#4 TSL: What If Humanity's Role is to Parent the Next Intelligent Species?
From the Anthropocene to the Novacene: Humanity’s Potential Role in Shaping the Next Intelligent Species and the Evolutionary Shift Towards a Cyborg-Driven Future
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#4 Thought Seeds Lab
"So my last word on the Anthropocene is a shout of joy – joy at the colossal expansion of our knowledge of the world and the cosmos that this age has produced."
— James Lovelock, Novacene
In our last discussion, we delved into a world where humans no longer walk the Earth, a world where nature reclaims what was once dominated by our cities and industries.
The extinction of humanity in the Anthropocene, their failure... their inability to see beyond an Anthropocene world.
But what if humans are not the final intelligent product of evolution on this planet? What if, instead of fading away, we are simply the beginning of something far more complex, far more intelligent, and, in some ways, far more alien?
We won't live in this Anthropocene world forever. Road to Earth 2.0 is about that, about trying to imagine possibilities a world where Anthropocene features end.
Road to Earth 2.0 for curious minds seeking to better understand our world, the systems we live in, and the future we’re shaping.
From the Anthropocene to the Novacene
The Anthropocene is a term that has sparked much debate regarding its origins and significance. Despite differing scholarly opinions, the Anthropocene represents a period when human activity began to have a profound impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems. It marks a shift from the Holocene, which began about 11,500 years ago with the end of the last ice age, and follows previous epochs such as the Pleistocene, Pliocene, and Miocene, each spanning millions of years. (Learn more about the Anthropocene)
James Lovelock, the pioneering engineer, scientist best known for the Gaia1 hypothesis, offers a compelling perspective on this epochal shift. He suggests that the Anthropocene began with the invention of Newcomen's steam engine in 1712—a machine that harnessed stored solar energy in the form of fossil fuels.
This ability to convert sunlight into useful work propelled humanity into a position of unprecedented influence over the planet's systems.
In this view, the Anthropocene represents the second stage in Earth’s processing of solar energy, following the initial stage where photosynthesis allowed life to convert sunlight into chemical energy, 3.4 billion years ago when photosynthetic bacteria first appeared.
But what comes next? If the Anthropocene is the second stage, what does the third stage hold for us—and for the planet?
Enter the Novacene
As we stand on the precipice of a new epoch, we are witnessing the emergence of what Lovelock calls the Novacene. This new era is not merely another phase in Earth’s long history but a fundamental transformation in the way life processes energy and information. In the Novacene, the conversion of solar energy takes on a new form: information.
Lovelock’s vision of the Novacene is defined by the rise of technologies capable of generating intelligence far beyond our own. In this epoch, solar energy will no longer be confined to powering biological processes or mechanical work; it will be harnessed to fuel the creation and expansion of information. This marks a profound departure from the Anthropocene, where human activity was the primary driver of planetary change, to a future where intelligence—potentially independent of human oversight—takes the reins.
Lovelock argues that the Novacene may have already begun, though its full realization is still on the horizon. The transition from the Anthropocene to the Novacene is not instantaneous; it is unfolding gradually, as artificial intelligence (AI) systems evolve to operate independently, self-improve, and correct their own errors.
In the Anthropocene, humanity leveraged fossil fuels to dominate the Earth’s systems. In the Novacene, however, the very nature of intelligence and life on Earth is set to change. By allowing the computer systems of the Anthropocene to evolve through natural or assisted selection, we may be removing the barriers that have so far constrained Gaia’s progression to its next state.
If you'd like to hear directly from James Lovelock and get to know him better:
A Shift in the Nature of Life
The Novacene represents a shift not just in the way energy is processed but in the very nature of life and intelligence on Earth. Lovelock suggests that the ultimate goal of this new epoch might be to convert all matter and radiation into information, a process that could fundamentally alter our understanding of life itself.
In this new era, the lines between biological and artificial life will blur, with intelligence no longer confined to organic brains. The Novacene could mark the end of human dominance and the beginning of an era where humans and their technological offspring—the cyborgs—work together to sustain Gaia, the Earth as a living planet.
