"Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky. The Time Wanderers (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

I have neither the time nor the wish to make a detailed criticism of
your document. I must note, however, that the models Octopus and
Conquistador brought me uncontrollable laughter, with their jokelike
primitivism, while the model New Air, despite its appearing to be less than
totally trivial, is also devoid of any serious argumentation. Eight models!
Eighteen development engineers, among whom are such shining stars as
Karibanov, Yasuda, and Mikich! Damn it, you should expect something more
significant! Say what you will, Kammerer, but the natural supposition is
that you were unable to impress these great masters with your "anxiety over
our general unpreparedness in this area." They simply ducked the issue.

Herein I offer to the pedestal of your attention a brief notation of my
future book, which I plan to call "Monocosm: Peak of First Step? Notes on
the Evolution of Evolution." Again, I have neither the time nor inclination
to equip my basic positions with detailed argumentation. I can assure you
only that each of these positions even today can be argued more
exhaustively, so if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
(Incidentally, I can't resist noting that your request for my consultation
was perhaps the first and so far only socially useful act by your
organization in all the time it has existed.)

And so: Monocosm.

Any intelligence -- technological, Rousseauist, or even a heron's -- in
the process of evolution first travels the path from the state of maximal
separation (savagery, mutual hostility, crude emotions, mistrust) to a state
of maximal unification while still retaining individuality (friendliness,
high culture of relationships, altruism, disdain for success). This process
is governed by biological, biosocial, and specifically social laws. It is
well studied and is of interest go us here only insofar as it brings us to
the question: what next? Leaving aside the romantic trills of the theory of
vertical progress, we have discovered only two real possibilities, differing
in principle. On the one hand, a halt, a self-soothing, a turning off, a
loss of interest in the physical world. Or entering on the path of evolution
of a second order, the path of planned and controlled evolution, the path
toward Monocosm.

The synthesis of intelligences is inevitable. It gives an infinite
number of new facets to the perception of the world, and this leads. to an
incredible increase in the quantity, and more importantly, the quality of
available information, which in its turn leads to a decrease of suffering to
a minimum and an increase in pleasure to a maximum. The concept of "home"
will extend to universal scope. (This is probably why that irresponsible and
superficial concept of the Wanderers appeared in the first place.) A new
metabolism develops, and, as a result, life and health become practically
eternal. The age of an individual becomes comparable with the age of cosmic
objects -- with a total absence of psychic weariness. An individual of the
Monocosm does not need creators. He is his own creator and consumer of
culture. From a drop of water not only can he re-create the image of the
ocean, but the whole world of the creatures that inhabit it, including the