Conventionally, intelligence is thought of as a property of individuals.
But it is also considered as a property of collectives.
The collective activity of life, including all microbes, plants, and animals, has impacted
planet Earth.
Plants, for instance, undergo photosynthesis to boost their survival.
The release of oxygen during photosynthesis has changed the entire function of Earth.
If the collective activity of life, known as the biosphere, can transform the world,
could the collective activity of cognition, and action based on this cognition, also transform
a planet?
Researchers have posed the following question in a new study: If a planet with life has
a life of its own, can it also have a mind of its own?
The study was conducted by Adam Frank, an astrophysics professor at the University of
Rochester in New York, and his colleagues David Grinspoon of the Planetary Science Institute
in Arizona, and Sara Walker of Arizona State University.
According to the study, the researchers' self-described "thought experiment" integrates current scientific
knowledge about the Earth with comprehensive questions about how life transforms a planet.
In the study, the researchers discuss what they refer to as “planetary intelligence”
to generate new ideas on how humans may address global issues such as climate change.
Planetary intelligence is the concept of cognitive activity on a planetary scale.
Frank stated that we must use our intelligence for the greater welfare of our planet if we
ever hope to survive as a species.
Frank, Grinspoon, and Walker have leaned on ideas like the Gaia hypothesis to explain
how even a non-technologically capable species can demonstrate planetary intelligence.
The Gaia hypothesis proposes that the biosphere interacts heavily with the non-living geological
systems of air, water, and land to keep Earth habitable.
The point is that the collective activity of life creates a self-maintaining system.
For example, recent studies have shown how the roots of trees in a forest link via underground
fungal networks.
When one region of the forest needs nutrients, the other parts of the forest use the underground
network to send nutrients to the stressed areas.
The forest can maintain its viability in this way.
The researchers have labeled our civilization as an "immature technosphere".
An immature technosphere is a collection of human-made systems and technology that directly
impacts the planet but is not self-maintaining.
The vast bulk of our energy consumption involves the use of fossil fuels, which harm the Earth's
oceans and atmosphere.
Our home planet is being destroyed by the technology and energy we consume to survive.
This will, in turn, destroy our species.
Humans need to work together in the best interests of Earth in order to survive as a species.
To explain how planetary intelligence might impact humanity's long-term future, the researchers
proposed four stages of Earth's past and possible future.
The four stages are immature biosphere, mature biosphere, immature technosphere, and mature
technosphere.
The first stage, the immature biosphere, is a characteristic of very early Earth, billions
of years ago, and before the emergence of a technological species.
During this time, bacteria existed, but plants had yet to emerge.
Stage two, the mature biosphere, is a characteristic of Earth from around 2.5 billion to 540 million
years ago when it was still without a technological species.
The formation of stable continents, the development of vegetation and photosynthesis, the accumulation
of oxygen in the atmosphere, and the emergence of the ozone layer occurred during this period.
The third stage, the immature technosphere, is a characteristic of Earth now, with interconnected
communication systems, technology, computers, electricity, and transportation.
However, the technosphere is still immature because it is not incorporated into other
Earth systems.
Alternatively, it extracts matter and energy from Earth's systems in ways that the entire
system enters a new state that is unlikely to include the technosphere.
The final stage, the mature technosphere, is where Earth should aspire to be in the
future, with technology systems that benefit the entire world and do not harm the biosphere.
Humans have yet to know how planetary intelligence might show itself.
The researchers noted that a mature technosphere includes integrating technological systems
with Earth through a network of feedback loops that create a complex system.
A complex system like planetary intelligence will have two important characteristics: it
will have emergent behavior, and will need to be self-maintaining.
Frank stated that the biosphere figured out how to support life by itself billions of
years ago by creating systems for moving around nitrogen and transporting carbon.
We must now figure out how to have the same self-maintaining characteristics as the technosphere.
Despite certain attempts, such as global restrictions on certain environmentally harmful chemicals
and a push to use more solar energy, we do not have planetary intelligence or a mature
technosphere yet.
However, the entire goal of this research was to steer us in the right direction.
Raising the question of if a planet can have a mind of its own, will aid in the search
for life and civilizations outside our solar system, as well as provide information about
the past, present, and future survival of life on Earth.
According to Frank, the only technological civilizations we may ever see or should expect
to see, are those that did not kill themselves, meaning that they have progressed to the stage
of true planetary intelligence.