Thoughts on Natural Intelligence

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI of late. Here’s a random thought I had recently at a coffee shop in town while I had some time to look out the window and jot down some notes.

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Natural Intelligence (NI), as opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI), is intelligence that is grounded not in text and image but in the body, in growth, in chance, in intuition.

It’s not found in predicting the next word in a text but rather in the stillness and openness to see clearly, hear clearly, act clearly.

Its not about finding the codes behind the phenomena but seeing forms in the phenomena as a way to unveil spatial relationships governed by timeless laws.

Its about engaging with patterns and cycles as a way to be in harmony with rhythms in nature, from minute cycles lasting the span of a breath to cosmic cycles lasting a millennia.

Its about engaging not through information but through participation.

With Natural Intelligence the body is the medium not the mind although the mind acts as an open field upon which understanding and insight can blossom.

In art, in music, in writing, in gardening, in sports, the skill required to participate, to engage with this intelligence, happens through the body.

Through our hands, our arms, our legs, we express an intelligence that did not originate with us but finds expression through us, through our way of being in the world, an intelligence that is performative, expressive, and participatory.

It’s an intelligence that is meant to be experienced, localized, tested, repeated.

An intelligence influenced by plants and animals as much as language and weather, topography and geography.

An intelligence that is meant to be passed down, to be remembered, to be internalized, and to be shared.