MAY 6, 2002 - Global Consciousness Project may, upon first examination, seem to be more about universal consciousness than astrology. That would be a misunderstanding of astrology, the foundation of which is the connection between the individual and the Universe. "As above, so below" only works to the extent that the above and the below, the in here and the out there, are essentially identical or at the very least connected. Global Consciousness Project has created and presents online a "world-spanning network of devices sensitive to coherence and resonance in the mental domain." (These devices are in fact synthetic random number generators.) There's an intriguing near-realtime display that shows the state of the network, for those of you with Java-enabled systems and accurate system clocks. Try it: occasionally one or more of the many devices ("eggs") in the network will light up and chime. When that happens, the theory goes, the normally chaotic random dance of nature is shaped by a kind of intelligence. And, so say contributors to Global Consciousness Project, such overrides of random chance happen when great numbers of human beings focus on a particular thought or event at a particular time; such as, for example, the Islamic terrorists attack on the US on September 11, 2001. Check it out, think it over, consider whether - if there's anything to this at all - they might have it slightly askew; i.e. maybe it's not the human mind affecting the Universe, but the human mind synching up with the Universe.
Technical note: Web Site Garage rates Global Consciousness Project good over-all and in load time (12.78 seconds with a 56k modem). In comparison, the page you're now reading also rates good in both categories, with a load time of 7.69 seconds at 56k.
