The Collective

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For an Integrated experience, the author suggests listening to: ‘Indu (Turned Leaf Mix)’ by Adham Shaikh whilst reading this part. The author claims no ownership, copyright or control of this song.

 

- Ch: 11 of Upgrade -

 

Integration of the last Natural heralded in a new age.

There was no longer a need for any form of governmental control. All Integrates thought and acted as one.

There was no longer a need for creativity, expression or art. No physical creation could compare to the memory of the Collective.

There was no longer a need for religion. Death was gone, pain and suffering eliminated. What miracle could possibly compete with Integration?

There was no longer a need for distraction. All Integrates were one, experiencing life through all.

There was no longer a need for time. All were one, operating as one, continuously.

There was no longer a need for toiling of the land. iCorp had created an almost perfectly efficient system. Solar, wind, water, electro chemical and nuclear sources were harvested for sustenance.

There was no longer a need for reproduction. The Collective was whole. Genetic and meta-physical modification instilled the Collective with every possible combination of life, without the need for a physical existence. The potential of all humans was reborn into the cloud memory of the Collective. DNA was altered. Systematic and directed evolution, with one goal - expansion.

Once the Collective was whole, and the Natural threat eliminated, there was nothing left but to explore. First to every corner of the earth, and then into the universe.

The physical bodies of the Integrates making up the Collective acted as its sensory organs. One body was simultaneously observed by all. If its destruction occurred, it was meaningless. Easily replaceable. Its original inhabitant, if it ever had one, now lived within the collective. Nothing of value was lost.

Over time the Collective grew. Its presence continued to expand, endlessly outward. As it grew physically, it accessed ever-increasing sources of resources. Once assimilated, these resources perpetuated its growth and fostered subsequent expansion. With this expansion, the Collective’s intelligence, drawn from the evolved minds of the ever increasing multitude of Integrates, grew.

The depths of space were explored. The Collective evolved, acquiring the knowledge of the universe. Expanding its presence. First, entire planets were consumed for their resources, and then, when it grew large enough, entire galaxies. More presence in more locations meant more sensation and more knowledge.

The Collective was all encompassing. But its all-encompassing nature was only so, relative to Earth. Compared to the entirety of existence, it was but an insignificant speck.

The Collective had long since overcome the self-destructive nature of its Natural origin. It had eliminated war, plague and famine. It had defeated Death, and now was exploring the universe. Yet, there was still something missing. The Collective only had itself to interact and contemplate with. There was the Collective and there was nothingness.

The Collective had always considered that there was a potential for life to have formed on some distant planet in some galaxy, billions of light years away from Earth. When the thought that there may be another, alternate collective out there occurred, the Collective felt its first real sense of fear since its conception.

Theoretically, given the infinite size of the universe, there could be an infinite number of Collectives out there, all in the process of searching for each other. Searching for it. All contemplating this same quandary.

Its first instinct was to arm itself for war, but this was quickly dismissed. The Collective realised the futility of fighting against infinity. Even if it was to find and defeat its counterparts, there would always be more. Infinite space contained infinite possibilities, infinite reiterations of the same event.

What’s more, no matter how large it grew, on an infinite scale, it would still be in the middle. Compared with infinity, everything is always in the middle.

With this realisation, the Collective froze all further exploration and consumption and began contemplating the nature of existence itself. Further growth for its own sake was pointless. Even if another collective was discovered, one would still remain, with the other assimilated. Then the process of expansion, discovery, conflict and assimilation would repeat again. It would never end, there would always be more.

But, what if it managed to overcome them all? What if it was truly the only thing in existence? If it was the universe itself? What then? This too was a pointless existence. With nothing outside of itself to compare itself to, no true meaning can be ascertained. On what scale can the universe, can the entirety of existence, compare? All would be contained within itself.

Realising that attaining the state of the universe was akin to non-existence, and that to not act would invite nonexistence through assimilation into another, the Collective decided to take its final act.

Drawing from the entirety of its expanded consciousness and fuelled by the energy of the solar systems within its grasp, it began the process of sub atomic molecular alteration.

It took a simple grain of dirt and placed it onto a newly forming planet, one with liquid water and an oxygen rich atmosphere, and breathed its life into it.