global Brain is wonderful! I'm amazed at the book's knowledge and the scope of its reach. The 'mass mind' idea is wondrous, smart and immensely creative."
--Georgie Anne Geyer, syndicated columnist, Universal Press Syndicate, and author of Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro.
"Howard Bloom's work is simply brilliant and there is nothing else like it, anywhere--we've looked, as have our colleagues. Global Brain is powerful, provocative, and mind-blowing."
--Don Edward Beck, Ph.D., author of Spiral Dynamics, co-director, National Values Center.
"The Thales of the Internet, Howard Bloom thinks what he wants, writes what he thinks, and performs his synthesis with a good heart, uncompromising truth, creative brain, and mountains of evidence. From the bacterial web of Eshel Ben-Jacob to the scientific sidelining of Professor Ling, we see the daunting power of groups that interact and sacrifice their members in order to thrive and evolve. Global Brain is a historical tour-de-force, one based on evolution and the complexity of adaptive systems."
--Dorion Sagan, author of Biospheres and co-author of Into the Cool: The New Thermodynamics of Life.
"Stunning! Howard Bloom has done it again. He is certainly on to something."
--Peter Corning, Director, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, President, International Society For the Systems Sciences, author of The Synergism Hypothesis: a theory of progressive evolution and Nature's Magic:Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind.
Review
"...it is well written and well researched..." (Fortean Times)
Synopsis
Rushkoff, author of Media Virus, Coercion, and Ecstasy Clu
Synopsis
Praise for Howard Bloom and GLOBAL BRAIN
"With this bold vision of evolution and human behavior, Bloom has raced ahead to explore possibilities that the timid scientific herd may well be forced to follow."--David Sloan Wilson, Coauthor of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior
"Filled with scientific firsts."--Elizabeth Loftus, past president, American Psychological Society
"I doubt there is any stronger intellect than Bloom's on the planet."--Joseph Chilton Pierce
"A soaring song of songs about the amorous origins of the world and its almost medieval urge to copulate."--Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, Wired
"A superbly written and totally original argument. . . . A must-read."--Robin Fox, coauthor of The Imperial Animal
"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."--David Smillie, Duke University
"Howard Bloom is next on a very short list that includes Darwin, Freud, Einstein, and Buckminster Fuller."--Richard Metzger
"Howard Bloom may be the new Stephen Hawking."--Aaron Hicklin, Gear
"You have not lived until you have interacted with Howard Bloom."--James Brody, organizer of the "Healing the Moral Animal" seminars
"Bloom's concept of collective information processing may startle skeptical readers with its explanatory power."--Publishers Weekly
"I am awestruck."--Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus, Coercion, and Ecstasy Club
Synopsis
Praise for Howard Bloom and GLOBAL BRAIN
"With this bold vision of evolution and human behavior, Bloom has raced ahead to explore possibilities that the timid scientific herd may well be forced to follow."--David Sloan Wilson, Coauthor of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior
"Filled with scientific firsts."--Elizabeth Loftus, past president, American Psychological Society
"I doubt there is any stronger intellect than Bloom's on the planet."--Joseph Chilton Pierce
"A soaring song of songs about the amorous origins of the world and its almost medieval urge to copulate."--Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, Wired
"A superbly written and totally original argument. . . . A must-read."--Robin Fox, coauthor of The Imperial Animal
"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."--David Smillie, Duke University
"Howard Bloom is next on a very short list that includes Darwin, Freud, Einstein, and Buckminster Fuller."--Richard Metzger
"Howard Bloom may be the new Stephen Hawking."--Aaron Hicklin, Gear
"You have not lived until you have interacted with Howard Bloom."--James Brody, organizer of the "Healing the Moral Animal" seminars
"Bloom's concept of collective information processing may startle skeptical readers with its explanatory power."--Publishers Weekly
"I am awestruck."--Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus, Coercion, and Ecstasy Club
Synopsis
"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."-DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom-one of today's preeminent thinkers-offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a "complex adaptive system," a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality.
Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a "grand vision," says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.
About the Author
HOWARD BLOOM, author of the critically acclaimed book The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History, is a Visiting Scholar at New York University. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the Academy of Political Science, and the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, as well as the founder of the International Paleopsychology Project. He has been written up in every edition of Who's Who in Science and Engineering since the publication's inception.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Biology, Evolution, and the Global Brain.
Creative Nets in the Precambrian Era.
Networking in Paleontology's "Dark Ages".
The Embryonic Meme.
From Social Synapses to Social Ganglions: Complex Adaptive Systems in Jurassic Days.
Mammals and the Further Rise of Mind.
Threading a New Tapestry.
A Trip through the Perception Factory.
Reality Is a Shared Hallucination.
The Conformity Police.
Diversity Generators: The Huddle and the Squabble--Group Fission.
The End of the Ice Age and the Rise of Urban Fire.
The Weave of Conquest and the Genes of Trade.
Greece, Miletus, and Thales: The Birth of the Boundary Breakers.
Sparta and Baboonery: The Guesswork of Collective Mind.
The Pluralism Hypothesis: Athens' Underside.
Pythagoras, Subcultures, and Psycho-Bio-Circuitry.
Swiveling Eyes and Pivoting Minds: The Pull of Influence Attractors.
Outstretch, Upgrade, and Irrationality: Science and the Warps of Mass Psychology.
The Kidnap of Mass Mind: Fundamentalism, Spartanism, and the Games Subcultures Play.
Interspecies Global Mind.
Conclusion: The Reality of the Mass Mind's Dreams: Terraforming the Cosmos.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Acknowledgments.
Index.