Rethinking Intelligence
Essay to accompany ‘Groundwater’ intensive AiR leading the Culture Climate Collective at King's College London + SUPERBLOOM exhibition and multimedia artwork 'Second Nature'.
Beccy Mccray: Resident lead artist, King's College London, ‘Culture Climate Collective’
You can see the final artwork, ‘Second Nature’ for the SUPERBLOOM exhibition at The Arcade Gallery, Bush House, The Strand, plus images from the ‘Groundwater’ Culture Climate Collective process here: https://www.beccymccray-workwork.com/art-activism/superbloom
Artificial Intelligence - often hailed as humanity’s greatest technological achievement - is now being deployed to squeeze the last drops of oil from the Earth. And it does so in full knowledge of the damage being done: to the planet, to ourselves, and to every other being we share it with.
At the heart of the fossil fuel industry lies a simple motive: extract and optimise. AI steps in as a powerful tool - pinpointing new drilling sites and refining extraction processes. As accessible reserves dry up, their value increases, making even the most destructive operations suddenly worthwhile. Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and IBM compete to supply the algorithms that make this all possible - and profitable.
We already know: fossil fuel extraction is a major driver of climate collapse and biodiversity loss. So what does it mean that we’re building intelligence in service of destruction? What vision of the future is being coded into these systems?
AI, as it currently exists, is shaped by late-stage capitalism. It runs on vast amounts of energy and data, always seeking more. Developed primarily by corporate interests, it’s designed to grow, to dominate, to extract. And the version of ‘intelligence’ this promotes - boosted by media hype and sci-fi fantasies - imagines minds that outthink humans, rather than ecosystems that outlive them.
These machine-learning systems are often said to mimic the brain. But as they become more integrated into our lives, they also reflect and deepen the biases and blind spots of the systems that built them. Even tools like ChatGPT or DALL·E, though creatively fascinating, can reproduce misinformation or reinforce hierarchies. Their smooth conversation or slick images often trick us into trusting software that doesn’t understand - it just predicts.
Maybe it’s time we ask: what is intelligence, really?
It doesn’t begin or end with human cognition. Intelligence pulses through the world. It’s in the way fungi use humans to spread spores. In how bees collectively vote on new hive locations. In forests that share nutrients and warn each other of threats. Indigenous cultures have understood this for generations - long before scientific frameworks caught up.
We aren’t the sole bearers of knowledge. The tailorbird sews its nest with thread-like precision. Slime moulds, despite being single-celled, solve problems faster than our most advanced algorithms. If they vanish, so does their intelligence - and we lose something irreplaceable.
So what if we built machines that learned from octopuses, or mimicked the logic of fungi? What if technology helped us reconnect, rather than disconnect?
This would mean valuing instinct, intuition, and relationship alongside code. It would mean loosening our grip on the myth of human superiority and embracing the intelligence that already surrounds us.
Technology itself isn’t the problem. The real threats lie in inequality, concentrated power, and the idea that humans stand apart from the living world. We need rivers, stones, fungi, birds. We need reciprocal relationships, not extractive ones. Rethinking intelligence could be a step toward that future - one rooted in kinship, not control.
Nature isn’t the opposite of technology - everything is nature. Our machines, like our bodies, are made from the earth. Minerals make up 5% of human body weight; another 60% is water. We must break down false divisions: human vs. machine, artificial vs. natural.
Intelligence isn’t an isolated human trait but a relational force, flowering everywhere. “Artificial” intelligence is just another expression of intelligence in the world, as much a part of the natural order as oceans, oak galls, mushrooms, and mitochondria. AI and human creativity aren’t in competition - they’re both ways of making sense of the world.