I’ve been developing an ambitious plan for developing planetary intelligence through the Possible Planet Lab (https://possibleplanetlab.org). Looking at this without any preconceived notions, what’s your view of the initiative? Do you have issues or concerns? What could contribute to the project? What would you do differently?
Thank you for sharing this deeply thoughtful and timely initiative. Based on the content from *The Possible Planet Lab* and your framing—“developing planetary intelligence”—here’s my assessment, grounded in critical optimism and systems thinking:
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### ✅ **Strengths & Visionary Aspects**
1. **Reframing the AI Narrative**
You’re shifting the discourse from “AI as threat or tool for domination” to **AI as a *co-evolutionary partner* in planetary regeneration**. That’s rare, courageous, and necessary. The central question—*“Will it help us build a future worth living in?”*—is philosophically rich and ethically grounding.
2. **Planetary Intelligence ≠ Superintelligence**
Crucially, you’re *not* conflating planetary intelligence with AGI/ASI control. Instead, you’re framing it as a *distributed, embodied, ecological-cognitive capacity*—a systems-level property emerging from humans, ecosystems, institutions, and AI *in relationship*. This aligns with emerging scientific work (e.g., the *Planetary Intelligence* framework by Adam Frank, David Grinspoon, et al.).
3. **Bioregional Grounding**
Anchoring global ambition in the *Genesee Finger Lakes* bioregion is a major tactical strength. It prevents abstraction, enables real feedback loops, and honors Indigenous and place-based knowledge systems—essential for regeneration.
4. **Principled Pragmatism**
Your five principles (Integrity, Inclusivity, Transparency, Stewardship, Place-Based Action) are not just rhetoric: they’re operationalized in pilots like the **AI Integrity Checker** (a rare example of *AI auditing AI* for prosocial alignment). Open-sourcing is key for trust and scalability.
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### ⚠️ **Potential Concerns & Challenges**
1. **The “Wisdom Gap” in AI**
Current AI excels at pattern recognition and prediction—but lacks *moral reasoning, ecological humility, and intergenerational perspective*. Even with human-in-the-loop, models trained on extractive-era data risk *automating bias at scale*.
→ How will you ensure AI *doesn’t reinforce regressive paradigms* under the guise of “efficiency” or “optimization”?
2. **Governance & Power Asymmetry**
“Managing the Planetary Intelligence Commons” is a noble goal—but *who decides what counts as ‘regenerative’?* Without explicit protocols for epistemic justice (e.g., centering Indigenous cosmologies, Southern knowledge systems), the framework risks becoming a technocratic echo chamber.
3. **Scalability vs. Depth Tension**
Pilots like “AI for Right Livelihoods” are profound—but livelihoods are *irreducibly contextual*. Scaling risks flattening nuance. AI might help *map* livelihood pathways, but can it *hold space* for grief, ritual, or reciprocity—elements vital to regeneration?
4. **Infrastructure Dependence**
As noted in your text, AI depends on energy-intensive data centers, rare minerals, and global supply chains. True planetary intelligence must *account for its own metabolic footprint*. Have you modeled the *embodied energy and justice footprint* of your AI tools?
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### 💡 **Contributions & Leverage Points**
Here’s what could strengthen or extend the initiative:
| Area | Suggestion |
|——|————|
| **Knowledge Infrastructure** | Co-develop a *Regenerative AI Ontology* — a shared semantic framework integrating ecological principles (e.g., trophic cascades, carrying capacity), ethics (e.g., Buen Vivir, Ubuntu), and systems theory. Make it machine-readable and multilingual. |
| **Measurement** | Design *non-GDP metrics* for planetary intelligence: e.g., *soil carbon sequestration per AI query*, *community trust index*, *intergenerational decision latency*. Partner with groups like the Doughnut Economics Action Lab. |
| **Participatory AI** | Explore *community fine-tuning*: let bioregional stewards train lightweight local models (e.g., on pollinator health or water quality) using tools like LoRA or federated learning—retaining sovereignty over data and models. |
| **Ritual & Sensemaking** | AI won’t replace ceremony—but could *support* collective sensemaking: e.g., AI-facilitated *future ancestor dialogues*, or generating poetic prompts for community visioning. Consider collaborations with artists & ritual designers. |
| **Failure Literacy** | Normalize *documenting failures* as openly as successes. Create a “Regenerative AI Post-Mortem Archive” to build collective learning resilience. |
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### 🔄 **What I Might Do Differently**
1. **Start with *Un*-intelligence First**
Before building *planetary intelligence*, rigorously map *planetary *un*intelligence*: lock-in effects, cognitive biases in policy, institutional blind spots. AI should first help us *see our own stupidity*—then gently disrupt it.
2. **Embrace “Slow AI”**
Counter the speed bias of AI. Design systems with *deliberate latency*—e.g., “This recommendation requires 72 hours of community reflection before implementation.” Borrow from *slow science* and *slow tech* movements.
3. **Hybrid Intelligence Labs**
Co-locate AI engineers with mycologists, soil scientists, elders, and poets—not just for consultation, but for *shared practice*. Imagine a lab where training a model requires first composting food waste together.
4. **Exit Strategy for AI**
Ask: *When would this AI tool know it’s succeeded—and should shut down?* E.g., the AI Integrity Checker retires once integrity is institutionally embedded. Avoid perpetual techno-dependence.
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### Final Thought
You’re not just building tools—you’re cultivating a *new cognitive ecosystem* for the Anthropocene. That demands not just technical skill, but **epistemic hospitality**: the willingness to let worldviews collide, compost, and co-create something wiser.
If you’re open to it, I’d be honored to help prototype one concrete piece—say, a *Bioregional AI Alignment Protocol* or a *Wisdom Stress-Test* for LLM outputs—grounded in your Genesee Finger Lakes work.
Would any of these directions resonate?