Well, its been a long time in the making, but at last we bid you welcome to the second issue of Prescience. True to form, you will find this second volume dealing with the leading edge of human thought. In particular, the concept of Natural Intelligence is once again prominent, especially in Scott Fossel's awe-inspiring article Divining Gaia: A Radical Lesson In Natural Philosophy. The idea of Natural Intelligence is simple to state in its essence yet its implications in terms of paradigmatic shift are limitless. Natural Intelligence can be succinctly defined as the inherent smartness of Nature. We know what human intelligence is and we know what artificial intelligence is, yet both fade in the light of Natural Intelligence, especially since it is Nature and the power of Nature to build and organise intelligent biological structures (like our consciousness-embodying brains) which has allowed human intelligence and thence the pursuit of artificial intelligence to flourish.

Close-up shot of some natural engineering. The complex design and functionality embodied in this organism is the result of millions of years of evolution through natural selection, a process which can be viewed as Natural Intelligence in action   Image courtesy of Dennis Kunkel

To fully grasp Natural Intelligence, it is important to bear in mind that intelligence per se can be defined as a process. Our brains embody intelligence since they are able to process information, store information, and thence utilise that information to gain yet more information (i.e. learn). The same applies to artificial intelligence. A clever robot, for instance, is able to gain information and learn, say, about its environment. Or, if one considers an AI system able to recognise faces, then it achieves such intelligent results by utilising algorithms and building up its internal store of information and even modifying its algorithms where possible. Again, it is clear that intelligence can be defined as a process or a system of processes rather than as a thing or object. And if one can discern that intelligence is indeed a process, then it is but a small (albeit brave) step to see that evolutionary natural selection represents the methodological process by which Nature weaves its own magnificent brand of intelligence. Granted, this intelligence takes aeons to perfect and develop, yet this does not mean that it is not intelligent, or, as most scientists would say, that Nature is dumb and mindless. Thus, whilst eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins chooses to compare Nature to a blind watchmaker, the fact remains that such a sightless watchmaker has verily built visual systems and a remarkable array of other sophisticated sense organs as is apparent in the living world of DNA-writ organisms.

Electron microscope scan of some natural organically- woven nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, the science of minature engineering, is a buzzword these days yet Nature got there first and has verily perfected the art

It is also the case that Nature appears to be so coded (in terms of laws and universal constants) so as to manifest an exhaustive search approach to gaining information. Accordingly, all genetic possibilities are 'tried' as it were. Which means that at least some variants will yield fruitful offspring - fruitful in that such offspring will be better adapted to the environment. In this sense, the natural operations of Natural Intelligence were bound to yield conscious brains somewhere along the evolutionary tree of life. Literally, we were poised to be. All the wealth of life around us can be seen to be the manifestation of Natural Intelligence; from the subtle workings of the inner ear to the way the kidney can analyse individual ions in the blood, and from the ability of plants to eat sunlight to the ability of spiders to spin intricate webs. Indeed, once one grasps the very apparent legacies of Natural Intelligence, then we may suddenly suspect ourselves to be functional components within some grand purpose of Nature, a purpose coded into the very fabric of reality from the word go (or from the big bang). What this ultimate function of our tool-using, language-using, Net-using and metaphysic-musing species might be remains to be seen, although I fancy that, as time goes by, we will gradually begin to realise more and more our true purpose in the organic web of life into which we have been born. In other words, as science continues to unwittingly document the subtleties of Natural Intelligence, we may come to realise more and more clearly what it is that Nature wishes us to do or what, willy-nilly, the Universe is out to prove. Since we can consciously divine Natural Intelligence and since we can likewise comprehend the very evolutionary forces through which Natural Intelligence manifests, then we surely must have some very intimate relationship with that intelligence. Natural Intelligence: always on the move image by simon powell Well, these are radical speculations indeed although I make no apologies for being so conceptually sensational. After all, this is what this electronic magazine be about. So, read on and enjoy. As ever, feedback will be most welcome. Email correspondence addresses can be found both in the Omega and Out section and at the end of some of the articles where the writer is emailable. And one more thing. If you would like to contribute in some way to the evolution of Prescience - be it in words, sponsorship or art - then please do let us know. From little binary acorns do big cyberspatial trees grow.... Nuff said already.