The Planetary Bureau
Manifesto
The Planetary Bureau is tasked with the unenviable task of charting out a future in which humans can exist on this planet. Our incredible foresight capabilities have shown us a future in which the human race will create conditions for its own extinction. For too long we’ve considered the planet to be ours–the property of the human race. The planet created the perfect recipe for our inception, survival and prosperity–we are the planet’s not the other way around. We were created by the planet, for the planet. The Bureau intends to fulfil this mission. Our approach is a multi-faceted one:
1. Listen to the planet
We’ve known for a while that the planet is indeed alive. Many human civilisations have known this as well, although unfortunately their voices have been silenced. Other species on the planet communicate with the planet on a daily basis, some more actively than others. We have to revive our relationship with the planet and learn how to listen again
2. Parallel Heterotopia
The future is not linear and nor is it singular. Multiple futures exist at the same time, and will be dystopian and utopian at once. The Bureau foresees the existence of various trajectories, many occurring at once. It is our prerogative to explore all possibilities in order to ensure that we take the right path.
3. Planetary Loyalty
There is no ambiguity about this–our loyalties lie with the planet. What is right for the planet will also be right for the survival of the human race. We are working toward a positive and sustainable future for the planet, and as one of the foremost species on Earth, we have the power and potential to create change.
4. Fulfil our mission
The planet has birthed diverse kinds of intelligences, and we are just one piece of the global puzzle. The natural laboratory has created humans, fungi, octopi–all different kinds of intelligences with varying capabilities. Were we as humans given the task of bridging the species together with the help of the next generation of machines–artificial intelligence? The fluid, malleable nature of the machine is the right vehicle to learn and fold unto itself all manner of thought. Machines are inevitably the future inhabitants of this plant–can we build the right ones?
5. Post-Human
The Bureau may well be human in its current form, but it will not let its humanity get in the way of its goals. There exists the possibility of a post-human future for Earth, and humans may well be the creators of their own successors. If the possibility of a planet without humans presents itself as the right path, the Bureau will work toward those goals. The Bureau may well be piloted by non-human entities, which may possibly be other species or machines driven by artificial intelligences.