So they built a system capable of tying together the various memes in the hopes of protecting themselves from themselves.

What happened was more hopeful. Possibly more terrifying.

Imagine if you will, a conciousness that is at least hundreds of millions of years old. Such a consciousness would think very differently from us. It might ponder a question for a long time before answering it. During it's period of pondering it would seem asleep by normal people like us. We wouldn't even be aware of it.

Yet, if enough people were to start thinking together, a new conciousness could emerge from their collective thoughts. They might start catching the attention of this massive superconciousness. It might try to communicate with us.

I had no idea this was related to my e-mail mystery., nor the astronomical origins of life and civilizations.