so, let’s play the game of assuming consciousness doesn’t have that much with humans as we arrogantly pretend it does.
once upon a time [ …fast forward… ] there were molecules. molecules reacted naturally and structures that persisted arose. some of these structures grouped together and even developed abilities to self-replicate. some of these grouped into cells that enhanced the replication capabilities, naturally spreading their design. later, this cells grouped together for bigger strength, such that some of them specialized in one or another tasks for the benefit of the colony of cells. at some point, the inviduals in the colony were so dependent on and attached to each other that the whole colony became an organism in itself. plants and we animals are such organism.
even beyond this point, some organisms as certain fishes and birds often swim/fly and hunt together as a whole in flocks, as a unique being, with a unique goal, such that if the being success in it’s global goal all the individuals that participated benefit from the success. similarly ants do specialize for the benefit of the colony. some animals and plants develop symbiosis, and of course most mammals naturally develop family and social attitudes that benefit them as a group.
we humans are no exception. well, perhaps we are, cause we push this attitude much further, as far as to a global consciousness level. while we individual people do obviously have a strong individual consciousness (for which we invented the methafor of “I” and “me”), there is also a global consciousness getting developed during history. while individual consciousness dies with the person, the time spam of global knowledge and ideas is no longer that of a human life. indeed, ideas, feelings, stories and knowledge in general don’t die anymore with individuals thanks to the invention of language and storytelling, drawings, and books, perpetuating the global knowledge first, and a global consciousness later. this global long lasting knowledge surely helped the individuals survive, and the local group/communities of people develop.
lately, with the growth of internet and the ability for any group of individuals to share information, not only carefully selected important knowledge is being accumulated and transmitted for future use and discussions, but all sort of apparently less far-reaching stories, feelings, information, anecdotes, news, discussions, love declarations, songs, concerns and jokes are shared everyday, 24h a day, like never before in history. this cloud of knowledge is no longer attached to any of us individual contributors, but floats in the cyber world. furthermore, it links people together, it makes them share with each other, feel jealousy about each other, love each other, ask each other, be disappointed at each other, look at each other, care about each other.
isn’t this closer to some sort of global consciousness than it is to a mere data/information flow?