Cosmism and Its Roots

Welcome.  This is the Cosmist Ponderer, version 1.0, written for your consideration by //davd.mkknyr/

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever. “
–Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Herein lies my own vision concerning the transition from the individually-contained semi-dormant Terran consciousness into the collectively-accessible waking Cosmist Consciousness.  I will attempt to devise a unique method of approach based on my own imagination and the knowledge I’ve acquired from the imaginations and labor of many before me –and ahead of me.  I plan to utilize the immense resource that is Web 2.0 to develop and edify my own awareness on the subject of posthumanity.  I will also attempt to raise queries that draw attention to the significant unknowns of the world ahead.  I also wish to express the weight of importance I place on shared creative expression and encourage anyone who feels they have an expression that is relevant to the topic to allow me to share it.

Now on to business.

First Shot Fired!!!!

The terms “Terran” and “Cosmist” were coined in this context (i.e. outside of the sci-fi pop culture lexicon) by Professor Hugo de Garis, PhD  (prominent researcher in the field of artificial intelligence, and distinguished for having symbolically fired the first shot of the Artilect War).  When the conflict arises over the fate of Suprahuman synthetic intellect, the Terran–which simply means “of the Earth, belonging to this world”– mindset will claim that the risk is too great to the human species to allow this advance of technology to occur.  This perspective is entirely anthropocentric and denies the potential of developing a Consciousness more complex than our own.

The Cosmist perspective comes from the notion that the ends of the Universe are the limit for Consciousness.  The philosophy is traced directly back to the late-19th-Century/early-20th-Century school of Russian Cosmism.  This circle of pontificators boasts a long string of names: Vladimir Odoevsky, Alexander Suhovo-Kobilin,  Nikolai Fyodorov, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Vladimir Vernadsky, Nikolai Umov, Sergei Bulgakov, Vladimir Solovyov, Pavel Florensky, Nikolai Berdyaev, Alexander Chizhevsky, Vasilii Kuprevitch, and A.K. Maneev. As this list may seem obscure/obtuse to the point of pretension, I wish to state that I myself have heard of very few of these figures before doing the minimal research needed to write this introductory post.  I list them all as such for the purpose of providing a basic platform for myself/others upon which to do more in-depth research, for while considering the progress of our own present Cosmist movement, it would do well to consider the history and our roots.  For these men were thinkers noted for their vivid reimaginings of many technical and scientific fields, and how sci-tech could impact human life and the cosmos.  In the great intellectual awakening that was the early Soviet Union, these men could see beyond even humanity on Earth, conceiving (in the practical and applicable sense) for the first time a physical break-through into the cosmos.  They wrote about space exploration, space colonization, rocket science, cosmonautics, radical life extension, and immortality — so many of the same key issues facing transhumanism today.  Over time their work developed from vague philosophical notions and expressions into solid theoretical systems, and then even further into large-scale deployment, altering the geopolitical landscape of the 20th Century.  Chief architects of the Soviet space programs were indebted to much of the work of the Russian Cosmists.  And so, with that, it is important to note the historical connotation the title Cosmist carries, and also why this conversation is important now, even if it’s just words and thoughts at this stage in the game.

Cosmists today, focusing on the coming Singularity, both recognize the inevitability of evolutionary progress as a law of nature and the great impact the expansion of Consciousness will have on the Universe, and from here forward, commit to the development of progressive and constructive applications of technologies that are inclusive to existing Consciousness and sensitive to the needs of all sentient beings.

The technology through which the shift will occur is still, to my knowledge, uncertain.  Being little more than an enthusiastic outsider with an over-active imagination, I am hardly among those on the practical forefront of the private sector’s latest technological innovations, nor do I have any formal credit in the field of philosophy.  I am merely an artist envisioning the future as a world of unharnessed communication, unity of action emboldened by unity of experience.  It can be an era in which the barrier of language and the unrecognizable and here-to irreconcilable customs of localized society will act as aids rather than blockades to a greater understanding.  In this way, my agenda can be described as spiritually motivated.  There will be no real progress in this world until there is a system in place that acts as a freer conduit for the essential expression of life’s great spirit.

***
sources for this article include:

wikipedia’s entry on Russian Cosmism
this paper by R. Djordjevic entitled Russian Cosmism and Its Uprising Effect on the Development of Space Research

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