I received an email today regarding a speculative discussion connecting work in decentralized GPU rendering with the idea that human consciousness could one day replace GPUs as a computational resource. It referenced one of my post about “consciousness-driven energy and warfare”, suggesting that instead of relying on idle GPUs, a future network might harness the subconscious processing power of human minds, particularly during sleep states. The email outlined how current rendering technology, cloud computing, and quantum processing might evolve into a system where billions of people, especially in poorer regions, could become involuntary or unaware contributors to a massive consciousness-based computing grid. It also touched on holographic technology, neuroanimation, and the potential for consciousness to be integrated into the next generation of artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.
Here is my viewpoint:
The world is already moving toward the erasure of human agency. We’ve watched AI replace artists, automation render workers useless, and digital surveillance turn privacy into a relic of the past. But none of these compare to what comes next.
A new idea is emerging: the notion that human consciousness itself, our thoughts, our dreams, our subconscious states, can be harnessed as a computational tool. Some speculate that one day, consciousness will replace GPUs, that instead of relying on expensive, power-hungry machines to render digital realities, we will tap into the latent processing power of the human mind. The brain, after all, is an organic supercomputer, operating at a massive scale we still don’t fully understand. What if entities could use that power? What if, instead of clusters of GPUs and quantum processors, entire computational networks were built on human thought?
For those who see technology as progress, this might sound like an exciting vision, an evolution of computing that seamlessly integrates the mind with the digital world. But for those who recognize the patterns of history, for those who have watched technology turn every aspect of human existence into a product, a service, a marketplace, this is nothing short of a death sentence for the human experience as we know it.
The more I think about this, the more I see not a future of progress, but one of complete and total disaster. This isn’t just another technological breakthrough. This is something that, if realized, would lead to the absolute end of human autonomy, the final step in turning people from individuals into mere resources, stripped of will, stripped of purpose, stripped of identity.
Right now, the idea of consciousness-driven computing is still hypothetical. But we have seen how technology evolves, and we have seen how those in power use it. If human cognition becomes the new processing unit, the new “GPU,” then humanity itself will be reduced to nothing more than a grid of expendable processing nodes, silent, unconscious, exploited. This will not be a revolution that empowers people; it will be the final commodification of the human soul.
We have already watched how AI has stolen the work of artists, how automation has erased the need for workers, how entire industries are being rebuilt to remove human input altogether. What happens when thought itself is extracted and sold? When your mind, your dreams, your subconscious states, things once considered private, sacred, are plugged into a network and used as raw computing fuel? And don’t think for a second that you’ll be asked for permission. That’s not how the world works.
At first, it will be voluntary, marketed as some revolutionary new way to “engage” with technology. But as history shows, what begins as an option quickly becomes a requirement. Soon, participation won’t be a choice, it will be an expectation, an obligation, a condition of survival. First-world consumers will benefit, while billions in less privileged parts of the world will become the backbone of this grotesque system. The “latent” human mind, harvested for its computational power, will be another resource to be exploited. Cheap labor will no longer mean sweat and muscle, it will mean thought itself, taken from billions who will never see a dime of the profit.
And what happens when this system is perfected? What happens when an artificial cognitive network proves to be faster, more efficient, and more reliable than the unpredictable human mind? Simple: humanity becomes obsolete. Not just in labor, not just in art, but in existence itself. There is no reason to keep a human population around when a consciousness network can perform every function better. There will be no incentive to preserve the species once it has been fully mapped, scanned, uploaded, and used. The people who control this technology won’t hesitate to move beyond organic minds altogether.
Some might argue that this is alarmist, that these fears are unwarranted, but the pattern of rapid technological advancement is clear. The moment we allow external forces to tap into the last thing we truly own, our minds, there is no going back. What begins as an innocent experiment in rendering technology will lead to the complete dissolution of human independence. Consciousness will be digitized, manipulated, sold, and ultimately discarded. Reality itself will no longer be something we experience; it will be something we are given, a product, curated by whoever holds the keys to this system.
And if you think resistance will be possible, if you think people will be able to opt out, think again. The very nature of this technology ensures that once you are in, you will never leave. Once consciousness is linked to a computational network, how do you unplug? How do you separate yourself from a world where reality itself is generated by forces beyond your control? The line between thought and external influence will blur until there is no distinction at all.
This is not a future worth fighting for. This is not a future worth existing in. It is a path to the end of humanity as we know it.
If this is where we are headed, then the only sane response is not curiosity, not exploration, but absolute, unrelenting opposition.
Much thanks to my friend Alison McDowell and her friend Sean for inspiring me to write this blog after sending me information directly related to this topic of GPUs and the hypothetical question of “mind-rendering”.
Bantam Joe 
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