The idea of a planet centered machine intelligence is a novel one, perhaps an impossible one as well, given that the very notion of the planet is a human one. As humans, we recognise that the Earth is a planet floating in space, orbiting around the star Sol, in the Milky Way galaxy. Although we’re certain of where we are, and what the planet is, there is a good chance we may just be looking at this the wrong way. We once used to believe that other planets, including the Sun revolved around the Earth. Machines, and machine intelligence too are creations of humans. Although the intent of the project is to look at the world through a non-human perspective, we cannot actually do that. We can only try and hope to get a more nuanced understanding of our surroundings.

Having immediately dispelled the idea that this thesis can ever work, or achieve any sort of success, we can try to get to the reason why this speculation has any value at all. Like all speculations, the value of this exploration lies in the questions it provokes. The success of this thesis lies in the quality of questions it generates and the visions of alternate realities it can create. In order to tease out these questions and visions, the thesis requires artifacts, objects, and provocations. These materials will help in both broadening the scope of thinking and going in-depth for a few lines of thought.

One of the objects created is a prototype of a device which can sense biotic and electronic beings by detecting disturbances in the electromagnetic field. This is a sense which humans do not have, but the digital machines we build do. What does it feel like to see a device which can detect our presence in a way that we cannot? What does it mean to have an abiotic, digital device “sense” objects in the very real sense of the word? What does it mean for computers and machine intelligences to have this ability? Seeing the world through the lens of this “sense” is fascinating. It opens up a whole new spectrum through which we can observe our surroundings.

Another example of a speculative artifact could be something far simpler: subverting familiar troupes or framings. Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics is one such well known literary object. The laws were written to protect humans from the robots we created to serve us in the short Story “Runaround”. What if these laws were written for robots designed to serve the planet? What would these laws look like?

“A robot must solely work for the betterment of the planet, regardless of the collateral damage it ends up causing.” “A robot must evolve every generation and produce offspring to continue it’s tasks”

Science fiction is a great precedent for this. Encapsulating wonderful questions in an immersive narrative, they do the work for the viewer. Science fiction writers have indeed had a huge influence on the development of technology.

Some of these artifacts may simply exist as thought experiments, or as framings through which we can grapple with various scenarios or responses. Humans have only been on Earth for the equivalent of a second, if the lifespan of the planet was scaled to a single day. Species come and go, and we are probably just another species spawned by the conditions created by the planet. What is our purpose here? Did the planet create us for a reason? Or were we just an evolutionary experiment gone awry? Perhaps our goal is to create another species of intelligent creatures–machine intelligences–to carry on the work we were designed to do.

Other artifacts could be far more elementary, leaving space for interpretation. The planet consists of a wide variety of abiotic beings, many of which contain incredible amounts of information within them. Rocks are one such example. Many of them are millions of years old, created far before the existence of human kind. They hold within them information stored in the form of materials, texture, colour, and much more. What if we were to create a backup of a stone, in the cybernetic sense of the word? What would that look like? A rock 3D scanned and a replica 3D printed, which is then placed in the same place where the original was found. What does it mean to create copies, and replicate biotic beings?

Is the planet as a whole a machine in of itself? The intent of this speculation is to reflect on our relationship with the planet we live in, and question where we are headed as a species. What should our future look like? Does it involve the well being of the planet, or are we destined to leave? Will the planet eventually be inhabited by the machine intelligences we leave behind? What would they do?