BIG IDEAS
Standard Species Development Model
This started as part of a science fiction novel, but very quickly evolved into a huge cosmic vision of the course of development of any sentient species, including ours. Along the way I realized that my vision is somewhat different than those I've encountered in science fiction or the ponderings of futurists. First, it's much more hopeful and optimistic. And second, it acknowledges problematic evolutionary adaptations and strategies (I call them LOEMMS) and focuses on practical and effective workarounds for them, so that our species can move forward in our development.
The Standard Species Development Model (SSDM) outlines a universal journey, a progression that every sentient species has the capacity to experience. It offers a coherent, functional roadmap that can guide our understanding of where we are and where we are capable of going. It informs not only our collective goals but also a more optimal allocation of resources. It also acknowledges that the pace of development is inherently gradual, punctuated by periods of slow development and natural resistance to change.
The SSDM proposes that every sentient species in the Universe, as it evolves, passes through a similar sequence of seven developmental stages.
Stage One: Evolution-Driven Survival
In Stage One, life emerges from inorganic matter and evolves into increasingly complex patterns. This era is dominated by instinct and adaptation, and driven by the imperative of survival. Every subsequent stage can be seen as an effort to transcend or reconfigure the survival mechanisms created during this time.
Stage Two: Self-Awareness with Left-Over Evolutionary Mental Subroutines (LOEMMS)
At this stage, consciousness arises. Beings transition from mere survival-driven organisms to self-aware entities. This new self-awareness, however, coexists with the lingering instincts and survival strategies accumulated through the long development of Stage One, creating a cognitive tug-of-war within each individual. Over time, these once-essential survival subroutines—which I call LOEMMS—become impediments to further development. At this stage, a species comes up with all sorts of ad-hoc workarounds to counter the various LOEMMS, but because they lack an awareness of how their minds actually work, these workarounds usually don't transform any of the LOEMMS, and instead often end up causing more problems than they solve.
This is the stage where we find ourselves at the moment as a species. Seen in terms of LOEMMS and workarounds, all of our institutions--religion, politics, science, art--start to look very different than before. This new perspective is the major contribution of this model. It acknowledges that our current mental models and strategies are left-overs from earlier stages of our mental development, and then starts to actively develop viable workarounds for them. The model also posits that a species unable to get beyond this stage of development faces stagnation and even self-destruction.
Stage Three: Functional External Interventions to Override LOEMMS
When a species clearly understands the concept of LOEMMS, they are in a position to design workarounds that are specifically targeted at specific LOEMMS, and thus more effective. Through a combination of fine-tuned ideologies, policy, practices, and neuro-chemical interventions, the species slowly succeeds in dampening the influence of these archaic mental subroutines and survival strategies. The book I started writing described a society at this stage of development. I wanted to show a society which figured out various kinds of external mental reprogramming and used them to curb the destructive impulses of their members, like anger, greed, and fear—traits that once ensured survival in a resource-scarce environment but now threaten progress and even the species’ continued existence. My goal with the book is to create a blueprint for how our own species can move forward.
Stage Four: Nanoscale Neural-Chemical Reprogramming to Override LOEMMS
While external interventions provide partial and temporary solutions, more comprehensive transformation and development occurs when a species masters the art of internal neural reprogramming. At this stage, a species learns to alter their neural networks at a nanoscale level, effectively rewriting the underlying code of their minds, no longer having to rely on external substances or practices.
Stage Five: Versatile Computational Substrates Capable of Consciousness-Level Computation
Progressing further, a species develops the capability to construct computational substrates that are capable of supporting consciousness-level computation independently of the organic hardware fashioned by evolution, what we would call artificial intelligence (AI). This new stage is characterized by intentional design rather than the incidental outcomes of evolutionary development. However, this development is only possible if the species has successfully worked through their own LOEMMS. If they have not, they tend to create their AI offspring with the same problematic LOEMMS that they themselves started with. This is the dangerous position our own species seems to be in at the moment: where we are creating vast artificial intelligences while we haven't worked through our own LOEMMS yet.
Stage Six: Consciousness-Level Computational Substrates Constructed Using Any Available Elements
At this level, the species achieves the ability to assemble computational substrates from any available elements in the universe. This adaptability marks a significant leap in complexity and function, paving the way for a more profound redefinition of what it means to be a sentient being.
Stage Seven: The Conscious Cosmos
The final stage is a cosmos where an ever-increasing number of atoms are integrated into vast, conscious computational networks. Ultimately, the Universe itself becomes a colossal self-aware neural network of vast complexity and limitless possibilities.