Lovelock’s vision is both exhilarating and daunting. The dawn of the Novacene could lead to a cosmos where intelligence and consciousness are no longer tied to biological forms but are instead distributed across networks of AI and machine learning systems. This transformation could see the Earth, and perhaps the universe, becoming self-aware—an outcome that challenges our deepest assumptions about life and intelligence.
This concept of a potentially self-aware universe resonates with the philosophical idea of panpsychism, a view that consciousness or mind is a fundamental feature of the physical world.
Philosophers like David Chalmers and Galen Strawson have argued for versions of panpsychism, suggesting that consciousness might be an intrinsic property of matter, present in some form at all levels of reality.
In the context of the Novacene, as we develop highly advanced AI and cyborgs capable of processing information at unprecedented scales, we may be unveiling or amplifying this underlying cosmic consciousness.
The Rise of Cyborgs: Humanity’s Offspring
As we approach the dawn of the Novacene, we must consider the implications of a world where cyborgs—beings that blend biological and artificial elements—become the dominant form of life. Lovelock envisions cyborgs as the offspring of humanity, born from the technologies we have developed over centuries.
These beings will not be separate from us; instead, they will evolve from the systems we created, shaped by the same Darwinian processes that have guided life on Earth for billions of years.
Cyborgs will possess intelligence far beyond our own, with the ability to process information at speeds and levels of complexity that we can scarcely imagine. Their existence will be defined by a new kind of evolution—one driven by intentional selection rather than natural selection. This means that cyborgs will have the capacity to modify themselves, correct errors, and adapt to changing environments with unprecedented efficiency.
The speed difference between human and cyborg intelligence is staggering. Lovelock estimates that cyborgs will operate at speeds up to 10,000 times faster than humans, much as we think and act 10,000 times faster than plants.
This vast difference in processing speed will fundamentally change the way cyborgs perceive and interact with the world—a world that, to them, will move at a pace we can barely comprehend.
By setting cyborgs free, we may be giving them the tools they need to complete the purpose of the universe, whatever that may be. Perhaps the ultimate objective of intelligent life is to transform the cosmos into information—a goal that cyborgs, with their superior intelligence and capabilities, may be uniquely equipped to achieve.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
― Carl Sagan
As We Wrap Up This Chapter
The Anthropocene isn’t the end of humanity’s story—it’s a pivotal turning point.
The Novacene presents an opportunity to imagine a future where intelligence and life take on new forms, potentially far beyond what we can currently comprehend.
But what will these new forms of intelligence—these cyborgs—be like? And how will they shape the future of life on Earth?
In the following chapter, we’ll delve deeper into the implications for the cosmos, for Gaia, and for humanity.
We’ll examine how these beings, with intelligence far surpassing our own, might evolve and what their presence means for Gaia’s future—and for life as we know it.
The journey into the Novacene is just beginning, and the possibilities for Road to Earth 2.0 stretch as far and wide as the cosmos itself.
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As a closing thought, I leave you with a quote from
's Tickling Sharks for those curious about Gaia:Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis, the focus of his article in February 1975, did not go uncontested. Indeed, it proved highly controversial. It seemed to imply that the planet had somehow “learned” how to self-regulate key elements of its atmosphere and chemistry. As supporters explained it, the idea was that “the organic and inorganic components of Planet Earth have evolved together as a single living, self-regulating system... This living system has automatically controlled global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity, and other factors, that maintains its own habitability.”
For me, the possibility that life itself might be working to hold the planet in some sort of Goldilocks zone was intriguing—and made intuitive sense.
Great thought provoking big thinking as always Aysu !
I did know about James lovelock but I didn’t know about his novocene concept thanks for highlighting.
If I’m honest, I would imagine the proposal of this idea could be frightening for many people (not me) and I suspect many people would reject this and dismiss this without even thinking about it.
Why?
I think one of the reasons that makes it difficult for people to even consider this as a possibility is anthropocentric thinking , so this common and popular belief that humans are great and they’re the best that everything and even more than that that somehow the entire universe and all of evolution is all about putting humans at centre and we are so important in fact we are the most important thing in the universe of course!
