Imagine if you could take a whole planet, all of its air and water and bone and sinew, enclose it in a plastic, cloth and metal shell, and be just, well, you!

Or imagine really travelling among the stars.

The first image above shows the North American colonial experiment, extended forever. The second shows a kind of super nebula, visited by a fly. There is so much talk these days about artificial intelligence:

Look at the world that an artist has envisioned: a global network of military vehicles, gears, tools, computers, factories, smokestacks, shopping experiences, manufacturing robots, wifi networks, satellite transmissions, trucking, shipping, and so on. What a world! It requires the transformation of Earth into minerals, or mineral-like substances, and relationships into a simplified language. In comparison, here is real intelligence:

Choke Cherries in Bloom

But it’s not contained in a space suit, and it’s not contained in a heroic self extending itself by technology.

Self-extension is simpler than that.

Apparently, it’s hard to master.

Apparently, it’s easy to master. Intelligence has an ecology.

Leaf Miners at Work.

The wind will come.