New Study Suggests Earth Could Be Intelligent Being

As it turns out, the very cosmic rock we're living on at this moment may be considered an intelligent being. While the phrase doesn't necessarily mean the planet Earth will turn out to be a real-life Ego the Living Planet, a team of researchers say in a recent study the planet does, in fact, show similar processes other living, intelligent beings possess.

"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," Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, writes in the abstract for the study conducted by him and his team.

Recently published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Frank and his team compare their ideas to the Gaia hypothesis, which posits Earth maintains itself due to its relationship with the air, water, land, and other minerals found on the planet.

"Right now, our civilisation 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," a press release in support of the study explains.

It adds, "Planets evolve through immature and mature stages, and planetary intelligence is indicative of when you get to a mature planet. 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 study can be read in its entirety here.