ABSTRACT
Synopsis: present unregulated changes to the state of the world are only the latest in a long series of transformational changes to the planet. The current changes are being driven by human actions that in turn arise from human systems of thought. The collective thinkers who have been selected as shaping the present are Charles Darwin, who recognised that constant evolutionary change includes human minds; James Lovelock, who identifed the self-organising systems that link people and planet; and Norbert Wiener, who found that electronic computers could act as extensions of the human mind. This has become the narrative that frames today’s thinking. Visionaries that followed them foretold how humanity could live in a humane, sustainable world influenced by a collective mind. That collective mind has spread throughout the world with some fascinating consequences.
