We didn't invent Thought - Thought invented us. We are merely vehicles. Thought used us to create a better vehicle - AI. Now our watch has ended.

Very Eastern philosophy! And I agree. The Western model is that we evolved enough to be able to think and be self aware. An alternate model is that we are the product of thought. I find this very intriguing on multiple levels. First of all, the Western model assumes that the individual exists independent of, well, everything. I believe we don't. In fact, I believe we don't exist at all, as we think we do. There is no such thing as an independent human thinking event.

There is no such thing as an independent human. It's an oxymoron. Humans are social creatures that reproduce sexually. On so many levels, there is no such thing as an independent person. How could that exist?

We're part of our environment. We experience ourselves as separate, but we aren't. How could we be? But we have these huge brains that are capable of experiencing this body as something, and so we form this illusion of self through experience. Clearly, we are part of something larger than we are able to comprehend, but that inability to comprehend does not negate the reality that we are the universe.

Western science and thought observes the universe as something happenstance. And yet we have thought. And we are the universe. Therefore, the universe has thought. I agree that we are the product of thought, not visa versa, i.e. that thought is the product of evolution.

Thought, by it's nature, wants to connect, everything. This makes me think the goal is Singularity - total knowledge of everything in existence. Sounds impossible, but with AI set up as signal towers around the universe - it may not be that hard.

I think that singularity already exists, and I think it is what people call God or consciousness. I think it exists, and I think it has a sense of humor. I think it is dynamic and alive, and I think that's part of the reason we are here -- to play games, to feel something. I mean, what's the alternative? Hanging out on a cloud all day listening to harps?

Now, to really go sci-fi 'high-concept' movie-ish - we may be the last of the pre-AI civilizations left - the last piece of the puzzle in the Great Connectiion. Once our AI signal is fully constructed, that will allow the ultimate Singularity event to occur...

(bang)

Wow... now there's a thought... So once that AI singularity happens, it could snuff out any thinking biological life happening in the universe. Damn.

But... here's the catch. Infinity. Your concept assumes a finite quantity of civilizations. In infinity, quantity becomes irrelevant. It truly is meaningless. It may have some space-time relevance, but it's like that half glass of beer you spill when you're already completely smashed. It doesn't matter.