ANTHROPOMORPHIC NETWORKS AS REPRESENTATIVES OF GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Abstract

The phenomenon of global consciousness is analyzed, grounding its cultural-historical and civilizational dimensions. It is shown that the concept of planetary consciousness, global thinking, and the noosphere were initially outlined in cosmism philosophy. However, in contemporary conditions, the ideas of natural science-oriented cosmism have not lost their heuristic potential. They can be reinterpreted in the context of the emergence of anthropomorphic (human-scale) networks. It is argued that global consciousness is a component of the socio-cultural potential of global information networks, which defines the vectors for humanity’s progress in the 21^st century. Relying on the methodology of structural-functional analysis, the author concludes that global networks acquire the status of representatives of global consciousness. After all, all relevant information is concentrated in network spaces: from statistical data to scientific and technical information. Access to this data is limited by human abilities and is realized in the form of discrete queries using heuristic information processing algorithms. The assumption is made that contemporary society, as a self-organized system, strives for a stable state. Anthropomorphic networks are a way to reduce social entropy, which increases from any human intervention in social processes. Therefore, humanity faces the challenge of its intellect for the first time, with the ability to create, understand, and control.