Brian Thomas Swimme did his doctoral work in gravitational dynamics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon. From the publication of The Universe Is a Green Dragon to the Emmy Award–winning PBS documentary Journey of the Universe, Swimme has articulated the cosmology of a creative universe, one in which human intelligence plays an essential role.
For three decades as a professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, he taught evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the humanities. Currently he is director of the Third Story of the Universe at Human Energy, a nonprofit public benefit organization.
A detailed description of his books and media works can be found at storyoftheuniverse.org.
About the documentary, Journey of the Universe.
Human Energy presents Story of the Noosphere
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Summary and transcript of this interview
Interview recorded September 18, 2022
YouTube Video Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Brian Thomas Swimme and Cosmology
00:03:59 - Two Meanings of Cosmologist
00:08:00 - The Relationship Between Human Mind and the Universe
00:12:49 - The Power of Scientific Knowledge in Understanding Ourselves
00:16:55 - The Color of the Universe
00:20:55 - The Nature of Laws and the Mystery of the Universe
00:25:36 - The Ontology of Intelligence and Consciousness
00:29:10 - The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness and the Experience of Reality
00:34:14 - The Ontological Connection between Individuals and the Universe
00:38:50 - The Interplay of Science and Spirituality
00:42:17 - The Mystery of Mathematics and Science
00:46:22 - The Influence of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry
00:50:12 - The Interdependence of Science and Spirituality
00:53:43 - The Noosphere: United Humanity and Earth's Evolution
00:58:46 - The Special Quality of Humanity and Symbolic Consciousness
01:03:50 - The Dark Age and the Loss of Knowledge
01:07:45 - Ignorance of Extinction
01:10:57 - Co-evolution of Technology and Spirituality
01:15:02 - Becoming beings who see the whole first
01:19:50 - The Bhagavad Gita and Being Established in Action
01:23:55 - The Vast Intelligence Within You
01:27:25 - The Noosphere in Action
01:32:05 - The Noosphere as a Collective Consciousness
01:35:24 - Deepening Collective Intelligence
01:38:19 - The Dream of the Earth and Integral Ecology
01:43:30 - Embracing Change: A Deep Change of Heart and Mind
01:46:42 - A Breaking of Symmetry in the Early Universe
01:50:50 - The Incessant Creativity of the Universe
01:54:52 - Matter's Intrinsic Property of Self-Organization
01:59:13 - The Excitement of Matter and Spiritual Development
02:02:39 - A Round-Trip from Tacoma to Berkeley