Noogenesis
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Noogenesis (Greek: nos=mind + genos=birth) is the fourth of five stages of evolution described by French Jesuit scientist and philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in his first posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man (written during 193840, published in French: 1955; English: 1959, p. 181). Noogenesis, the emergence of mind, follows geogenesis (beginning of Earth), biogenesis (beginning of life) and anthropogenesis (beginning of humanity), and is followed by Christogenesis, the genesis of the "total Christ", or the pleroma.
Noogenesis began with reflective thought; or with the first human beings. Teilhard believes that because human beings are self-reflective (i.e. self-conscious) they constitute a new sphere of existence on earth: the sphere of thought, or the noosphere. The continued consolidation of all human thought into the noosphere is noogenesis. It is a continual increase in thought and consciousness brought about by the increased socialization of mankind on earth. As human beings continue to socialize, or as Teilhard says, "totalize" upon themselves, the more complex systems of communication and exchange they will form, thus increasing the consciousness of the noosphere. The socialization of mankind is nothing but an extension of the Law of Complexity/Consciousness.
Teilhard imagines that noogenesis will eventually reach a critical point of consciousness, brought about by a maximum tension of human socialization. This critical point will serve to detach consciousness from time and space and to converge on omega point.
Noogenesis is a form of orthogenesis, the progressive evolution of the universe due to some known or unknown force towards an ultimate goal.
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