Techno Unconscious…(Part 1)

by Richard Reeve on December 5, 2008

in @CCSeed

[Forth in the series of Twitter requested posts:  @jdog90 asked this]

I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb when I say that the technological developments of these days represent the greatest bloom of creativity in history.  From mapping of the genome and brain functioning, to cloud computing and all of our technological gadgets, and yes, even our beloved computing platforms for complex social interactions: as Wordpress has coined the phrase, “code is poetry.”

To get a flavor of how the collective unconscious might have a hand in all this, let’s make sure we are talking about the same thing.

In the Structure of the Psyche Jung writes:

“The collective unconscious-so far as we can say anything about it at all-appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations are its exponents.  In fact the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious.” CW 8 par.325

“The collective unconscious contains the whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution, born anew in the brain structure of every individual” CW 8 par. 342

To get to the question that generated this post, “is the Collective Unconscious at play in technological developments?”- we must ask: what myth is taking place within all this activity?- what sacred narrative?

[I'm going to break this post here, inviting your comments in response to these questions.  Part II will follow].

(image via Wikipedia)


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  • We are coalescing the mystery and power of our myths into capabilities. The advancement of technology is the advent of godhood.
  • Well I'll tell you what I see.

    First, the collective unconscious.. is kinda an expression of instinct mixing with the challenges of our time, and all that, right? I mean maybe I'm putting it poorly but..

    So you know.. I guess Jung got a lot of criticism for his writing on Picasso.. but I kinda thought Jung was really onto something.. effects of industrialization on our psychology.. lets say. The alienation.. the feeling like we are impotent to effect real change in the world.. and all kinds of things that seem to be like us alienated from our nature.. or at least parts of our nature. All this we see in modernism / post modernism.

    I mean once upon a time we participated in helping the sun rise.. and now we enter into this world where.. Idk, I guess I feel like it's a little to extroverted.. in terms of what's your metric for success.. the emphases of objective truth.. as if subjective truth had nothing to do with it..

    Ok.. so structurally you'll go.. "our ideas of things get in the way of our experience of the reality of things" like saying "religion is a defense against religious experience" so.. what's the roll our putting things into categories plays in sense of what reality is.. and in our consciousness..

    Ok.. so before we had this Dewy Decimal system.. and now we have meta data.. and now definitions of knowledge are able to take on subjective truth in a whole new way..

    Power asymmetries used to alienate us.. but now we got this thing called "social media" and we participate in the media.. in the culture...

    There's massive change going on.. and I'd argue that it's 100% about the collective unconscious and about a quest for a greater wholeness.

    I mean it's funny, you read a book on economics and we are told that the economy is about realizing the societies potential.. and normally I tend to think.. well ok.. but you're job is defining what part of your potential you get to develop / cultivate.. its externally controlled.. but as power asymmetries change..

    Really what defines our categories.. sorta drives the lexicographical evolution.. is the challenges we face collectively.. I mean what is a super ego but something saying "nope, we cultivate this part of our selves, and not that part, because that's what our world needs."

    Of course if you turn to Nietzsche.. you'll be thinking "ok, so you had different moral orders at different social economic stratas" and.. well every persona, and in every industry / group.. sub group in the culture.. anytime two people get together.. you have variations on the moral order operating as a subtext as a part of how social cohesion works.. so.. via this we see how power asymmetries play a roll in the.. lets call it a democratic process of taboo system construction..

    You see the roll of the masculine and feminine in that men and women create different kinds of hierarchy..

    And then you look at social media and its like.. "well, what are you passionate about?" It's as if stuff is granulizing.. and you decide how you put the pieces together. So what I see going forward, and I don't think I'm telling it super well.. is a world where, more and more, what articulates the categories.. is the inward mystery / from where comes our bliss.. which is organically connected to how to go about realizing your true potential.

    It's like the problem of Buddhism.. the whole world is trying to tell you you're not "it" and the what we are trying to realize is our own it-ness.

    So that's like.. mega huge systemic structural changes..

    Ok... I had this conversation with Jeff Pulver on twitter a while ago... about how the relationship of the digital world to the offline world is a little like Plato's ideas coming into the physical world.. and how issues of change management remove management layers.. and that what its really like is.. it's like moving from being Catholic to being Protestant.. In the sense that we are getting rid of our intercessions...

    It's like.. a ritual is.. a safe way of reliving a numinous experience. And now we are coming into a place were we are going to be having more and more direct numinous experiences.. In the sense that "business as usual" was kind of a ritual..

    And if you look at a lot of what's going on in business relative to social media.. you see this kind of thing where you feel like "yo, dude, you should really pick up this Jung stuff, cause we got us a road map over here."

    Like once upon a time chance was used to divine the will of God.. and now people in business might talk about "purposeful mistakes" as a tactic in change management.. I personally think what ought to be done is a shift from change management talk to mystery management talk!

    I feel like I'm doing a crummy job of articulating it but.. and I'm not sure I should be leaving so many long comments on your blog but.. at least to me.. if you want to understand what's going on in the world today.. where things are going.. you need to look inward. And I think Jung gives us a framework to see exactly what's driving the technology.. I mean it's down right creepy..
  • I agree with Jamey that technology is acting as a conduit to connect people faster than ever before in history. The collective unconscious is and always has been there, at work, connecting us in the ethers of thought. That's why we get "gee, I should call Kelly" or why brilliance just "pop" into our minds. Of course the collective unconscious is helping develop technology. I don't believe that we as humans birth all our own thoughts. We don't own them, its more like we access them, share them, and then leave them for others to build upon. There are no coincidences. Now with technology, we accelerate that process by providing mechanisms to share our thoughts more freely in a format that is readily accessible, and where Law Of Attraction can continue its efforts to connect us to what's important or searching for in our own lives.
  • Jamey
    Regarding Jung's idea of the Collective Unconsious and technology I see the second, a narrative. Many of the advances we see with computers and the web bring us closer to being human. From text messages to video connections. If we are to think of an underlining force pushing technology it would be the expression of our narrative. If you think about it, technology is allowing the Collective Unconsious to actually be more unified, and to build on its self. Here is an example that many people probably have. I recently blogged about a life situation and received an email from a friend I hadn't "talked" to in months. Yep, they wrote how they were feeling the same thing, and how my post had hit home. With technology this connection happens fast and creates stronger bounds with other people as we create our narratives.
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