In a peer-reviewed paper, researchers have claimed that the planet that we exist on could be an intelligent one. What do the researchers actually mean when they use intelligence as an adjective to describe the Earth? Check out this article for more information.
Published under the International Journal of Astrobiology, scientists have said that the Earth could be intelligent. By intelligent the scientists meant that our planet can possess similar character traits other living, intelligent beings possess. A researcher who wrote this peer-reviewed said,
“Conventionally, intelligence is seen as a property of individuals. However, it is also known to be a property of collectives. Here, we broaden the idea of intelligence as a collective property and extend it to the planetary scale,”
More about the team behind this project.
The team of researchers who took part in this project included Adam Frank who is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester. He was joined by David Grinspoon and Sara Walker who help propagate the proceedings of the same. A press release which was published by Cambridge University Press iterated on the fact that our civilization is what the researchers called an ‘immature technosphere’.
It added, “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,”
The researchers appended by adding that planets evolve through immature and mature stages, and planetary intelligence was exactly indicative of when you get to a mature planet. One of the researchers said, “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.”