Thread by @davetroy

1/PART 1, THE EVENT: I’ve been working on an investigation for @WashSpec that reaches to the very top of the Kremlin. It’s a few weeks from completion, but we decided to share this work in progress early because failing to do so may place people in significant danger.

2/Vladimir Putin believes the Westphalian nation-state model is obsolete, and is ushering in his radical idea of a replacement, based on the idea of the "Noosphere" first popularized by 20th c. Russian "cosmist" Vladimir Vernadsky. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_…

3/Vernadsky, a scientist much admired in both Russia and Ukraine, theorized that Earth must undergo three distinct phases. Geosphere (bare rock), Biosphere (hosting life), and Noosphere (hosting consciousness). rand.org/pubs/perspecti…

4/Vernadsky said "to expect ruthless struggles, shocks and tremors, and even an apocalypse" as part of the transition from Biosphere (Bio=life) to Noosphere (Noos=mind). Putin seems to have latched onto this as a mystic prophecy.

5/Many Americans may be familiar with the Noosphere idea as popularized in the 20th c. by Vernadsky's colleagues Pierre Teilhard De Chardin and Édouard Le Roy. The three met in Paris in 1922 to discuss the concept, which became popular in "New Age" circles. More on that later.

6/Most have seen the "noosphere" as a utopian, optimistic vision: "what would happen if humanity could learn to cooperate, instead of fight?" Putin, however, has co-opted it into a different concept: "Noocracy" — rule by the wise, or a kind of "meritocratous monarchy."

7/He sees it as a kind of "third way," pushing back the failures of democracy and the hegemony of the West. He married Vernadsky's idea with Duginism to produce a Eurasianist ethnocentric noocracy. In 2016 Putin appointed Anton Vaino as his chief of staff. web.archive.org/web/2018081003…

8/Anton Vaino claims to have co-invented a device called a "Nooscope" which he says is able to measure the entirety of global consciousness. If this sounds like nonsense to Western ears, it's because it is — "God is part of... the Third Way," says Vaino. madscientistblog.ca/anton-vaino-on…

9/Vaino claims to have gotten his ideas from a project at @Princeton, The Global Consciousness Project (GCP), which uses a global network of sensors to detect "effects on consciousness" resulting from "major world events." It has been widely discredited. noosphere.princeton.edu

10/Begun in 1998 by Roger Nelson, he claims that he was able to detect measurable effects on random number generators during the attacks on Sep. 11, 2001 — which galvanized the world. Other scientists suggest he cherry-picked his data in claiming his result.

11/Vaino is still Putin's Chief of Staff, realistically the #2 spot in the Kremlin. While many discount the influence of Aleksandr Dugin (who has no official position in the Kremlin hierarchy), Vaino is arguably central to Putin's vision. bbc.com/news/world-eur…

12/In recent weeks, multiple Kremlin-fed propaganda channels have become increasingly apocalyptic — all discussing "an event" that would usher in major changes. At least one such channel is calling for an "extinction level event." Others are invoking religious pretexts.

13/Teilhard hypothesized a moment called the "Omega Point" marking the transition from Biosphere to Noosphere. This may be what Putin and Vaino are aiming to trigger with an "event," to be measured and manipulated with his imagined "Nooscope."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Poi…

14/One propaganda channel says "the event" will include a "flash," the "arrest of the cabal," the "global financial reset" etc — themes familiar from QAnon and related information warfare. While this is lunacy, it provides an eschatological justification to welcome "the event."

15/In propaganda channels, the nature of "the event" runs the gamut from solar flares toalien visitation to Jesus' return, or other triggers (Iran, North Korea). These narratives may provide cover for Putin to initiate a nuclear "Noospheric" event, while muddying attribution.

16/Putin also sees Artificial Intelligence as key to the Noosphere. In 2017 he said, "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world," and "There are huge opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to foresee today." edition.cnn.com/2017/09/01/wor…

17/This fits with his idea of a Noocracy, as merit would be determined by the sum total of human and machine intelligence. Technologies like Musk's Starlink and Neuralink may also contribute to the Noosphere/Noocracy. This also jibes with Longtermism. aeon.co/essays/why-lon…

18/This takes us to Trump's espionage and his fealty to Putin. While very few know specifically what he stole, we do know 1) his activities have eroded US power, 2) he took actions to undermine the US Intelligence Community. This helps advance Putin's Noosphere plan.

19/For example, we made the decision to widely publicize this info rather than report it to people in government, because qualified sources we spoke with suggested it would get silenced inside agencies. Public awareness is required to force USIC and the White House into action.

20/The idea of an "Omega Point," when magic would occur, may offers one explanation for why Trump and many others have acted as if they have total impunity; they may have come to believe that ALL governments' days are numbered.

21/The Noospheric "Omega Point" also meshes well with Christian eschatology, and offers a syncretic unifying motivator across Eastern Orthodox, Western Christian, and New Age belief systems. Vernadsky is also widely admired in Russia and Ukraine — another mystic Eurasian unifier.

22/The end stage of Noospheric woo is called "Gaia," when the global consciousness fully aligns, all war and strife ends, and people live in harmony. This narrative also typically involves the elimination of central banks and (often Jewish) banking networks and families.

23/This video from Italy in 2008 offers an early articulation of this Gaia/Noospheric vision: a world without nation states (the end of the Westphalian model) and a kind of laissez-faire capitalist networked rule — similar to Putin's current articulations.

24/We face a serious threat. Analysts are thinking in terms of power competition within the Westphalian model. Putin and Vaino are looking to bypass it. Regardless of whether that's sane or workable, we cannot evaluate the threat unless we comprehend their mental models.

25/A review of Vaino's 2012 book "Image of Victory" said it offers "a recipe for global domination," and that Vaino values "striking when the opponent least expects it." And we are not expecting a strike, especially not of this mystical, bizarre nature. moneyweek.com/448641/anton-v…

26/I am sure some will dismiss this analysis, and they do so either at their peril, or because they are bought into Putin's agenda. That's fine, pushback is to be expected. The important part is that those who need to see this, see it. I expect that will now happen.

27/If we have ruined Putin's element of surprise, then good — that's the goal. We will see his actions and any "world consciouness events" for what they are. In the meantime, there is much more to this story, and I will tell it in three more parts over the next few days.

28/In the meantime this is the most urgent part that needs to circulate now, so please share widely so that others in media can start trying to understand this and report on it. Thank you for your help. More soon.

29/I'll add: this doesn't mean a nuclear apocalypse is probable. But it does mean that the threat of one, or a limited event, may well be used to advance a plan to abandon the Westphalian model in favor of a Noocratic one. Analysts must understand that as a motivation.