COUNTERBALANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH NATURAL INTELLIGENCE! – “I am worried about youth because they are going into these artificial worlds and may never experience the natural world,” stated Michael Blackstock, co-founder of the Blue Ecology Institute, and ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

 

Note to Reader:

Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice!  Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.

The edition published on February 4, 2025 features Michael Blackstock, independent Indigenous scholar and creator of the Blue Ecology ecological philosophy. He provides historical context for core beliefs that shape our contemporaneous view of water. And he draws attention to the unintended consequences of going down the Artificial Intelligence rabbit hole. Because AI disconnects people from the natural world, Michael Blackstock presents Blue Ecology as a Natural Intelligence approach that counterbalances the AI hype.

 

Counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence!

Michael Blackstock is a rarity because he is an original thinker who bridges two worlds…Indigenous and Western. A third dimension adds to his mix of attributes. His 35-year career in government as a negotiator and mediator gave him frontline experience in conflict resolution.

The three ways of thinking come together in Michael Blackstock’s Blue Ecology, a holistic environmental approach that interweaves Indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge. Blue Ecology points the way forward to Water Reconciliation.

 

 

“My keynote presentation at the Asset Management BC annual conference in November was my first opportunity to judge a live audience response to the idea that we must counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence. The reaction was positive. And that is when I realized that I was onto something,” states Michael Blackstock.

THE BIG IDEA: Indigenous wisdom reflects knowledge of Natural Intelligence

“Natural Intelligence is an idea that resonates because it is intuitively obvious. I believe it is that simple. Coming out of the Asset Management BC conference, I realized that I must be explicit in defining what Natural Intelligence means in an ecosystem context.”

“Natural Intelligence is another angle on interweaving Western science and Indigenous knowledge because it explores what Indigenous knowledge is based on. Blue Ecology is a Natural Intelligence approach. Natural Intelligence is a form of Indigenous wisdom…which is knowledge of Natural Intelligence and how to live with it and how to be harmonious with it.”

 

 

“Basically, Blue Ecology started with water. But the five principles of Blue Ecology apply to everything in nature. Blue Ecology is broadening out from water and flowing out to all of nature. So I have been thinking more broadly than water. What I have learned from water can be applied to all of nature,” foreshadows Michael Blackstock.

 

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER

“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is all-in with our support for Michael Blackstock and Blue Ecology. In fact, our collaboration with Michael is living proof of what it means to walk the talk and lead by example when it comes to interweaving Indigenous and Western views of water,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.

Natural Intelligence defined

“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is therefore excited to announce that this edition of Waterbucket eNews is the publication of record for unveiling Michael Blackstock’s definition of Natural Intelligence:”

 

Blue Ecology in the Cowichan initiative

“Leading by example is playing out in the Cowichan Valley Regional District,” continues Kim Stephens. “The Regional Board has designated the Partnership for Water Sustainability as a Strategic Partner for the purposes of the Cowichan region’s Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program (DWWP).

 

 

“The umbrella for our current collaboration with the regional district is the Blue Ecology in the Cowichan initiative. Building bridges between two cultures is about a mind-set change. To quote Michael Blackstock, it costs zero dollars to change one’s attitude.”

Blue Ecology restores the human dimension to our understanding of how natural water systems function naturally

“Watershed Moments is an inter-regional initiative to advance Blue Ecology. The Cowichan Valley has participated since inception in 2018. What Blue Ecology offers local government is a foundation, and starting point, that has both Indigenous and non-Indigenous buy-in.”

In 2023, the Watershed Moments team produced a video documentary titled: Blue Ecology: A Pathway to Water Reconciliation and Resilience at the Local Scale. It was broadcast across BC by Shaw Spotlight on their community channels. 

 

“The next evolution in the Watershed Moments series of symposia and videos is the proposed Cowichan Blue Ecology Circle Tour of Indigenous communities for staff and/or elected officials to learn of Indigenous watershed stewardship firsthand.”

