Bacteria, fungus, whale, sequoia - we do not know any life of which we cannot say that it emits information, receives it, stores it and processes it. For universal rules so incontrovertible that, by them, we are tempted to define life but we are unable to do so, because of the following countexamples. Crystal and indeed rock, sea, planet, star, galaxy–we know no inert thing of which we cannot say that it emits, receives, stores and processes information. Four universal rules, so uniform that we are tempted to define anything in the world by them but are unable to do so because of the following counterexamples. Individuals but also families, farms, villages, cities and nations–we do not know any human, alone or in groups, of whom we cannot say that they emit, receive, store and process information.
Michel Serres, Information and Thinking, 2017Rocks, cities and mushrooms - Information flows
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- But who really owns land and nature? Humans have no more self-evident rights than grass, trees, and squirrels, not to speak of fungi and bacteria. Property, the conceit that state-backed human social relations give us absolute rights over things, does not go far in the realms of land and nature, wh …
Cross Idea
Rooted deeply in an anthropocentric perspective, the notion of human superiority over nature has historically gone largely unchallenged. Reevaluating this relationship is essential for building a more sustainable future.
To dismantle this anthropocentric view, we might adopt frameworks that redefine humanity as an interdependent part of the broader ecosystem rather than as its ruler. This shift can take many forms, starting with language that emphasizes our interconnectedness with the Earth. For instance, using terms like “humusities” instead of “humanities” and “compost” instead of “posthumanism” which conceive of humans as part of the soil—humus—and as such engaging in an understanding of a continuous cycle of regeneration and decay with other life forms.
Another approach is to reframe traditionally human-centered activities, like communication, within a broader perspective that includes competencies of other agents. This shift encourages us to see communication as a trait shared across all life and even in non-living matter, placing the human role as one interconnected node within a larger web.
Such rethinking makes non-human and human communication comparable, and transitions between them fluid. For example, bacteria, fungi, whales, and redwoods—alongside rocks, planets, and galaxies—all process information, suggesting that this is a fundamental aspect of existence, not unique to humans. The fluidity across different communicative groups can be seen in how the same voices may be conceived as incomprehensible bird calls or intelligible speech.
of our Imagination
