Modern civilization is based on an ever-increasing fragmentation of knowledge. This process must have a logical end point, the point beyond which the obvious benefits of specialization are negated by the breakdown in our ability to communicate across the proliferating boundaries.

The last academic holdout against the tide of specialization has been the discipline of philosophy. Only there are you likely to see substantive discussions between specialists in the various disciplines. But the philosophers have no plan for stemming the tide of fragmentation.

I do have a plan, radical (i.e. fundamental) though it must be. My plan is to implement the vision that our world is a mental construct rather than a physical object. All beings partake of and contribute to this construct. Our world is the shared vision of all sentient existence. This vision provides the only path back to the coherence and the integrity of all our knowledge. Every person engaged in cultural transmission is obligated to ascertain and accept the truth of one vision or another.

After philosophy, physics and psychology, computer science is the field that is most relevant to the concerns I am addressing. Here are some of the reasons.

• Computer science (CS) is now shaping our culture more than any other discipline.
• CS must grapple with the possible distinction between natural and artificial intelligence. This distinction is fundamental to my concerns.
• Computer technology can contribute mightily to the expansion of human consciousness.
• Virtual realities serve as a portent of other realities.

As the products of physics shaped our last century, so the products of computer science have begun to shape the next. That experience has induced some thoughtful members of the physics community to grapple with the larger questions of existence such as those I am presenting. I realize that computer science is still young, but these days even our children have to become wise beyond their years.

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rev. 2/7/98