In 1973, French information theorist Georges Anderla, while working on a report for the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, found himself quantifying all of human knowledge to forecast the future needs of information specialists. His research spanned from the growth of scientific journals starting in the 1660s to the expansion of university libraries and research centers. He concluded that the growth rate of information is exponential.
Separate from Anderla’s work, the McKenna brothers—a pair of scientists and mystics—used hallucinogenics to explore how novel ideas accelerate through a series of progressively shorter cycles, ultimately leading to a singularity. They argued that each cycle brought about more transformations than the previous one, predicting a point where change would occur so rapidly that it would become impossible to keep up.
In a 1986 talk, intellectual provocateur Robert Anton Wilson combined these ideas into what he called the “Jumping Jesus phenomenon.” He humorously proposed a unit of knowledge equivalent to all that was known during the Roman Empire, naming it 1 Jesus. According to Wilson, the time required to double the amount of human knowledge has been shrinking, with knowledge doubling ever faster as time progresses. His theory suggested that, by the 1970s, humanity had achieved 128 Jesus.
Wilson’s prediction, like those of the McKenna brothers, foresaw a singularity—a point where the acceleration of knowledge would break all existing models and paradigms. They pegged this singularity around 2012.
It’s now 2024, and as far as I can tell, we still don’t have conscious machines, a workforce-free society thanks to near-infinite automation, or the key to immortality, all things Wilson predicted would arrive thanks to the exponential growth rate in information.
Instead, we have a summer news cycle that has (perhaps) been the craziest in U.S. history.
Nine Weeks Ago
- May 30: Former President Donald Trump became the first president in U.S. history to be convicted of a felony
Seven Weeks Ago
- June 11: Hunter Biden, the son of current President Joe Biden, was found guilty of three felonies in a federal gun trial
Five Weeks Ago
- June 27: President Biden’s horror show of a debate against former President Trump prompted influential members of the Democratic party to call for their incumbent candidate to get out of the race
- June 28: The Supreme Court gutted the power of federal agencies to regulate the environment, public health, and other issues
- June 28: The Supreme Court wiped out obstruction charges against hundreds of defendants, including President Trump, who tried to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th
Four Weeks Ago
- July 1: The Supreme Court turned the chief executive of the United States from a citizen with executive privileges into a constitutional monarch with presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for his (or her or their) actions
Three Weeks Ago
- July 8: Hurrican Beryl made landfall in Texas and, over the next three days, caused roughly $4.5 billion in damages, including heavy flooding in my home state of Vermont, where at least two people died, bridges were wiped out, and one apartment building was completely washed downriver
Two Weeks Ago
- July 13: Former President Trump survived an assassination attempt
- July 15: Using an argument supplied by a notoriously corrupt Supreme Court justice, a Federal judge appointed by President Trump dismissed all charges against her former boss in a case having to do with the willful mishandling of classified documents
- July 15: Former President Trump selected the youngest national candidate in U.S. history, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, to be his running mate
- July 15: A user on X.com tweeted out a joke that soon went viral, swarming social media with thousands of memes accusing the Ohio senator of once having sex with his couch
- July 17: A lightning strike set off a wildfire near the Oregon-Idaho state line that, as of this writing, has devoured over 293,000 acres
- July 17: President Biden announced that the only thing that will cause him to drop out of the race is a health condition
- July 18: President Biden tested positive for COVID-19
One Week Ago
- July 21: President Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as the next Democratic standard-bearer.
- July 21: Over 50% of Democratic governors, 66% of Democratic senators, and 73% of Democratic U.S. representatives endorsed Vice-President Harris for the 2024 election
- July 21: Earth’s hottest July 21st on record
- July 22: Earth’s hottest day EVER on record
- July 23: Earth’s hottest July 23rd on record
- July 23: The Director of the Secret Service resigned in the wake of the assassination attempt
- July 24: A man in California pushed a burning car down an embankment, sparking the fourth-largest wildfire in California history, the Park Fire, which is still in flames one week later, having burned more than 593 square miles
- July 24: 100% of Democratic governors, 96% of Democratic senators, and 94% of Democratic representatives endorsed Vice-President Harris
- July 24: A man wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity received a standing ovation from U.S. senators and representatives as he spoke in the well of the United States Congress
- July 25: Former President Trump announced he will not debate V.P. Harris because he can’t trust the Democrats not to replace her, pointing at former President Obama’s lack of an endorsement as proof of Democratic wavering
- July 26: Former President Obama endorsed V.P. Harris
This Week
- July 30: More than 90 active wildfires in the United States are currently burning through roughly 2 million acres of U.S. land
The Future
The theorists might not have pinpointed the exact moment of the singularity, but their frameworks provide a lens through which to view the chaos of today’s world. The exponential growth of information — coupled with the capitalist motives of corporate media — has led to our dizzying reality. The pace at which information spreads and events unfold seems to accelerate daily, challenging our ability to process and respond.
The Jumping Jesus phenomenon — if indeed it is real — may not have reached its final climax, but it seems undeniable that we’re witnessing a period in U.S. history unlike any before. The rapid succession of unprecedented events—political, environmental, and social—demands new ways of thinking and acting. We may not yet have conscious machines or a workforce-free society, but the disorientation of our non-singularity is real, and it requires us to adapt quickly to a world where the only constant is change.