Introduction

This is an exploration of humanity’s digital future that stems from a lifelong fascination with how societies and business cultures evolve.

These chronicles examine the intersection of art and science, the development of algorithms, and how human nature adapts as we become increasingly digitally influenced as beings.

My intention in writing here is to ask questions that might guide and develop a quest for understanding about what lies ahead for digital humans and human purpose and meaning in the Digital Era.

By documenting this pivotal moment when humanity becomes fully “wired up,” we can better comprehend its significance for our species.

This work is a personal narrative. While you may not agree with everything in it, I hope it prompts an examination of values, beliefs and hopes about the emergence of this digital era; what you would want to see out of the shifts happening in the world today and what is worth working towards to realising that.

At its core, Emergent Code is a story about consciousness. Our blue marble of a planet is being wired up and for the first time in history, we’re creating a recursive intelligence that surpasses our own - a new entity born from us, but distinct from us, in the form of code.

Code challenges our fundamental understanding of human identity, behaviour and potential as we become digital. Code now permeates the entire planet, revolutionizing how we interact with a large proportion of everything in our world.

As a consequence, this powerful force is reshaping what it means to be human, reshaping the resources upon which we critically depend and the ways our world is governed. This dependency forces us to examine our essential nature.

Yet, as code pervades nearly every aspect of human existence, it operates with a binary brutality - devoid of inherent morality or ethical framework.

We must ask ourselves, using both logic and creativity, how we want to wield the unprecedented power that code gives us. A new science is emerging - the science of collective consciousness, and our ‘group mind’ is forming through digital connection. This shared consciousness, born from our interconnectedness, must serve as both protection and common good.

This is why, alongside technical code, we need to develop an emergent code.

This isn’t something that should be left to a select few in Silicon Valley or, as Doug Rushkoff noted, merely to “those who program the programmed.” Emergent code is perpetually in beta, constantly evolving, and belongs to everyone. I offer this publication as a catalyst for this crucial conversation about our collective digital future.