There has been recent talk regarding the fact that our minds may all be connected. The basis behind this quite amazing theory is a psychological term known as the Multiples Effect.
The Multiples Effect basically rejects the whole Eureka notion of scientific discoveries and maintains that most chief advancements in science have been attained by multiple individuals who have been working completely separate from one another. To support this there is the discovery of calculus by Isaac Newton (1687) and Gottfried Leibniz (1684), the presentation of the theory of natural evolution by Alfred Russell Wallace (1858) and Charles Darwin (1859) and the creation of the first jet engine by Hans van Ohain (1935) and Sir Francis Whittle (1937) among countless others.
In fact, there are a total of 300 multiples discoveries listed by Wikipedia. Proponents of a connected intelligence think that collective discoveries of such a huge number of scientific principles isn’t a mere coincidence. That the human consciousness is a non-local field that acts like a pool of ideas and is accessible to everyone. Imagine van Ohain working intently on his jet engine. The ideas that he is generating are becoming a part of a cloud of collective consciousness. So, someone like Whittle who is working on the same project can borrow them and indirectly use Ohain’s work for the greater good of humanity.
A nice, modern hypothesis would be to think of collective intelligence as cloud storage (iCloud, anyone?) where everyone has access to a central server. On this server there is a database of lots and lots of folders. Each folder has specific content assigned to it like Jet Engine, Black holes, and Scarlett Johansen etc. The catch is that not everybody can access every folder. You have to have a password to access its contents. This password is the psychological encryption key. So, if you are thinking about Scarlett Johansen’s performance in the latest Avenger you have a key with which you can access the collective thinking about her! Weird, right?
Most people when thinking of the multiples effect are restricting their thoughts to the post-Renaissance era. However, there is considerable evidence regarding the mutuality of discovery in ancient times as well. How else can you explain the similarities in the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), Cholula (Mexico) and Punden Berundak (Indonesia)? Apart from the likenesses in the pyramids, there is striking resemblance in the entry ways as well.
How can disconnected cultures, living at different times create something so unbelievably alike? The answer may lie in our minds being connected to a central system or just that primitive architecture couldn’t find a better way to make high rise buildings. Take your pick.
The question then arises, how can a mind access information from a common pool? Aren’t thoughts intangible? This is where this theory becomes quite tenuous. Well, those who believe in a shared consciousness think that thoughts are not as simple as we make them to be. They are electromagnetic waves that can be generated and decoded by the brain. Well, if that’s so then how come no one has discovered the electromagnetic portion of the brain yet?
Also, while the Multiples Theory never talks about the minds being connected, the proponents of a connected intelligence use it as an essential scientific theory in their favor. The Multiples Theory just negates the heroic nature of scientific discovery. Nothing more, nothing less.
In short, our minds may just be connected after all and we haven’t found a way to prove that just yet. Conversely, it just might be another metaphysical theory to explain our consciousness. Either way it is a fascinating theory. Whether you choose to believe it or not is entirely up to you.
This article The Multiples Effect: How Our Minds Are All Connected was originally published here at isoulscience.com