The End of Fragmented Intelligence. Essential AI, Ancestral Knowledge, and Planetary Continuity.

The End of Fragmented Intelligence: Essential AI, Ancestral Knowledge, and Planetary Continuity presents a conceptual and operational framework for governing decision-making on a finite planet under conditions of systemic risk, uncertainty, and deep interdependence.

The book advances a central proposition: contemporary crises are not the result of insufficient intelligence, but of fragmented and misaligned intelligence—decision systems capable of optimizing sectors, metrics, or time horizons while failing to sustain the coupled ecological, social, and institutional systems that make life and governance possible. In this context, intelligence must be redefined. On a finite planet, intelligence is measured not by speed, scale, or optimization, but by its capacity to preserve continuity: the long-term functioning of life-support systems, social legitimacy, and future choice within real biophysical limits.

The work introduces Essential AI as a distinct category of artificial intelligence: not an autonomous decision-maker or optimization engine, but a form of cognitive infrastructure designed to support coordination, anticipatory governance, and systemic coherence within planetary boundaries. Essential AI is contrasted with prevailing approaches such as AI for Good, Responsible AI, or Green AI by explicitly situating intelligence within Earth system limits, ecosystem services, irreversibility, and territorially grounded legitimacy.

A core contribution of the book is the recognition of Indigenous ancestral knowledge and governance systems as planetary infrastructure, rather than cultural or consultative inputs. These systems provide long-term environmental memory, place-based governance, and cooperative principles that are empirically associated with the persistence of ecological integrity. The framework argues that planetary continuity cannot be achieved through consultation alone, but requires recognizing territorial authority, Indigenous Data Sovereignty, and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as conditions of legitimate governance.

To support practical implementation, the book develops a decision-support architecture composed of principles, comparative tables, and formal instruments. These include the Continuity Misalignment Test (CMT), the Continuity Alignment Test (CAT), and the Continuity License, designed to screen policies, investments, technologies, and governance arrangements for compatibility with planetary continuity before irreversible commitments are made. An illustrative case application demonstrates how these instruments can redirect development trajectories without blocking action.

The book is intended as a strategic reference for policymakers, public institutions, multilateral organizations, territorial authorities, researchers, and practitioners working across climate governance, artificial intelligence, sustainability, finance, and risk governance. It does not offer predictive models or prescriptive solutions. Instead, it provides criteria for coherence, anticipation, and responsibility in contexts where uncertainty is structural and irreversible loss is possible.

This publication is released as an independent academic work and contributes to ongoing European and international discussions on AI governance, sustainability, planetary boundaries, and science–policy integration. It is aligned with the logic of Earth system science, resilience theory, governance of commons, and open science principles.