Reflections on ‘Stepping Back from the Brink’ : Recognising we are Systemic Interbeings and the Implications for Ethics, Democracy and Governance

Social, economic and environmental challenges pose unprecedented existential risks. Humanity faces an uncertain future with the following scenarios: a) chaos as emergent AIs are programmed by a narrow data set of programmers that exclude the interests of the voiceless and displaced, b) top down control by autocrats with their own agendas, or c) expanding the data set to include cross checks by all those who are at the receiving end of policy decisions – based on local communities learning what works why and how in nature’s class room. The third option could be the best way to construct a new narrative. AI is not infallible and if we replace biological knowing – based on testing out what works why and how in context then we risk losing generations of species knowledge. Our strategy in a community of practice linked with participating university, community, GO and NGO organisations is to navigate pathways through the current social, economic and environmental challenges based on working in small projects and testing out ideas respectfully in context with those who are to be at the receiving end of a policy decision. This makes sense empirically and ethically. One of the ways for achieving better governance and better democratic processes is through enabling local stakeholders to consider the implications of their decisions for this generation and the next in terms of basic needs, such as water, food and energy supply within a safe space. This is a common need spanning many species and it could help to enhance representation and accountability and to reduce displacement and dispossession by protecting habitat. One of the ways in which this could be achieved is through scaling up prefigurative case studies at a regional level spanning remote, rural and urban communities. Turning our backs on technology and hoping it will go away is no solution. Instead, our approach is to try to address a middle path of engaging ‘from below’ with marginalised groups who are not represented by current programmers. Instead, we propose a way forward based on a small prefigurative engagement groups linked with a broad community of practice(CoP) spanning universities, community and related organisations to foster the notion that there are ‘ no limits to hope’.