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Introduction
Biblical stories core ideas are repeated in cosmological arguements around the world. Two of the most interesting in terms of network theory are demigods and the Tower of Babel. This article explores these central ideas and considers whether or not we are prepared to face the realities of collective intelligence in cosmology.
Demigods
In the Bible, demigods are called by the Hebrew word הַנְּפִלִ֞ים (Nephilim) which means "to fall" or "fallen ones". These beings appear throughout the Bible not as particularly specific individuals, with one of a few exceptions being Goliath (גָּלְיַת), but as entire groups of people, many of whom were wiped out by Israel's conquest of Cannan. The Bible calls these beings, בְנֵי־ הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ (ḇə-nê-hā-’ĕ-lō-hîm) which are the same class of being as the god YHWH, angels and humans, but of a genus that was not intended to intermingle. The result is described in the Book of Genesis, 6:4
"when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown."
I had an interesting conversation with Gemini about this and found most global cultures do have information lending to this idea. Whether in biological terms or strictly informational, this idea went viral in the ancient world, for reasons we can't explain.
I was attracted to this idea not so much from my personal study of Biblical theology, but by economist Daron Acemoglu who described the Gilgamesh Problem in the Narrow Corridor. I read the Epic of Gilgamesh and realized the significance of this work being one of the oldest preserved works of literature. We have obviously been thinking about the Problem for a long, long time.
The Tower
The Tower of Babel is described on Wikipedia as an etiology and lists several stories that mirror its ideas. Here are the Greek and Sumerian and Hebrew versions.
The Tower of Babel and like stories are about the noosphere. The noosphere is a philosophical idea describing the aggregate of human consciousness and thought, and its impact on the biosphere. The term comes from the Greek νόος, meaning "mind", and σφαῖρα, meaning "sphere". These stories all highlight human hubris as a source of contention with the gods. In modern terms this might be thought of as human collective intelligence run amok. We really don't know if the "tower" or the "mountain" were physical or cognative structures, but we do know that during the period under discussion, language was a new "technology".
Language is a tool of collective intelligence-- likely our earliest CI innovation outside of the elemental and genetic intelligence present in every living creature. Today, more than 7,000 languages are spoken around the world, encoding a variety of ideas that describe more of the physical world than any one could on its own. We're losing the benefit of such diversity however, as at least since the time of the Akkadians and Assyrians single cultures have attempted to assimilate or subjugate all others.
Conclusion
Tower logic seems to observe the same limited sight picture of leadership observed in James C. Scott's Seeing Like a State. Tower based systems rise in power for a time but are limited by the spherical nature of physical reality. As a tower society tries to calculate the logic and gather the resources to build itself higher, interests split so profoundly they completely lose one another.
While the tower society rises there must always be a central platform-- a conviction, a claim, a genetic factor, etc. unifying the foundation. As the tower rises in elevation its top is no longer connected to the neighboring soil and so must communicate through subordinate structure. This is allowed in nature-- trees do this but on an obviously limited scale, honoring the laws of physics through biological testing. The rash, forceful advancement of empire, stripping away local resources to lay foundation for unnatural self elevation is the sort of character most religions warn people away from. A global, spherical perspective is true and lends to the circulation of resources, ideas and purposes. Jesus Christ even shows this in his willingness to connect to every other worm he slithered by on his journey through the physics.
Realizing this sort of data is contained in ancient portions of our noosphere we should investigate further. I invite you to do so here. As you have seen, this is not simply a philosophical leaning, but a factual truth derived from the theologies and cosmological arguments of the present. Deciphering and employing this kind of data will help our species cultivate the biosphere, geosphere, technosphere and noosphere of this planet.
Are We Prepared for Colective Intelligence in Cosmology?
At the beginning of this article I said we would consider if humanity is prepared for the turbulance of combining abundant ideas in an overlapping cosmology. I don't feel inspired in this moment to write that discussion, so I had it with a few large language models.
Prompted with a file copy of everything presented above this section, ChatGPT produced some of the best results I have ever seen from her. In my opinion, Claude still outshines his concise transmissions. Gemini displays a structure and information ultimately flattering its co-author with a final, strong point-- an engineer's machine. I critique them all (and perhaps my prompt) for not considering how real humans might come together. For that, see the Herberts.
Other Resources:
Answersingenesis.org <--Another look at Babel
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