Consciousness and the Future: Finding New Ways Through the Wall
Helped by chatgpt I will expand the vision I had….after I did not get a package delivered…. thnx for the inpsiration courier!
Sometimes I imagine humanity standing on opposite sides of a wall.
One person has something to share: an idea, a feeling, a piece of knowledge, an experience, a solution.
So they throw it.
It hits the wall.
They throw it again, harder.
Still nothing.
Eventually they start asking: “Why isn’t the other side receiving it?”
But perhaps that isn’t the right question.
Perhaps the more interesting question is: **Where is the opening?**
When communication doesn’t get through
From a consciousness perspective, this changes everything.
We are living in a time when enormous amounts of information can move almost instantaneously. We can send a message around the planet in seconds. We can communicate with people we have never met. We can access more knowledge than any previous generation could have imagined.
And yet, being able to transmit information does not mean that it is actually received.
We can speak louder and still not be heard.
We can produce more content and still not create connection.
We can explain something perfectly and discover that the other person simply cannot receive it through the channel we are using.
That distinction fascinates me.
Because perhaps communication is not just about sending.
Perhaps it is about **resonance, timing, perception and the capacity to receive.**
The wall may not be the enemy
When something doesn’t get through, our first instinct is often to push harder.
More information.
More explanation.
More convincing.
More technology.
More stimulation.
More urgency.
But sometimes the wall is simply telling us something:
**This isn’t the way through.**
That doesn’t necessarily mean the message is wrong.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the receiver is wrong either.
It may simply mean that the pathway is wrong.
And this is where consciousness becomes particularly interesting.
A conscious system can notice feedback.
It can observe what happens when something is sent.
It can recognise:
*That didn’t get through.*
Instead of immediately throwing the same thing again, it can pause.
Look.
Feel.
Observe.
Try another angle.
Find the opening.
That tiny shift—from forcing to observing—is enormous.
Perhaps evolution works this way too
I sometimes wonder whether consciousness itself behaves a little like this.
We try something.
Reality responds.
We experience the response.
Then we adapt.
Not necessarily because we failed, but because we received information.
From this perspective, what we call “failure” can simply be feedback from the system.
The package lying at the bottom of the wall isn’t necessarily a failed package.
It is information.
It tells us something about the trajectory.
And perhaps humanity is currently surrounded by packages lying at the bottom of walls.
Systems that worked for a particular stage of civilisation but no longer transmit what we actually need.
Education systems.
Economic systems.
Healthcare systems.
Communication systems.
Political systems.
Technological systems.
Even our ideas about success, intelligence, productivity and human value.
Many of these systems were designed for particular conditions.
Yet we sometimes behave as though changing the conditions should not require changing the systems.
So we throw harder.
The next step may not be more technology
As someone who thinks a lot about consciousness and the future, I find this particularly intriguing.
We often imagine the future as more technology.
Faster computers.
More artificial intelligence.
More automation.
More connectivity.
More data.
And yes, those things are happening.
But perhaps the deeper transformation is not technological at all.
Perhaps it is **perceptual**.
What happens when humans become better at noticing what is actually happening?
What happens when we become more capable of distinguishing information from wisdom?
When we can notice our own reactions while simultaneously listening to someone else?
When we stop assuming that our first interpretation is the complete truth?
When we become more sensitive to context, timing, attention and relationship?
That could change what technology is *for*.
Instead of simply increasing the amount of information moving through the system, we might begin designing systems around the human capacity to actually receive, integrate and respond.
Consciousness may be the missing layer
This is one of the reasons I am interested in the space between things.
Between sending and receiving.
Between thought and action.
Between information and understanding.
Between what we believe and what we actually experience.
There is a space there.
And in that space, something can happen.
We can notice.
We can question.
We can change direction.
We can discover an opening we couldn’t see while we were busy throwing the package.
That, to me, is one of the most interesting possibilities for the future.
Not that humans will become perfect.
Not that we will suddenly agree with each other.
Not that consciousness will magically solve everything.
But that we might become increasingly capable of **observing the system while participating in it.**
That is a very different position.
You are no longer simply the person throwing the package.
You are also watching the trajectory.
The future may be less about pushing and more about sensing
I don’t think the next stage of human development necessarily requires us to become more powerful.
Perhaps it requires us to become more perceptive.
To recognise when something isn’t working.
To notice when we are repeating an old pattern.
To sense when another person cannot receive what we are trying to communicate.
To distinguish resistance from information.
To recognise that sometimes the answer isn’t to push through the wall.
Sometimes it is to walk along it until you find the opening.
And sometimes you discover that there was an opening all along.
You just weren’t looking from the right angle.
That is where my interest in consciousness meets my interest in the future.
Because I don’t see consciousness as something separate from everyday life.
It is the capacity to notice.
To experience.
To question.
To adapt.
To see relationships between things that previously appeared unrelated.
And perhaps, eventually, to build systems that reflect that increased awareness.
The future I find interesting isn’t simply a future with smarter machines.
It is a future in which **the humans using those machines understand themselves a little better.**
Because if consciousness doesn’t evolve alongside our technology, we may simply become extremely efficient at throwing packages against walls.
And I suspect the universe has a rather more interesting opening in mind.
Much love,
Felicia and chatgpt
