Can a planet have a mind of its own? Thought experiment

Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
University of Rochester
Summary:
Astrophysicists combine current scientific understanding about the
Earth with broader questions about how life alters a planet to ask:
if a planet with life has a life of its own, can it also have a
mind of its own? The research raises new ideas about the ways in
which humans might tackle global issues such as climate change.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The collective activity of life -- all of the microbes, plants, and
animals - - have changed planet Earth.


========================================================================== Take, for example, plants: plants 'invented' a way of undergoing
photosynthesis to enhance their own survival, but in so doing, released
oxygen that changed the entire function of our planet. This is just
one example of individual lifeforms performing their own tasks, but collectively having an impact on a planetary scale.

If the collective activity of life -- known as the biosphere -- can change
the world, could the collective activity of cognition, and action based
on this cognition, also change a planet? Once the biosphere evolved,
Earth took on a life of its own. If a planet with life has a life of
its own, can it also have a mind of its own? These are questions posed
by Adam Frank, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Physics
and Astronomy at the University of Rochester, and his colleagues David Grinspoon at the Planetary Science Institute and Sara Walker at Arizona
State University, in a paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology. Their self-described "thought experiment" combines current scientific understanding about the Earth with broader questions about
how life alters a planet. In the paper, the researchers discuss what
they call "planetary intelligence" -- the idea of cognitive activity
operating on a planetary scale -- to raise new ideas about the ways in
which humans might tackle global issues such as climate change.

As Frank says, "If we ever hope to survive as a species, we must use
our intelligence for the greater good of the planet." An 'immature technosphere' Frank, Grinspoon, and Walker draw from ideas such as the
Gaia hypothesis - - which proposes that the biosphere interacts strongly
with the non-living geological systems of air, water, and land to maintain Earth's habitable state -- to explain that even a non-technologically
capable species can display planetary Intelligence. The key is that the collective activity of life creates a system that is self-maintaining.



==========================================================================
For example, Frank says, many recent studies have shown how the roots of
the trees in a forest connect via underground networks of fungi known
as mycorrhizal networks. If one part of the forest needs nutrients,
the other parts send the stressed portions the nutrients they need to
survive, via the mycorrhizal network. In this way, the forest maintains
its own viability.

Right now, our civilization is what the researchers call an "immature technosphere," a conglomeration of human-generated systems and technology
that directly affects the planet but is not self-maintaining. For
instance, the majority of our energy usage involves consuming fossil
fuels that degrade Earth's oceans and atmosphere. The technology and
energy we consume to survive are destroying our home planet, which will,
in turn, destroy our species.

To survive as a species, then, we need to collectively work in the best interest of the planet.

But, Frank says, "we don't yet have the ability to communally respond
in the best interests of the planet. There is intelligence on Earth,
but there isn't planetary intelligence." Toward a mature technosphere
The researchers posit four stages of Earth's past and possible future to illustrate how planetary intelligence might play a role in humanity's
long-term future. They also show how these stages of evolution driven
by planetary intelligence may be a feature of any planet in the galaxy
that evolves life and a sustainable technological civilization.

* Stage 1 -- Immature biosphere: characteristic of very early Earth,
billions of years ago and before a technological species, when
microbes were present but vegetation had not yet come about. There
were few global feedbacks because life couldn't exert forces on
Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and other planetary systems.

* Stage 2 -- Mature biosphere:characteristic of Earth, also before a
technological species, from about 2.5 billion to 540 million
years ago.

Stable continents formed, vegetation and photosynthesis developed,
oxygen built up in the atmosphere, and the ozone layer emerged. The
biosphere exerted a strong influence on the Earth, perhaps helping
to maintain Earth's habitability.

* Stage 3 -- Immature technosphere: characteristic of Earth now, with
interlinked systems of communication, transportation, technology,
electricity, and computers. The technosphere is still immature,
however, because it is not integrated into other Earth systems,
such as the atmosphere. Instead, it draws matter and energy from
Earth's systems in ways that will drive the whole into a new state
that likely doesn't include the technosphere itself. Our current
technosphere is, in the long run, working against itself.

* Stage 4 -- Mature technosphere: where Earth should aim to be in the
future, Frank says, with technological systems in place that
benefit the entire planet, including globally harvesting energy
in forms like solar that do not harm the biosphere. The mature
technosphere is one that has co-evolved with the biosphere into a
form that allows both the technosphere and the biosphere to thrive.



========================================================================== "Planets evolve through immature and mature stages, and planetary
intelligence is indicative of when you get to a mature planet," Frank
says. "The million- dollar question is figuring out what planetary
intelligence looks like and means for us in practice because we don't
know how to move to a mature technosphere yet." The complex system
of planetary intelligence Although we don't yet know specifically how
planetary intelligence might manifest itself, the researchers note that
a mature technosphere involves integrating technological systems with
Earth through a network of feedback loops that make up a complex system.

Put simply, a complex system is anything built from smaller parts that
interact in such a fashion that the overall behavior of the system is
entirely dependent on the interaction. That is, the sum is more than
the whole of its parts.

Examples of complex systems include forests, the Internet, financial
markets, and the human brain.

By its very nature, a complex system has entirely new properties that
emerge when individual pieces are interacting. It is difficult to discern
the personality of a human being, for instance, solely by examining the
neurons in her brain.

That means it is difficult to predict exactly what properties might
emerge when individuals form a planetary intelligence. However, a complex system like planetary intelligence will, according to the researchers,
have two defining characteristics: it will have emergent behavior and
will need to be self- maintaining.

"The biosphere figured out how to host life by itself billions of years
ago by creating systems for moving around nitrogen and transporting
carbon," Frank says. "Now we have to figure out how to have the same kind
of self-maintaining characteristics with the technosphere." The search
for extraterrestrial life Despite some efforts, including global bans
on certain chemicals that harm the environment and a move toward using
more solar energy, "we don't have planetary intelligence or a mature technosphere yet," he says. "But the whole purpose of this research
is to point out where we should be headed." Raising these questions,
Frank says, will not only provide information about the past, present,
and future survival of life on Earth but will also help in the search for
life and civilizations outside our solar system. Frank, for instance, is
the principal investigator on a NASA grant to search for technosignatures
of civilizations on planets orbiting distant stars.

"We're saying the only technological civilizations we may ever see
-- the ones we should expect to see -- are the ones that didn't kill themselves, meaning they must have reached the stage of a true planetary intelligence," he says.

"That's the power of this line of inquiry: it unites what
we need to know to survive the climate crisis with what
might happen on any planet where life and intelligence evolve." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Rochester. Original
written by Lindsey Valich. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Adam Frank, David Grinspsoon, Sara Walker. Intelligence as
a planetary
scale process. International Journal of Astrobiology, 2022; 1 DOI:
10.1017/S147355042100029X ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216153857.htm

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