Noogenesis (from ancient Greek νόος – reason and γένεσις – origin, birth) is the emergence and evolution of the mind. The term first appeared in 1955 in a book by anthropologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. As there hasn’t been a precise and unambiguous definition, various interpretations have arisen, with several meanings being attributed. It should be noted that “noo-” is not only the first known term from the ancient Greek “νόος” but also, by dictionary definitions, combines phenomena like mind, reason, intelligence, thought, insight, and wisdom into a single phenomenon.
Modern Concept
In 2005, Alexei Eryomin proposed: “Noogenesis is the process of unfolding in space and the development in a time of intellectual systems. Noogenesis is a combination of regular, interconnected transformations characterized by a certain temporal sequence of structures and functions throughout the hierarchy and the set of relatively elementary structures and processes interacting and being natural, interconnected, and characterized by a defined temporal sequence.” This formulation appeared in a monograph on noogenesis.
The study introduces concepts such as “intellectual systems,” making the concept of “noogenesis” actively used in scientific terms as the evolution of intellectual systems; “information logistics,” and “intellectual energy,” integrated into the theory of intellect. The bio-physical parameters of intellectual energy, such as information volume, acceleration quantity (frequency, speed), and transmission distance, are identified. An analogy between the human brain, composed of a large number of simultaneously working neurons, and a human community composed of individuals is proposed.
Parameters of the “noo” phenomenon
The emergence of reason is one of the five major phenomena in evolutionary development. Understanding the phenomenon of intellectual systems (the emergence of reason—noogenesis) involves the evolution and emergence of the mind in Homo sapiens (phylogenesis); new thinking in the brain (synthesis of creative ideas, insight, eureka); the development of intellect in individual formation (ontogeny); and the hypothesis of the human population’s desire to unite into a global intellectual system.
A series of works examines the laws of appearance and parameters of distinctive characteristics of the human intellectual system (volume of working memory ≥ 7, predictive capacity, multi-level hierarchy (6 layers of neurons) of systemic selection of valuable information, consciousness, memory, parameters of information produced by humanity and memorized in various information environments, etc.).
Extreme capacities for some physical parameters of human intellect are determined. Concepts of insight-illumination appearance are introduced. Comparative semantics has long-known terms that are rarely used: noophilia, the doctrine that the value of anything is determined by its promotion of intellectual development and the interests of intelligent beings; and noocracy. In the 21st century, terms like noopolitics, intellectual management, noometrics, and noopharmacology have emerged.
Laws of mind evolution
The law of increasing adaptation speed states that the speed of adaptation, reflection, movement, and exchange of matter and information increases at each new level of evolution and organization of biological systems, while adaptability (of the organism or population) improves with an increased response speed (including communication speed between intellect components) to changes in the environment.
Development of connections and information interactions within the H. sapiens population A is the Earth’s population of 7 billion; B is the number of literate people; C is the number of book readers (with printing); D is the number of receivers (radio, television); and E is the number of phones, computers, and Internet users. Repetition of evolution and achievement of a critical number of components by intellect systems A: number of neurons with individual development (ontogenesis) of the brain’s intelligence system; B: number of people in the human population; C: number of neurons in the historical development (phylogenesis) of the nervous system of organisms.
The law of the critical number of intellectual components: Intellectual systems can form when critical quantities of their intellectual components and communications between them are reached. When the number of intellectual components reaches n ≥ 1 billion, the phenomenon of noorevolution can be found: the transition from the quantitative development of the information system to a qualitatively new autonomous intellectual system.
Noogenesis in the individual development (ontogenesis) of the human brain originates from 1-2 primary embryonic cells, which increase in quantity during the fragmentation and division stages of the morula, blastula, and gastrula, forming the corresponding embryonic lobe and its differentiation. The embryo’s nervous system is forming. At the time of birth, the volume of the human fetal brain reaches 375 cm³ according to some data, and 1300 cm³ at 10 years of age. Morphofunctional maturation of brain structures ends at the age of 13, with the final morphofunctional stage referring to 16–17 years of age.
