I understood perfectly in that moment what Edgar Mitchell meant by an “instant global consciousness”, and how we would likely never achieve this state of enlightenment among enough individuals to matter.

consciousness is like a river, it becomes turbulent when things start flowing quickly enough. the abrasive property of living in a society full of change is ironically what makes it difficult to relate to other people’s experience, as it is quite difficult to see the actions in another train’s wagons when the relative movement is too great.