From Stellar Dust To Digital Devices

“Karen Bakker, the author of “The Sounds of Life” and a participant in the Berggruen Institute’s Planetary and Future Humans programs, passed away recently at the height of her creative life.”

“Karen told me that ‘collective intelligence ranges from the cellular to the planetary. It is human and non-human, biological, geological.’ Karen contributed in the grandest way to our shared, planetary sapience, a never-ending project of knowledge creation that is not humans’ alone.”

“Tree, reborn: the keys on my computer.”

“Stone, recast: the casing for my computer, cradle for the keys.”

“In deep time, trees and stones are descended from stars.”

“These are the ancestors of our digital devices:

Mother Tree, Father Stone, Grandmother Star, Grandfather Time.”

“Our computers, then, are made of stardust and tree flesh.”

“Their memories live on machines whose breath warms the sky.”

“Our digital devices are ecological, our ecologies are growing digital.”