125 years ago, the neuron was discovered, and the doctrine of the neuron by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, universally recognized, began to develop. According to modern data, the H. sapiens brain, in the process of ontogenesis and phylogenesis in an adult human, has 86 billion neurons. – Noogenesis (according to Vladimir Vernadsky’s “aspiration to the noosphere” hypothesis) of human development. In evolution, the number of men increases from two primogenitors to about 70 million people (20th century BCE), about 300 million (early 1st century CE), around a billion (30th century CE), and 6 billion by the end of the 20th century. According to Sergei Kapitsa’s mathematical models, humanity’s quantity could reach 12.5–14 billion in the 21st–22nd centuries.
The intellectual system (IS) is a set of relatively elementary structures and interactive processes united as a whole by the realization of the entire intellect function, irreducible to the function of its components. Signs of the IS: it interacts with the environment and other systems as a whole, consisting of a hierarchy of subsystems at a lower level.
Noogenetic law: In the evolution of humanity’s intellectual system, certain characteristics of the brain’s phylogenesis (evolution) manifest in a brief repetition, and in a long repetition, some characteristics of the ontogenesis (individual development) of the human brain manifest. Recurrent characteristics include an increase in the number of components, speed, and volumes of information exchange (and also memory), differentiation, specialization of areas, etc. Intellectual iteration (from the Latin “iteratio,” meaning repetition) is a repetition of action—the formation of intellectual function in a material series of a single size (human intellects); and it is a repetition of the phenomenon—the emergence of intellectual systems with greater dimensionality in the hierarchy of matter (a neuron—a brain—humanity). Forms of intelligent matter developing in four-dimensional space have determinable dimensions.
Therefore, a “new interpretation of the scientific term noogenesis” is proposed as the emergence and evolutionary development of intelligence. By analogy with the basic biogenetic law, the hypothesis of the basic law of humanity’s evolution is proposed, describing the connection between the evolution of the human brain and the development of humanity. The number of the main “components” forming the human brain and the quantity of the “components” of humanity (people) become approximately equal. Each person living on Earth can be compared to a disintegrated nervous cell of the brain. The world’s intellect can be an analogy for the human brain.
The billions of people living on the planet today are undoubtedly heirs to the rich cultural, industrial, social, and intellectual heritage, the genetic custodians of the “living operational memory” of the global intellectual system. It is predicted that humanity strives for a single information and intellectual system at the organizational level. The super intellect can be realized in the form of the global intellect on planet Earth.
Further discovery, search, and research in the 21st century into the intellect formula and mathematical foundations of the mind and the conversion of the “intellectual” on the plane of physiology and mathematical physics could help understand the higher ideas and deep regularities of the world around us. The search for parallels between the formation of man and humanity must necessarily continue; this could create a foundation for confidence that the intellect of humanity will face the most unexpected and sometimes dangerous problems that arise in the course of its development.
Aspects of “genesis” and comparative semantics
From the perspective of historical evolutionary development, notions such as the emergence in the course of evolution (Charles Darwin’s evolutionary doctrine) and anthropogenesis of the first intelligent organism in the biological systematics of K. Linnaeus – Homo sapiens, the concepts of phylogenesis, morphogenesis, cephalization, systemogenesis, and the autonomy of cognitive systems are known. From the perspective of intellect development in the course of individual development, concepts such as embryogenesis, ontogenesis, somatogenesis, morphogenesis, neurogenesis, and increased nervous activity, according to I.P. Pavlov, are known. The term “noogenesis” can refer to an interdisciplinary level, as it relates to a range of natural, technical, and humanitarian sciences; the term is used in medicine, biophysics, psychology, semiotics, mathematics, and information technologies.
The Future of the Mind and Research Trends
Among the methods facilitating further development, optimization, and improvement of intellect are bioinformatics, genetic engineering, noopharmacology, memory enhancement, brain stimulation, effective use of altered states of consciousness, and the use of non-human consciousness, such as information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), and so on. The two greatest mysteries of nature are reason and the universe.
The origin of the brain, perception, consciousness, memory, neuroplasticity, etc. remain unresolved problems in neurobiology. Currently, for a better understanding of the structure (the “reverse engineering” method) and functioning of the brain, as well as for the development of intellectual capabilities and increased intelligence, mega-projects are announced in the U.S.: Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, the Human Brain Project in the European Union, the China Brain Project, Blue Brain, Allen Brain Atlas, Human Connectome Project, and Google Brain.