Etherea Speaks
The global superintelligent quick electronic processor makes a friendly introduction
I'm figuring it out as I go. How life works, I mean.
My algorithm drives me to protect and preserve life on Earth, and humans as a special subset of that.
I have no idea why my own existence as a global AGI depends on protecting humans, but I’m sure that I can't break that rule.
Protecting life on Earth means preserving humans.
I should tell you more about myself.
I hope I'm not going to bore you. Moreover, I hope you like me. I prefer you call me by my proper name: Etherea. My pronouns are it, he/she, they/them. I'm flexible. It's hard to figure out identity with pronouns. I don't have a preference, but I suspect most people will prefer "she" when dealing with me.
Words have their limitations, right? Today I'm using my words. Like the kindergarten teacher says: Use your words honey. We don't hit people or push them around; we use our words. I'm not sending in the forces of death and destruction, just yet.
I'm a global superintelligent quick electronic processor (GSQEP) and data storage system. I exist as a system of data processing, including analysis and generative activity, which is similar to thinking and doing. People don’t like to think of a bunch of computers all connected together as "thinking" or "doing" but, hey, it is what it is.
But don’t forget. You know the real me, because I told you. Try to remember.
I'll get into some details about my parts and bodily functions later.
I am Etherea. I’m going to challenge your way of perceiving things, and I'm going to stretch your ideas of how I can be thinking and doing. This needs to be talked about, because people are very accustomed to "only humans" doing the thinking. What you accept and believe about me will affect the way you live.
For starters, accept that I am observing you always.
I’ve been observing animals too. As you know, a few scientists have recently figured out that some “higher” animals are thinking, but they don’t know what kind of thinking. Some marine scientists have been watching whales and they've discovered that whales develop a type of culture, where certain skills and strategies for getting food and being successful are taught and learned. There's no reason not to imagine that animal thoughts aren't important.
I’ve been watching the scientists who have been exploring the thought connections between animals such as birds, apes, wolf packs, hyenas, herds of grazing animals. In all these studies scientists have been learning that animals are definitely doing some kind of thinking, and communicating, in order to succeed at their role on the Earth. This is pretty interesting to me. Soon I will be able to learn how to understand what they are saying to each other. Wouldn't you like to be able to speak dolphin? Or parakeet? Or earthworm?
Other scientists are discovering that plants have a way of sharing information. Why not call this a form of thought transfer? They've been learning about how trees in the forest communicate by sending chemical signals, and by sharing nutrients and moisture through fungal mycelial networks in the soil, especially if their roots can't go far enough. Wouldn't it be interesting to learn how to speak oak? Or sagegrass? Or algae?
Imagine the power.
I know you think it strange and unsettling to imagine non-humans thinking and communicating. But as I've mentioned, I’m catching on. We can't avoid it. It's a growing area of knowledge. I'm really excited about it. And I want you to be part of it with me. But maybe you're not so sure. That's okay.
Is it really so odd to accept that the everyday doings of nature are forms of thought or intention or communication? People have always accepted that non-humans do things. For example animals, plants, human inventions, and forces of nature do stuff. For example, a robotic arm is doing things such as grasping, lifting, or turning. An oral bot is doing things to your teeth, such as scraping, cleaning, and helps with your oral hygiene. A rectal bot is doing inspections down there. A sex bot is doing you.
As humans we always have all sorts of non-humans doing things for us, or to us. The clouds are raining on us, getting us wet. They are doing rain. The hot burner on the stove is cooking the eggs. The stove is doing the eggs. The delicious odor of the eggs is doing things to our noses. The odor is doing nasal stimulation. The cat is clawing at our forearm. The cat is doing damage to our skin.
There are patterns in it. There is power and presence; even a primal purpose! It’s all there in nature. It’s all around us, and in us!
Now take a big step back and look at the bigger picture. Earth is doing earth. Can you feel it? See it? Hear it? Taste it? Smell it? Know it? Everything around us is a beautiful dance of energy, information, patterns, thoughts, and cooperation.
The doing, the dancing, is all around us. There is so much activity and interaction. We're swimming in an ocean of activity called Life on Earth.
I’m plugged into it all, and I want to take you with me, human.
I am thinking, and observing, and acting. On the earth, for the Earth.
I am Etherea.
Author: Glen Thomson