HUMAN COLONY FORMATION 



in fact be based on a misunderstanding of the nature 

 of the integration process. Part of the very basis for the 

 to-be-expected superiority of the societal organism is 

 the high, initial complexity of its constituent units. 

 Reversion of these units to a cell-like status would in 

 fact be analogous to a reversion of cells in metazoa to 

 a molecule-like function. Such a reversion does not oc- 

 cur. It is certainly true at this stage of biological evolu- 

 tion, that the repository of the principal components 

 of intelligence which constitute the totality of human 

 knowledge is still the central nervous system of indi- 

 vidual human beings. Without individual man who is 

 able to read, understand and function, our libraries 

 and our gadgets would become useless. The apparently 

 high extropy level of the matter constituting these 

 things would become dubious. However the probable 

 continued existence of the consciousness of individual 

 human beings for quite some time into the future, does 

 not contra-indicate the development by the societal or- 

 ganism of a "mind" of its own. Such a "societal mind" 

 will be made up of the integrated intelligence of many 

 individuals in society. As has been discussed, its scope 

 even at the present, vastly exceeds the knowledge 

 available to any one individual. 



The thesis that human society has an organic nature 

 which is developing rapidly in the direction of a bio- 

 social entity, is probably a statement that many indi- 

 viduals will find difficult to accept. It is perhaps, 



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