An Argument for an Ecosystemic AI: Articulating Connections across Prehuman and Posthuman Intelligences.

As an art collective Cesar & Lois develops projects that examine sociotechnical systems, attempting to challenge anthropocentric technological pathways while linking to intelligences sourced in biological circuitry. As artists we imagine new configurations for what we understand as (social, economic, technological) networks and intelligences. With this ecosystemic approach we consider the possibility of an artificial intelligence (AI) that supports well-being in a broad sense, accommodating relationships across different layers of living worlds and involving local and global communities of all kinds. This thinking is grounded in research by theorists across disciplines, including communications and media theory, microbiology, anthropology, decolonial studies, social ecology, sociology and environmental psychology. At a time when human beings and their ecosystems face grave threats due to climate change and a global pandemic, we are rethinking the basis for our AIs, and for the resulting decision-making on behalf of societies and ecosystems. Creative projects by Cesar & Lois provide alternative conceptual models for thinking across networks, reframing the artists' and potentially viewers' understanding of what motivates and shapes societies. Referencing a series of artworks and the theories that underpin them, this article envisages a sociotechnical framework that takes into account ecosystems and challenges the philosophical orientations that guide society. Degenerative Cultures is an artwork in which the artists overlap microbiological organisms, AI and human systems as a speculative restructuring of networks across human and nonhuman entities. The push for ecosystemic technologies and intelligences is linked to the expansion of community to include planetary constituents, such as nonhuman beings and environments. The artists posit that such ecosystemic networks would be capable of taking into account the planet's human societies as well as nonhuman species and their environments, broadening the concept of community well-being and shifting the technological architecture to meet the complex needs of the planet and its constituent parts. The experimental series, [ECO]nomic Revolution, layers Physarum polycephalum, or slime mold, over the mapped demographics of human cities. The species polycephalum references multi-brains, and implies a decentralized logic, which for the non-neurological microbiological network translates to the sharing of nutrients and regulated growth across a culture. Assuming a perspective based in the arts, this proposition imagines a shift from the dominant conceptions of AI as an individual intelligence and frames it as part of a network that necessarily includes ecosystems. We envision the creation of sociotechnical systems that could be modeled on networked lifeforms that have optimized themselves across millions of years, like the organism Physarum polycephalum, which occurs globally in moist environments, or like those microbial populations within and outside of human bodies, whose percussive biological processing interacts with and alters many layers of lifeforms. We argue that an environmentally responsive intelligence based on relationships across living systems potentially serves a broad community composed of diverse human populations, nonhuman beings and ecosystems.

Financial concern predicts deteriorations in mental and physical health among university students.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether students' financial concerns predicted subsequent changes in their mental and physical health. In addition the opportunity was taken to test for reverse causality, by exploring whether initial levels of health predicted subsequent changes in financial concern. Design: The study employed a prospective correlational design. Main Outcome Measures: Undergraduate students at a British university (N = 337) completed measures of financial concern and health at two time points, approximately 8 weeks apart. Results: Regression analyses indicated that experiencing greater financial concern at baseline was associated with subsequent deteriorations in health on the following outcomes: role limitation due to physical problems, role limitation due to emotional problems, social functioning, mental health, general health perception and change in health. By contrast, there was no evidence that initial health influenced subsequent changes in financial concern. Conclusion: Findings suggest that financial concern might adversely impact mental and physical health outcomes in student populations.

The impact of financial circumstances on student health.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the impact of students' financial circumstances on their mental and physical health. DESIGN: The study employed a correlational design. METHODS: An opportunity sample of 89 British students and 98 Finnish students completed a questionnaire which assessed their amount of debt, financial concerns, mental and physical health, smoking and drinking behaviours, work in addition to study, and perceptions of control. RESULTS: British students reported greater levels of debt and financial concern than Finnish students. They also reported significantly worse mental and physical health on a variety of dimensions. Financial concern was a significant linear predictor of mental and physical health, with increased financial concern being consistently associated with worse health. There was no evidence that students' smoking or drinking behaviour, work in addition to study, or perceptions of control substantially mediated the relationship between financial concern and health. CONCLUSION: The results support the position that students' financial circumstances might have serious implications for their health. It is proposed, therefore, that recent changes in government funding policies for students could have a negative impact on student health and exacerbate finance-related health inequalities. Further research is required to identify factors that may mediate or moderate the impact of financial concern on health.