N2 | The Noosphere at 100
The Future of Human Collective Consciousness is an international, interdisciplinary conference fostering creative collaboration for intentionally and ethically steering the future evolution of global consciousness. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the identification of the noosphere, “N2” signals the exponential pace of the evolution of the noosphere and the reality that the next century will far exceed the last in rapid and radical change to the global mind. “N2” also suggests how the noosphere amplifies our access to human understanding - beyond the individual “n of 1.”
N2
N2 celebrates this anniversary and looks to the future. It is an international, interdisciplinary conference bringing together leading scientists, scholars from across the disciplines, thought leaders, creative artists, and all those who are interested in the meaning and possibility of the noosphere for our collective future.
Identification of the Noosphere
From the earliest forms of symbolic communication to the development of language, the printing press, and eventually the internet and AI, the activity and content of human knowing has been evolving. Becoming more and more complex, it has increasingly moved beyond the individual mind and into a shared space of interconnected thought. In 1923, Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin, in conversation with other early evolutionary scientists, coined the term “noosphere,” from the Greek term noos (mind) to name this newly conceived reality. A newer, “thinking layer” of the earth, the noosphere has evolved beyond the geosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere on which it depends and is the network into which all human thought taps and contributes.
N2 Conference
The N2 Conference is sponsored by Human Energy, a non-profit research, media, and educational organization dedicated to introducing the noosphere as a Third Story of the universe that can provide a source of meaning and hope for future generations. N2 is part of a year-long program celebrating the centennial of the theorization of the noosphere, produced by Human Energy in collaboration with its partners: ProSocial World; Stanford University’s Boundaries of Humanity Project; The Department of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley; the University of California, San Francisco; Fordham University; and Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
The 3-day conference, to be held at the historic International House on the campus of University of California, Berkeley, features thought leaders, scholars across fields, and eminent scientists, including Philip Beesley, Johan Bollen, Anne Clin, John Cressler, Terrence Deacon, Ilia Delio, Ben Goertzel, Francis Heylighten, Kevin Kelly, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Jaron Lanier, Wolfgang Leidhold, Raphael Liogier, Louis Savary, Gregory Stock, Brian Thomas Swimme, David Sloan Wilson, and others. The program includes plenary and concurrent sessions featuring invited and selected presentations and a selected poster exhibit. Interactive formats that prioritize discussion and application are welcomed.
We welcome all those interested in the noosphere and the promise of human collective consciousness to attend, and we invite proposals for presentations that speak to the conference themes, outlined below. A full list of featured speakers, along with registration and accommodation information is available on the conference website.
N2 is an in-person conference with opportunities for remote participation. Keynotes and selected featured presentations will be live-streamed for open access. Virtual registration will give remote attendees the opportunity not only to view the livestream but also to submit questions to the keynote and selected featured presentations and will include a PDF program of all presentation abstracts.
