A true gem of an audiobook (as narrated by John Hodgman). Funny throughout and there are nuggets enough in here for whole novels. ( )

review here ( )

Hodgman rules as Carmody! ( )

A retreat from the heights of the glorious "Mindswap", it is still an adequate entertainment. Tom Carmody, a civil servant of moderate attainments, wins a prize in the Galactic Lottery. The error is further compounded that to truly enjoy his prize, Carmody should return to Earth. But which Earth? There are several options available, as "Earth" is a common name for the planets housing different sentient species. And then, there is the Law of Universal Predation to contend with... ( )

Viva la dialecticacacaca! Anyway, on the unitary consciousness and death, here is a very nice excerpt from Robert Sheckley's “Dimension of Miracles”, in which the hero (Carmody) has a chat with a God (Melichrone):

"I abolished them," Melichrone said. "I did away with all life on my
planet, living and otherwise, and I also deleted the Hereafter.
Frankly, I needed time to think."

"Huh," Carmody said, shocked.

"In another sense, though, I didn't destroy anything or anyone,"
Melichrone said hastily. "I simply gathered the fragments of myself
back into myself." Melichrone grinned suddenly. "I had quite a number
of wild-eyed fellows who were always talking about attaining a oneness
with Me. They've attained it now, that's for sure!"

"Perhaps they like it that way," Carmody suggested.

"How can they know? Melichrone said. "Oneness with Me means Me; it
necessarily involves loss of the consciousness which examines one's
oneness. It is exactly the same as death, though it sounds much nicer."

I love all that Robert Sheckley kind of stuff.

Except I'd question why oneness with Melichrone would "necessarily" involve "loss of the consciousness which examines one's oneness", rather than the gaining of the consciousness that examines every one's onenesses in turn. There is no proof or evidence of the absolute loss of consciousness from one realm or form of being to another. There is merely the "feeling" or intuitively high "probability" that consciousness is inextricably tied to the only realm that one knows of at a given time. Common sense. Life experience. Observation of others. Nothing that anyone has ever said has _proved_ anything. It has all been assertions trying to support one or other intellectual viewpoint, sometimes with good-humour, sometimes without. Which is fine, as long as we recognise that beyond meeting our basic survival needs, human existence is nothing more than a game. We have intellects and we enjoy exercising them - some of us more than others. At heart we are all Homo Ludens, whether we're watching Celebrity Big Brother or discussing Ultimate Reality; it's all the same thing - looking for something to stimulate and interest us.

Sure, over time we advance human knowledge and some of us benefit from that. But D'Espagnat is not saying that our consciousness survives, nor did Schrödinger. And the idea of a universal consciousness is meaningless without a convincing demonstration of what it is and how it operates. And I suspect that, like God, such proof will be a long time a'coming. And do we live in a dog-eat-dog world of survival of the fittest and individual greed? No, we don't. That's a caricature and not the society that most of us inhabit. Most of us just get on with our lives, working, falling in love, meeting friends and family. We sometimes make mistakes, but few of us are desperate to do down those around us; most of us don't think that we're constantly under attack by other people or The System, and while many of us consume too much, we do so by mistake rather than with greedy intent. ( )