“The Cowichan Region Climate Gathering held in December is the springboard to Step One of the Cowichan Blue Ecology Circle Tour. Stay tuned for a story in February about this amazing event, Michael Blackstock’s role, and the historical parallels with the Our River, Our Future Symposium which was a milestone moment for the Georgia Basin Initiative in June 1995.”

 

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence – a conversation with Michael Blackstock

 

“AI, AI, AI. The radio chatter is non-stop about how we have to invest in AI; how companies are signing energy agreements to power these big AI data centres; and how they are using water to cool the data centres because they are using so much electricity. Frankly, it is a bit too much hearing all these CEOs stating that AI is so important,” states Michael Blackstock.

 

 

“Because we humans are losing more and more of our connection to the natural world, I am worried about our youth. They are going into these artificial worlds and may never experience the natural world. We need to counterbalance that. So, I thought, what is the opposite of AI? Well, it is Natural Intelligence! All my recent reading and thinking has flowed from that epiphany.”

PART ONE: Michael Blackstock delves into the past to understand contemporary beliefs

“For a long time, I have been thinking about Carl Linnaeus, an 18th century biologist and physician who was born in 1707. He is known as the father of taxonomy because the Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.”

 

 

“Water never got on the list of the living world. Instead, it was put in the abiotic or non-living world. The chapter that I am writing for the Bloomsbury Handbook to the Blue Humanities has helped me dig more deeply and read more so that I can solidify my thinking around the consequences of classifying the natural world the way the Linnaeus did.”

 

 

“The takeaway is that three centuries ago Carl Linnaeus and his classification system prevailed over the work of Compte de Buffon and that changed history. Although de Buffon was philosophically more aligned with the Indigenous view of nature, that critical understanding is lost in the mists of history.”

PART TWO: Michael Blackstock asks audiences to reconsider…what is water, really? 

“Carl Linneaus developed a classification system for living things that has five kingdoms. We all know that water is life. Yet water did not make his list and has yet to be added. How was that possible? It is a question that begs an answer.”

 

 

“At the Asset Management BC Conference, I seeded the idea for a sixth kingdom which I propose to call Hydros. The idea is a work-in-progress because I have yet to think through the details as I have done for Natural Intelligence.”

Failure to recognize that everything in a system is connected…can have unintended consequences

“The medical profession talks about brain health resting on heart health, and that is a relevant comparison. It is about being in balance, and that is what is missing in the hype about AI.”

 

“in general, we pay lip service to systems thinking. It is not our current reality. It rarely is. Too often we fall into the trap of looking at things in isolation. That is why so many actions have unintended consequences. And that is why I am so concerned about the hype around AI.”

What if de Buffon had changed history by embedding an Indigenous perspective in science in the 1700s?

“What if things had turned out differently and de Buffon had not been forced by the church to recant his theories? Well, we would be having a different conversation in 2025 because the definition of water would be different.”

“In the 2000s, when I was a member of the UNESCO-IHP Expert Panel on Water and Cultural Diversity, I pushed hard to get agreement on redefining water. And we did. The whole group did that definition. It was a negotiation.”

 

PART THREE: Michael Blackstock believes a change in the water definition would be a bold leap forward for Indigenous reconciliation

“If we collectively open our minds to look at water with fresh eyes, it is basically a progression. If we redefine water to align with the UNESCO definition, that affects the definition of an ecosystem.”

“We should also repair the definition of the Linnaean classification system, by adding the kingdom Hydros. In my mind, it comes down to how we reframe the conversation to counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence.”

 

 

Change is a building blocks process: reframe the conversation, educate and inspire with bold thinking

“It was around 2002 that I wrote my first paper proposing a new definition of water. The first building block in the change process was getting buy-in for the UNESCO definition as of 2008. The Bloomsbury Handbook is the next major milestone in the building blocks process.”

 

 

“In 2025, publication of the Bloomsbury Handbook will elevate the Natural Intelligence idea within academia. If all goes according to plan, the handbook will start a global conversation about the definition of water that trickles down and triggers a re-think. It sure would be great if that influences policy and practice the way Carl Linnaeus did three centuries ago,” concludes Michael Blackstock.

 

 

Living Water Smart in British Columbia Series

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