Electricity is a sticky subject (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_electricity#Causes)

Ho. Ly. Shit. So I re-read that QA after you posted it again and immediately was like, "OK, so the logical thing, if there were no gatekeepers to what, for example, a child might do with Earth given several magnitudes greater wealth and knowledge than we currently have, is just to mess with planets magnetospheres for fun...I wonder how we could do that." And I came across this: An Absolutely Bonkers Plan to Give Mars an Artificial Magnetosphere. What if all we needed to do to terraform a planet was, basically, get the core spinning OR get some charged particles rotating around the planet, put down some AI bots to make ammonia and hydrogen, and then wait like a million years. There are infinite Kepler planets (trillions and trillions, and we don't even know where the universe ends [it doesn't?], a couple thousand "nearby"), that's a lot of breathing room given we have a starship to get stuff there (not necessarily even us). Seed life throughout the galaxy. But anyway, we should be experimenting with Mars because the worst that could happen is we learn more about how to preserve Earth the way we want it longer.

No need to make our own charged particle generator, we have an existing structure to use already.

Though, regarding the above caption, one thing they say about renovation is: "It costs twice as much and takes twice as long." Which leads to me ask: Why not just build some object with that express purpose (generating charged particles to create a magnetic field around Mars)?

Then, if it works for Mars, we have the start of a back up plan here, too.

The additional cosmic rays may have depleted ozone concentrations, opening the floodgates for more ultraviolet radiation in the atmosphere. Shifting weather patterns may have expanded the ice sheet over North America and dried out Australia, prompting the extinction of many large mammal species.

I hadn't even considered the ozone layer. Seems that would be the first thing to go when atmospheric erosion gets going. Troubling. As for expanding ice sheets, rotation and oscillation of Earth's geographic poles along with periodic changes between circular and elliptical orbits around the sun are probably bigger factors (more on that later).

It's also worth considering that the only reason our sphere of liquid metal should even have a magnetic dipole is that it's spinning. Looking at these two images, you see that they're not mirror images of each other and, if you notice in this simulation, several additional poles spring up and meander around. It's not so simple as two poles switching places. We may have to survive for some time in a quadrupole or even octopole.

people will start experimenting, seriously, with adding senses to themselves through bio-hacking

That's really interesting to think that birds actually see the magnetic field. Even if humans could actually see it, we wouldn't be able to intuitively make use of that information (or even need to). Humans would just set up a network of satellites or write an app for it. Of course, those solutions are only as robust as our electromagnetic infrastructure. But then, so is bio-hacking.

I go a bit cross-eyed when thinking about quantum physics but, assuming quantum theory applies to the entire physical world, I don't see why the human brain should be exempt from that. A comparison of the human brain to a classical computer would make a good thread. I remember seeing a TED talk that described them as fundamentally different in how they operate (the brain being far superior). Something like this vid. Also, the description of how memory works from this old Radiolab episode is quite different from computer storage.

While scientists have known for quite some time that birds can see Earth's magnetic field, it was unclear exactly how birds are able to visualize the magnetic field. Two recent studies from researchers at  Lund University in Sweden and Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg in Germany discovered that the ability is a result of a special protein in bird's eyes. The two papers studied European robins and zebra finches and found evidence for an unusual eye protein called Cry4.

The Cry4 protein is part of a class of protein called a cryptochrome that is sensitive to blue light. Cryptochromes are found in both plants and animals and are responsible for circadian rhythms in various species. In the two bird species above, it appears that the presence of cryptochromes, specifically the Cry4 protein, is responsible for the ability of birds to visually detect Earth's magnetic field.

The ability to see Earth's magnetic field, known as magnetoreception, relies on the presence of specifically the blue wavelength of light. The complex process involves "radical" intermediate molecules which are sensitive to Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field, as it relates to the direction the bird is facing, could alter the intermediate radical molecules differently, giving the bird a sense for where it is facing in relation to the Earth's magnetic field.

This is just so fucking cool. WE COULD, if we wanted, engineer this sense into our own eyes. I think in the coming generations, with technology like CRISPR, people will start experimenting, seriously, with adding senses to themselves through bio-hacking. We could give ourselves a new sense, the ability to _see_ magnetic fields. Mind-blowing. I wonder what a bird would see in an MRI machine, though...

The original reason I asked the question, though, was because I was wondering if there was at least a correlation between a pole flipping event, planet-wide extinctions, and the evolution of human minds. Apparently, I wasn't the first to make this hypothesis: Neanderthals died out after Earth's magnetic poles flipped, causing a climate crisis 42,000 years ago, a study says.

But for the most part, scientists didn't think the last pole flip had a major environmental impact. Sure, the planet's magnetic field got weaker, allowing more cosmic rays to penetrate the atmosphere, but plant and animal life wasn't known to have been greatly affected.

