Stephen Downes

This is a longish article with some good examples showing a future state (and likely applications) of what the author calls our planetary nervous system. What is meant by that is the interconnected network of sensors and indicators that respond to what's happening in the natural world, with inputs ranging from waterflows to migration patterns to the spread of wildfires. "This is machine intelligence at its most vital," writes Rimma Boshernitsan, "not replacing judgment, but extending our senses." The objective is "to integrate so coherently with the biosphere that the whole can self-regulate rather than just react." And what we want, I would say, is for this integration to be available to everyone, the way the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) "weaves millions of records from field notes, museum collections, citizen observations and satellite traces into a living archive" creating "a global network and open-access infrastructure funded by governments worldwide." If we don't require that this data be open access, someone will attempt to privatize it.