The Collective Reality

Our conscious experience is a part of reality. According to integrated information theory, consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality. In other words, it exists and is structured, specific, unified and definite. 

Simply put, consciousness could very likely emerge when information moves between the subsystems of an overall system. So therefore, to be conscious, an entity has to be single and integrated. Also the overall single entity is dependent on the interdependence of the integrated subsystems, making a collectively dependent system. 

Nature as well as the larger universe is a prime example of a single entity that is dependent on a series of integrated interdependency subsystems. And humans are no different. The human body is made up of a complex interdependent integrated subsystems that work together as a collective to keep a human functioning and alive.

The modern human society has built itself on a complex web of interdependent integrated subsystems. Be it the larger economy, the financial markets, political system and the governments etc. Interdependency is also what shapes our reality.

All of us are part of a collective reality that gets confirmed and reconfirmed over time. Without a continuous reaffirmation the reality may develop a crack. For example, a reality that the current human civilisation is living in the year 2022 requires a collective buy-in, and without a continuous reaffirmation, this reality may cease to exist.

The calendar year 2022 is a reality only because the modern human society has agreed to accept to use the Gregorian calendar developed by pope Gregory XIII first introduced in the 1582 as the most used calendar. But there are other calendars that are no longer part of our global reality. And if one day a sizeable percentage of the global human population decides to use a different calendar then, the current reality will develop a kink.

How we pass on knowledge, skills and wisdom to the next generation of humans is also completely dependent on our agreement to continuously reaffirm the collective reality that we are experiencing individually. But if a disagreement develops over time then obviously, members of the society try to patch the crack in the reality by finding a new common agreement that a large part of the global human society could agree to. That is how the collective modern day human civilisation has evolved.

The modern day global mega corporations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon among others all started out as an idea that are now part of the collective human reality. A company or a product’s success that starts out as an idea is completely dependent on a collective buy-in of the society, without the collective buy-in, the company, the product or the idea will never become part of the collective reality, and therefore, be considered a failure.

I have no doubt that the past and our history as we have come to know it will change over time as our collective reality of that past changes. And some of us may struggle with that change. My own perspective on the issue of reality is that, the reality I am experiencing is a function of my mind and the brain, and most importantly how its been conditioned or trained.

The name I was given along with a large part of my identity including the culture that I think I belong to among other things, was not my reality when I was born, because I wasn’t aware of it. I learnt them over time, and through the process of continuous reaffirmation, all of that is now part of my own reality today. So my sense of history and who I think I am is closely linked to the collective reality that I am experiencing on a personal level.