Event
SG - Planetary Mind?
To many, the Earth is just the third rock from the Sun. But is it possible to speak of it as intelligent?
The speculative concept of planetary intelligence is drawn from the Gaia hypothesis originally formulated by James Lovelock. Lovelock proposes that the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere are a tightly coupled, self-regulating system that maintains conditions favourable for life. While Gaia was never meant to imply consciousness, some interpretations suggest that Earth’s complex systems exhibit emergent, life-sustaining behaviour akin to intelligence. In short: the ability to sense, adapt, and respond at a global scale.
In this second session, we examine how life and environment interact across scales, and ask: could these feedback mechanisms be interpreted as signs of a “living and intelligent planet”? Or are such comparisons a bridge too far?
About lecture series Intelligence? Plants, Planets, Computers
Until relatively recently intelligence was seen as something uniquely human, the one defining trait that set us apart from the rest of nature. But already Charles Darwin (The Descent of Man (1871)) seriously considered that other creatures might be intelligent too. Nowadays this idea has sparked a ripple effect. There’s growing research on sentient plants, clever fungi, cunning bacteria etc. Some researchers even ask whether ecosystems or entire planets might be considered intelligent. And now, with the rise of artificial intelligence, we no longer hesitate to call machines intelligent.
In this series we question the use of the word intelligence by looking at its strengths and limitations across different fields. Maybe intelligence is simply a measure of adaptability: a capacity to survive and respond across a wide range of environments? Or is this too broad and do we need a more strict definition?