A new study now suggests a more dramatic phenomenon occurred: The additional cosmic rays may have depleted ozone concentrations, opening the floodgates for more ultraviolet radiation in the atmosphere. Shifting weather patterns may have expanded the ice sheet over North America and dried out Australia, prompting the extinction of many large mammal species. A solar storm, meanwhile, might have driven ancient humans to seek shelter in caves.

And later:

Indeed, the Laschamps excursion [the 1000 year pole flipping that occurs 4-5 times every million years] coincided with a rise in cave use across Europe and Southeast Asia. In particular, researchers have found red ocher handprints in the regions' caves that date back some 40,000 years. According to the new study, this pigment could have served as an ancient form of sunscreen.

(Which reminds me of this Herzog movie, "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams", which I haven't seen yet, about those caves.)

(Side note: Were Neanderthals conscious? Genes Linked to Self-Awareness in Modern Humans Were Less Common in Neanderthals. Quora discussion here, I like these discussion not for better explanations, but for information about where explanations are failing or taken too-seriously so as to become sort of cancel culture. Like one commenter even says something akin to "why would you ask such a silly question about consciousness," despite not knowing what consciousness even is.)

"Neuroscience Researcher Todd Murphy Says: Consciousness is the Subjective Experience of the Brain's Magnetic Fields":

Invoking the basic laws for electricity and magnetism ("Maxwell's Equations"), Prof. Todd Murphy points out that electrical currents (including the ones that run through brain cells), create magnetism, which influence the brain's magnetic fields. Its conscious magnetic field(s) "pick up," or resonate with, the brain's electrical activity, receiving its information and making organisms conscious of both mind and body. The brain may choose what to be aware of according to the information in its ongoing electrical signals and magnetic fields, possibly through specific signals that appear in response to potentially important events, especially threats and opportunities.

Wow. Now, there are a lot of theories about consciousness, but this seems like a good one to test. The article mentions something about "solving the 'hard problem'" (explaining why and how we have subjective experience). But I also recently came to a sort of realization about that, too:

...the hard problem seems like a 'incompleteness theorems' type problem. But, perhaps the answer to the hard problem IS that it's unsolvable/unknowable, and it's the answer we want. So the emerged mind creates infinite new ways to show US and itself that it's conscious. (instead of us trying to prove that IT is conscious)

This also lead me down a sort of dead end rabbit hole about quantum theories for consciousness, but in my honest opinion these are all wrong, I don't think our brain is using any kind of quantum/multiversal properties of reality to facilitate consciousness, I think our brains are classical computers. But this magnetic field theory of 'thinking' is truly interesting!

[EDIT:

So, I debated about including another train of thought here, and that's related to interferometers. I decided to include it...

Regarding the theory that something on a quantum level is going on in the brain, the only way to test those types of theories would be different types of interferometers. The only practical interferometer I'm aware of is also used in quantum computers to generate bits, that's the Mach–Zehnder interferometer. They're based on light.

(An interesting note about interfermoters is the Fizeau experiment. The speed of light is constant, but existing theories (pre-relativity), suggested that light should be affected by the medium it travels through. Fizeau made an experiment to test this with light through water. It was highly controversial at the time and more or less split the physics community--it was also highly influential on Einstein. But back to quantum physics...)

The way qubits are currently described is, in my understanding, a misunderstanding of what's going on. Usually you read that instead of a "0 or a 1, a qubit is a probabilistic position between 0 and 1." Deutsch would say it's not a probabilistic position, it's what's actually happening in other universes with fungible you's. Which is to say, you're not measuring probabilities, you're measuring actual universes with that particular state between 0 and infinity. ANYWAY, if our brains were somehow interacting with the multiverse through qubits, they'd still have to have some way to avoid decoherance--they do this in quantum computers by using Helium-3 (main source is Tritium decay from stockpiled nuclear weapons) to lower the temperature. Without some completely different theory of how to interact with quantum particles that doesn't need to worry about decoherence, this seems like a very difficult theory to explain consciousness. ]

As researchers dug further into the [rock and fossil record] data, some peculiarities began to spring up. Two of the mass extinctions coincided with abrupt changes in the tempo of reversals. The first was the one 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period. It is known as the Great Dying because 95 percent of species on the planet vanished. The second was the one that killed off the dinosaurs and many other species 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period. A superchron, when the Earth's magnetic field did not change for tens of millions of years, came before each. By contrast, during those two mass extinctions, the field reversed many times. One theory was that during the superchrons, species evolved without the need to adjust to the rigors of reversals, and so when reversals came, so did pulses of extinction. That may offer a bit of comfort about the vulnerability of species to a reversal today. Ever since the dinosaurs vanished, we have been in a relatively fast-paced pulse of reversals, which may have built some level of protection into the genetic code of species now on Earth.

It was mentioned that many species may have adapted to regular pole switches

Whoa, that's interesting. Did it mention what species and how?

What kind of experiment reveals evidence that the Earth's magnetic field was in disarray or has reversed during some particular time period?