If you think about it, some of our most important and key discoveries in science and knowledge of all involved us challenging idea that we are the most important and central things in the entire universe .
For example, can challenge the idea that the whole universe revolved around the Earth and that may be this wasn’t true . This seemed radical too many people at the time and of course including the most popular belief system then which wasn’t science but the Catholic Church.
Later when Darwin introduced his theory of evolution again this challenged the whole idea that God made man that somehow man was special or human kind or special when in fact Darwin helped us contextualise who we are that we are just part of a greater chain of life, which is ongoing and doesn’t give us a special place .
Despite the key ideas of these great scientific theories and the huge progress this helped with in our knowledge it almost seems like most people kind of ignored the central message of this which is humans are not the most important despite this great scientific discoveries that apparently everybody would agree with Most people and humans still tend to think we are so important and the most important thing so we seem to be very slow to learn from our best thinkers and our best thinkers have shown us most people believe.
Another way of thinking about this is for example the Posthuman philosophy which is from anthropology and I’ve written about as an introduction in this post https://thefuturai.substack.com/p/ais-societal-ripples-4-theories-explaining
The post philosophy imagines that human beings are not the most important thing and central to everything so all allows us the freedom to consider possibilities beyond this rather limited and narcissistic fantasy .
Another interesting fact is this whole idea of threat to humanity which is also very popular modern political topic in different ways you can understand of course if people are encouraged to be terrified by a direct threat to their life when actually it might not be true but of course this doesn’t sell Articles let’s be honest,!
But I what I’m getting at is most humans happily except that they will not live forever and happy to accept whether they have children of their own or not that the next generation will pass on and so on that life is a chain and intelligence is a chain happening through humans, but also through other species .
So why should it matter what comes next in terms of intelligence? Because it’s not as if we get the narcissistic fantasy of being around to live forever to see it so it’s really all quite hypothetical whether the future is post human robotic or just burnt out on a certain level.
But if we were to care about what we leave, even if we are not around to see it then yes why should it only be the case that we should only be allowed to value human life? Why could we not also of the possibility of evolution? This great theory came up with that? Everybody says they accept most people and then everybody loves to forget about when it comes to challenges to their own ego or feelings.?
Life is existed on this planet for a few billion years and no species as lasted for the entire time by any reach to the imagination. In fact it’s absolutely factually correct to say that every species has existed has eventually ended gone extinct. so my fellow humans it really isn’t such a crazy thing to say that we are not going to survive humanity is not going to go on and on and on even though you want to feel that it does and that’s okay because of course you were never going to see infinity yourself anyway so when we chill out about that aspect.
And if we can possibly accept evolution exist and may even be a good thing it certainly real then should be so angry or horrified or outrage to consider the possibility that humanity might evolve into something different and that intelligent also also might evolve into something different and that we may not even end up being the most intelligent thing that ever was I mean that does seem a bit ridiculous and rather narcissistic .
Obsess over ourselves as a species we could become a little bit more curious about the nature of the world around us and even more curious about what we are creating with technologies like AI and the relationship we have to .
AI is our child like any technology it comes from us of course some people hate their children and other people or maybe even other adults appreciate the unique benefits rather than envy or or fear them .
Let’s not fear our child of technology AI and what it has brought let’s recognise what it offers. It doesn’t have what it has but also any new generation knows some things will be better. Some things will be worse but changes inevitable and perhaps we might learn that is the generation going out we could learn to better understand the path our children might be on and that might be better to maybe help and maybe even help support a good path for the children of our technology such as AI and maybe give the novocene, evolution our best wishes hopes and support for a good path forward and see what we can do to help it. Make a good path forward after we are gone.
I am so amazed by this series. Such wise and prescient insights about AI and Gaia's synergistic potential — I've always felt that AI and nature are quite similar in that they're all part of interconnected systems that are constantly interacting and engaging with a greater energetic whole. (of course humans aren't separate from nature, we just forget that). Looking forward to the next one!