Are You a Pilot or a Passenger? (Part I)
We live in an ocean of information both natural and artificial. The constant pull of gravity, the chirp of a blue jay, the latest Lexus commercial – all are part of the continuum of signals in which we are immersed. The push and pull of information is forever attempting to impress itself upon us, shaping and reshaping the boundaries of our awareness. Every human has the ability to decide for themselves how they will experience this ocean; As a pilot – guiding and directing; responsive, alert, alive; Or as a passenger – passively adrift; asleep, robotic, rote.
In the last eighty years we have navigated bigger, faster, and more complex waves of neurological change than our species has encountered during the previous 10,000. The fast-paced change in technology and information is breeding segments of our species for rapid-fire signal integration and processing. Each generation has been raised to input, process, and output more complex patterns of information than its predecessor.
As technology development accelerates, tech-savvy cultures are exposed to more advanced and refined processes via innovation and media. The message of each new medium is learned at the neurological level simply through exposure and interaction. GPS guidance, ever-evolving smartphone apps, and on-demand everything is shaping your expectations, your habits and the way you perceive and engage everything in the world. The neuronal pathways and synaptic firings of a child reared on instant messaging and near-constant multitasking are different than those raised on books, scheduled television programming and parents with 9-5 jobs. New products spread technological advances throughout our culture. These technologies change the speed, rhythm and frequency of our culture. And they change us. In general, these changes make us smarter.
As intelligence is applied and reapplied to itself, our species begins to mutate . Where once it took hundreds of generations to breed noticeable differences, we have reached a point in which significant variation is occurring within a generation. The ability to accomplish such monumental achievements is accelerating. Now, humanity is striving to adopt new mental and behavioral postures to navigate this groundswell of technology and information.
These new postures are evident in the dozens of patterns which have emerged over the past four decades all of which indicate a significant trend towards self-awareness and a means to cope with and thrive amidst the growth of information. New scientific theories and models of consciousness are being introduced and overturned in greater frequency. The proliferation of yoga studios and new sciences of consciousness is increasing. Media watchdogs and grassroots-democracy groups are demanding more from our media networks than the sleepy societal programming of the past. Stem cell research and scientific inquiry have taken a reached recognition in U.S. political platforms. These are signs indicating a trend towards managing information both through external force, as in cases of legislation and media, and internal organization, as in the cases of meditation and yoga. These are just some of the signals exposing the elusive obvious; humanity’s use of consciousness is metamorphosizing. Our species is evolving.
Our individual ability to prosper in this new world relies heavily on our ability to use ourselves well. In this case, to use ourselves well means to attend to the new demands of our situation. This is a simple evolutionary formula. Humans in technologically advanced cultures need to be able to integrate and output information with ever-greater skill and efficiency. This evolutionary intelligence is the position of Pilots. It is a position based on flexibility and love-of-learning; neo-philia as opposed to neo-phobia. In this fast arising informational climate, this position is one of the greatest determinants of our success.
