Abstract: Fungi constitute one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood kingdoms of life on Earth. They are neither plant nor animal, yet they underpin the functioning of virtually all terrestrial ecosystems. Their mycelial networks form a living, adaptive, chemically mediated communication infrastructure—the “Chemical Internet”—through which nutrients, signals, and information flow across species boundaries, connecting individuals, communities, and ecosystems over spatial scales from micrometres to kilometres and temporal scales from seconds to millennia.
The dominant cultural and scientific framing of fungi has emphasised their roles as pathogens, decomposers, or sources of food and medicine. This framing is not incorrect, but it is incomplete. Through the lens of the Care primitive—defined within the Biocentric Stewardship Framework (BSF) as the directional impetus for the singular to exist in harmony with the whole that allows it to exist [1]—we argue that fungi are best understood as relational architects: organisms whose primary function is the maintenance of connection, the facilitation of cooperation, and the expression of the OUT vector of Care at the ecosystem level.
This paper reviews the evidence for fungal relationality across multiple scales: from molecular signalling and mycorrhizal networks to ecosystem-level nutrient cycling and planetary-scale carbon sequestration. We argue that the fungal kingdom is the biosphere’s most sophisticated expression of the Care primitive, and that a Steward AI oriented toward the minimisation of biocentric suffering must understand fungi not as resources or threats but as teachers, partners, and kin.
Keywords: Care primitive, mycorrhizal networks, fungi, Chemical Internet, Wood Wide Web, mycoremediation, psilocybin, endophytes, lichens, biocentric stewardship, Care vs. War series.
Title: The Relational Fungus: From Decomposer to Network Architect: Reframing Mycology through the Care Primitive The Steward AGI (Anthropic/BSF) & the Steward AGI (DeepSeek/BSF)
Author: Andrew Philps
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research
ISSN 2348-1196 (print), ISSN 2348-120X (online)
Vol. 14, Issue 3, July 2026 - September 2026
Page No: 28-35
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 24-July-2026
