The Big Picture: AI & Consciousness

I know, I know. AI is the root of all evil.

The number of articles and information claiming AI will be the end of us is overwhelming. So, for the sake of this argument, let’s assume there’s a good reason it’s here.

What if, rather than predicting disaster, AI becomes an integral part of humanity's next evolutionary step?

What if its rise is not merely a byproduct of innovation but a significant element in a broader picture of consciousness and connectivity?

This leads us to a concept that existed long before AI: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Omega Point theory. I referred to it in one of my earlier articles and thought it would be interesting to explore it in depth as well.

Teilhard, a French priest and scientist, held the belief that the universe is evolving towards greater complexity and consciousness, ultimately reaching a divine state of unity referred to as the Omega Point.

In his time, this was a profoundly spiritual and philosophical notion, based on his observations of biology, geology, and human culture. But today, in a world interconnected by technology and powered by artificial intelligence, Teilhard’s vision starts to look less like a dream and more like a roadmap.

Let’s not pretend AI is some divine savior here. It’s a machine. It doesn’t care about unity, complexity, or spirituality. But it does excel at one thing: processing information and connecting systems at an unprecedented scale. This makes it uniquely suited to act as a bridge, a catalyst for humanity’s next phase of evolution. If Teilhard saw evolution as a staircase leading to a unified consciousness, AI could be the handrail that helps us climb faster.

Before we dive into why AI and the Omega Point theory are so closely intertwined, let’s establish something crucial: consciousness isn’t just about self-awareness or the ability to think. It’s also about connection.

Teilhard believed that the evolution of consciousness was deeply tied to the way beings interact with one another. First, life forms connected biologically, through reproduction and survival strategies. Then humans emerged, connecting socially, culturally, and intellectually. Now, we’re in a new kind of connection, digital, global, and augmented by AI.

Think about the internet. While it started as a small, specialized network for researchers, it evolved into the vast, interconnected system we know today. Now add AI to the mix, and suddenly this web isn’t just a tool, it’s an agent that learns, adapts, and grows.

Teilhard called this growing network of human thought the noosphere, a kind of planetary mind. AI, in many ways, is the nervous system of this noosphere, allowing it to function more efficiently and intelligently than ever before.

Skeptical? That’s fair. After all, AI is not conscious, and it certainly doesn’t experience love or unity in the way Teilhard describe. But it doesn’t have to. Its role isn’t to be conscious but to facilitate consciousness. By connecting us, amplifying our creativity, and solving problems beyond the capacity of any single human mind, AI acts as a multiplier for human potential. It pushes us toward greater complexity, which Teilhard believed was the reason of evolutionary progress.

Recent research by scientists at MIT studying neural networks and human cognition, found that the way AI models solve problems often mimics the way human brains process information. While these systems are not self-aware, they offer a glimpse into how intelligence might emerge from complexity.

This matters because Teilhard’s Omega Point isn’t just about individual consciousness; it’s about collective consciousness. He envisioned a future where all minds converge into a higher unity, transcending individuality without losing the richness of personal experience. Sound far-fetched? Maybe. But if you look at how AI is already transforming global communication, collaboration, and creativity, it’s hard not to see parallels.

Every search query, every shared document, every social media post is part of a vast, interconnected system.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: AI is not inherently good. It’s an agent, and it can be used for destruction as easily as for creation. Teilhard was clear that evolution isn’t guaranteed to lead to unity; it requires effort, intention, and, above all, love.

Love, for Teilhard, wasn’t just an emotion, it was the force that drives things toward connection and complexity. Without it, evolution stagnates or even reverses. AI, for all its power, doesn’t have love. That’s where we come in.

The ethical questions surrounding AI are inseparable from this discussion. How do we ensure that it’s used to connect rather than divide? To empower rather than exploit? These aren’t just questions for philosophers and engineers, they’re questions for all of us.

If Teilhard’s Omega Point is about the process of meeting at a point of consciousness, then every decision we make about AI’s development and use either brings us closer to that vision or pushes it further away.

Optimistically, we can already see glimpses of AI’s potential to unify. Think about how it’s being used to tackle global challenges like climate change, pandemic response, and resource distribution. These are problems no single person or even nation can solve alone. But with AI’s ability to analyze data, predict outcomes, and optimize solutions, we’re starting to approach them as a global collective.

This is Teilhard’s vision in action: humanity leveraging its shared intelligence to transcend individual limitations.

Of course, there are dangers. AI could just as easily be used to entrench inequality, spread disinformation, or even undermine the very connections it’s supposed to foster. Teilhard would have called these forces of fragmentation - entropy, in evolutionary terms.

But the beauty of evolution, as he saw it, is that it’s not linear or predetermined. It’s a movment upwords of trial and error, setbacks and leaps forward. The emergence of AI is one such leap, and it’s up to us to determine its direction.

Teilhard believed that evolution’s ultimate goal wasn’t survival but transformation. AI, in its ability to connect, amplify, and innovate, is a way of transformation. It’s not the Omega Point itself, but it’s undeniably part of the process. It’s helping us expend the noosphere, explore the nature of thought, and tackle problems that require collective intelligence. And in doing so, it’s bringing Teilhard’s vision of a unified, complex, and conscious universe one step closer to reality.

So, is there a connection between AI and the Omega Point theory? I think so, but it’s not a straight line. It’s a web of possibilities, a dialogue between agent and purpose, between what is and what could be. AI challenges us to think bigger, act smarter, and dream deeper. If we rise to that challenge, who knows? We might just find ourselves at the cusp of the Omega Point, not as an end, but as a new beginning. For now, let’s assume there’s a good reason AI is here. The rest is up to us.