If magnetic elements like iron, cobalt or nickel are heated to a certain point and then cool while in a strong magnetic field, they become magnets. If they cool outside of a strong magnetic field, they...still become magnets because Earth has its own magnetic field. Although they become very weak magnets, they'll retain that magnetic orientation until they are heated again past their 'Curie Point'. Bernard Brunhes found a spot in France where, about 5 million years ago, an eruption poured a layer of lava over another layer of rock high in iron content heating it well past its Curie Point. That layer of rock then cooled with Earths magnetic field recorded within it. Over the next 5 million years, the orientation of Earth's magnetic field changed; The orientation of that layer of rock's magnetic field didn't.

Why are the poles always on the move? Can we control it?

Earth's magnetic field is always in flux because the liquid iron/nickel core that creates the magnetic field is always above the Curie Point. This is not something we have much hope of ever controlling. It would make controlling the weather look like changing the channel. We'd better adapt. It was mentioned that many species may have adapted to regular pole switches (regular meaning every several thousand years) and the Permian–Triassic extinction event about 250 million years ago was preceded by a long period of irregularity. It's possible that several links in the food chain just lost their ability to navigate resulting in ecosystem collapse. We have a better understanding of the magnetic field and its behavior than any of them likely did. We should be able to figure something out.

Anyway, the previous linked article makes it sound like, at least the Geomagnetic pole reversal, and not the solar radiation (see below), is a big nothingburger.

Yeah, after reading such a well researched and referenced book, the dismissive tone of this article really put me off. And they end it with a slide show of the Aurora like, "Look at the pretty lights we'll all get to see!" I should make it clear that I probably made it sound more doomsy than Mitchell did. The book ends pretty matter-of-factly. Like, "This is where we are today with the study of Earth's magnetic field."

This was thought-provoking to me, because it seems like a problem that we need to solve. We can't just rely on the Earth to support life, it wasn't designed for that, it wasn't designed at all

I cannot recommend the book "Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe" highly enough. Earth may not have been designed, but such a delicately balanced composition of elements and interworking of systems has only been observed elsewhere in nature as the product of DNA.

First thing that came to mind was a favorite Boards of Canada song: Constants are Changing. Just discovered this, too: Olson 800% slower. Nice soundtrack, feels like touching the magnetic field with my eardrums.

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780,000 years ago - The most recent reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles happens.
40,000 years ago - The earth’s magnetic field is in disarray causing a near-reversal.

What kind of experiment reveals evidence that the Earth's magnetic field was in disarray or has reversed during some particular time period? Is there something that happens inside of, say, some type of rock (element) that changes with the field, but then doesn't get changed the next time there is a disarray?

I see now that this is partially covered later in the post, but found this explanation from NASA helpful--though I don't understand WHY yet. Why changing the temperature of something changes the magnetic field and allows us to freeze it. Perhaps something I was educated about in school, but never properly learned:

When the tectonic plates form along the oceanic ridges, the magnetic field that exists is “frozen” into the rock as they cool below about 700°C. The slowly moving plates act as a kind of tape recorder leaving information about the strength and direction of past magnetic fields.

Why are the poles always on the move? Can we control it? Maybe we don't need to, but just wondering. Seems to be related to climate change? Apparently, recently on a geologic time scale anyway, it has taken thousands of years for the poles to completely shift. Anyway, the previous linked article makes it sound like, at least the Geomagnetic pole reversal, and not the solar radiation (see below), is a big nothingburger.

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“Science was philosophy, not observation.”

Still is

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“[Earth’s magnetic field] guards our planet from the ravages of radiation. It may even be the reason life exists on Earth.”

This was thought-provoking to me, because it seems like a problem that we need to solve. We can't just rely on the Earth to support life, it wasn't designed for that, it wasn't designed at all (unless you believe in infinite regressions). So, my thought process was like: "hmmm, how could we design that better." Which lead to me this:

The Magnetosphere. The solar wind radiation that is funneled into the "polar cusp" is what creates the aurora borealis.

I guess, while it may be true that mutations result from radiation, which would explain the direct link between pole reversal and mass extinctions, it may not be true that the Earth is experiencing less radiation than it would if the radiations wasn't being funneled (because the picture would look totally different). Either way, it begs the question, what could we do with this information about big magnetic fields. Like, what's the magnetic field of a planet with rings look like, is that more beneficial--should we give ourselves a big ring to modify the field? Could we, like, launch something, or some web of things, and heat it up or electrify it to create armor around the planet? I know they put gold in astronauts helmets to filter out radiation, maybe that's useful information.

Also, it's funny people hate Elon Musk because he's rich, BUT he is responsible for organizing minds to do explore space more efficiently than ever before. That exploration will directly lead to discoveries and engineering advancements that could help prevent human suffering from existential threats like solar flares and asteroid collisions.

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Anyway this book sounds awesome, definitely would like to read it, thanks for sharing! And I've got some homework, I need to read more about electromagnetism and heat, too.