Artificial Intelligence and the Environmental Crisis

A radical and challenging book which argues that artificial intelligence needs a completely different set of foundations, based on ecological intelligence rather than human intelligence, if it is to deliver on the promise of a better world. This can usher in the greatest transformation in human history, an age of re-integration. Our very existence is dependent upon our context within the Earth System, and so, surely, artificial intelligence must also be grounded within this context, embracing emergence, interconnectedness and real-time feedback. We discover many positive outcomes across the societal, economic and environmental arenas and discuss how this transformation can be delivered.

Preface
- Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things
- Nothing new under the Sun
- Oh, for a nice cold soda: the birth of the internet of things
- The two-month, ten-man project to transform the world
- Getting to grips with the jargon: symbolic and non-symbolic AI

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Ethics in AI
- Choosing an ethical framework
- The strange case of Asimov’s laws
- Free will and moral judgement
- The confused Owl of Minerva: dangers of a moral vacuum
- Who’s in charge of the big bad wolf?
- What should a declaration of AI rights look like?

Gender, Race, Culture and Fear
- Gender issues in AI
- Racial issues in AI
- Cultural issues in AI
- Fear and loathing in AI

The Thinker: Human Intelligence
- Human intelligence: Carolus Linnaeus and his wise, wise men
- So what is human intelligence?
- Philosophy and intelligence: the framing of our thoughts

Other Modes of Intelligence: Thinking Outside the Human Box
- Animal intelligence: Machiavellian sentience and the wisdom of the swarm
- Plant intelligence: headless, brainless, dispersed intelligence
- Microbial intelligence: gene-swapping revelry in the quorum
- Ecosystem intelligence: systems thinking in the cathedral of thought
- Systems are non-linear
- Systems are emergent
- Systems are sub-optimal
- Systems rely of real-time feedback

Highway to Hell: The Existentialist Threat Facing Humankind
- A brief history of our path towards destruction
- The five clear road signs that point towards criticality
- Why ecological damage matters to us
- Adam Smith and his invisible hand
- Kuznets and his curve: how ninety five percent speculation led us badly astray

Forget the Romans. What has AI ever done for us?
- AI and economics: the best of things or the worst of things?
- AI and society
- AI and the environment
- Technology and sustainability: bellicose bedfellows or Romeo and Juliet?

Imagining a New World
- The swallow whose nest was stolen: a salutary tale
- Blinded by the bling: dashboard dogs and a disappearing sea
- What needs changed and what change do we need?
- The chains that bind: taking responsibility for our footprints
- The Ogiek people and the new, improved invisible hand
- Lessons from the edge of the world: The St Kildan legacy
- The Garden of Eden complex: how not to fix the world
- The three cornerstones: diversity, resilience and integration
- The central role of AI in feedback: shaping our new world

Barriers to Change
- The five philosophical barriers
- Structural barriers to change
- The seven dragons: psychological barriers
- How AI can help overcome these barriers

Transition
- The nature of transition
- Studies in transition
- Why societal change is key
- How to manage societal change
- Requiem for the King of Phrygia

Glossary
References