Proximate biodiversity is precisely an intelligence amplification network. It is productive of a diversely endowed field which was the force that catalyzed the birth of the strange forms of intelligence humans exhibit. It remains absolutely necessary to their health, survival and development, for these two variables are linked in ways that are obvious to any child and invisible to nearly every specialist. Responsible participation in life on Earth means recognizing the other living beings as assets whose value so overwhelms their value as commodities that it will no longer be possible for any human group to consider wiping them out. They will realize they are wiping out their own minds. Which is, in fact, what has been going on around here for at least the past 600 years.