Earth Growing an AI Brain? Planetary Computation Explained with Ben Bratton

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a listener of Dr. Brian Keating, you get a special 20% off discount. Head over to The Economist's website at www.economist.com/Keating to get started. Pique is offering 20% off for life AND a free Starter Kit with your purchase—that's a rechargeable frother and glass beaker to make the perfect cup every time. Just go to http://piquelife.com/impossible Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 What is planetary computation, and why does it matter? Are humans and AI truly separate, or are we actually co-evolving? And how did we end up building a megastructure that’s quietly reshaping governance, knowledge, and power on a planetary scale? Here to shed light on our evolving technological reality is Ben Bratton, philosopher of technology and professor at UCSD. Ben is the Director of Antikythera, a research program at the Berggruen Institute focused on the future of planetary computation. The program explores five core areas: planetary computation, synthetic intelligence, recursive simulations, hemispherical stacks, and planetary sapience. He is also the author of The Stack, a groundbreaking book that introduced the term “planetary computation” and mapped its political, social, and philosophical implications. In our wide-ranging conversation, Ben explains how computation has evolved far beyond servers and algorithms to become an organizing force of the planet itself. We also dive into the future of AGI, the ethics of machine valence, terraforming Earth as a philosophical imperative, non-biological life, and how speculative design and planetary sapience might reframe humanity’s role in the cosmos. — Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 01:02 Antikythera and planetary computation 07:50 AI and the limits of computation 18:04 Terraforming and the future of humanity 19:55 The role of language in AI 31:01 Planetary data centers and future energy needs 34:00 Techno signatures 39:10 Science and philosophy 41:09 The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty 45:52 Outro — Additional resources: ➡️ Learn more about Ben Bratton: 💻 Website: https://bratton.info/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benjaminbratton ✖️ X: https://x.com/bratton 📚 The Stack: https://amzn.eu/d/j80ENZW ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today, we're exploring whether the Earth itself is developing intelligence through us.
0:07.1	Soon you'll discover while the world's first computer wasn't built to crunch numbers, but to map our place in the cosmos.
0:15.6	My guest today is Ben Bratton, a professor, a visionary philosopher of technology, and a man whose work
0:22.5	has redefined intelligence at planetary scales. He's the perfect person to explore this
0:28.3	mind-bending concept. Ben argues that AI isn't just another tool. It's the planet evolving
0:34.7	a nervous system. But here's a twist. Are we training artificial intelligence?
0:40.2	Or, terrifyingly, is AI training us? First, we'll unpack computation as a natural force of the universe,
0:49.3	then we'll ask, is Earth itself becoming conscious? Join us as we reimagine humanity's role in the greatest evolutionary leap since life began.
1:02.1	One of the best parts about doing a podcast is that you get to invite your friends and people that you are so inspired by, and that's no exception for you.
1:09.6	I want to start with this new project that doptails so beautifully with what I do,
1:13.0	which is, you know, possibly the existence of planetary scale computing and so forth.
1:18.4	And I thought we could start there with this concept that I'm trying to learn how to pronounce
1:22.7	Antichythera. Anticathera.
1:24.4	Anticathera.
1:24.9	So what is Anticathera, and why should we care about this as astronomy?
1:29.3	Speaking to the most brilliant minds in the multiverse, a lot of them are astronomers.
1:33.9	I should say, first of all, that, you know, I call myself a philosopher of technology, right?
1:38.5	I'm coming from the humanity side of the house.
1:40.3	Visual arts, right? That's her... In the Department of Visual Arts, you're at UCST, right? But I'm a little bit unusual in this regard.
1:45.6	That is, I take a very intense and sincere interest in what science is doing
1:50.2	and the way in which emerging technologies not only allow us to do new things, but to know new things.
1:56.3	The relationship between philosophy and science has been one that has been, you know,
	...

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