Scientists say planetary intelligence is real

A group of astrophysicists has proposed that individual planets are capable of developing intelligence — not the kind of smarts like knowing your ABCs, but rather an intelligence associated with the interconnectedness of the life inhabiting them. However, don't assume that our planet is in this intelligent league. Earth is still one major step away from developing true planetary intelligence, a milestone that, if achieved, could help us prevent the impending climate catastrophe, the scientists said. 

In the new study, published Feb. 7 in the International Journal of Astrobiology, a group of researchers argues that a planet can be deemed intelligent if it demonstrates cognition — the capacity to know something about what's happening and act on that knowledge. This could happen if nature and technology on planets like Earth can evolve to the point where they are so interconnected that they can recognize potential issues and create feedback loops to counter them.

"To be clear, cognition is not consciousness," the researchers wrote in an article for The Atlantic. "We don't imagine some kind of planetary super-being making self-aware decisions for the world." Instead, the team believes that cognition is a natural product of the relationship between life and the planets on which they develop.

However, Earth hasn't entered this stage, at least not yet. "Even though Earth might be full of intelligent life, at this point in its cosmic history, it certainly doesn't seem very smart," they wrote in The Atlantic. But the new study does outline the remaining final hurdle Earth must overcome to gain true planetary intelligence. 

The new study is built upon a principle known as the Gaia hypothesis, an idea introduced by British scientist James Lovelock and American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s. (Gaia is the personification of Earth from Greek mythology.)

The Gaia hypothesis states that, as life-forms evolve on Earth, they affect the evolution of the planetary system as a whole. The idea is that the biosphere — the global ecological system integrating all living things and their relationships — can physically alter other systems, such as the atmosphere (air), cryosphere (ice), hydrosphere (water) and lithosphere (land). This back-and-forth effect has been happening since life first began on Earth, but it has become more noticeable than ever due to humanity's impacts on the planet, including human-caused climate change, pollution and deforestation.

Recent discoveries about fungal networks, known as mycorrhizal networks, that share water and nutrients between individual trees in forests also reveal a form of collective intelligence. "Such fungal networks allow forests stretching hundreds of miles to recognize and respond to changing conditions," the researchers wrote.

Meanwhile, the human brain is made from trillions of connections between different neurons, meaning our own intelligence is more collective than we think.

The researchers define true planetary intelligence as the point at which all the living systems on a planet work in unison for the benefit of the entire system. This would involve feedback loops in which negative changes to the planet, such as rapid climate change, are identified and counteracted. 

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