Future Evolution

It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth in the past, present, and future. Taking listeners from the deep geologic past to our current era of human dominance, Stephen Porder focuses on five of life’s essential elements—hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

With the ongoing advancement of AI and other technologies, our world is becoming increasingly intelligent. From chatbots to innovations in brain-computer interfaces to the possibility of superintelligences leading to the Singularity later this century, our reality is being transformed before our eyes. This is commonly seen as the natural result of progress, but what if there's more to it than that? What if intelligence is an inevitability, an underlying property of the universe?

We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. The Fourth Age provides extraordinary background information on how we got to this point, and how - rather than what - we should think about the topics we’ll soon all be facing: machine consciousness, automation, employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity.

Just 45 years ago, the age of gene modification was born. Researchers could create glow-in-the-dark mice, farmyard animals producing drugs in their milk, and vitamin-enhanced rice that could prevent half a million people going blind every year. But now GM is rapidly being supplanted by a new system called CRISPR or "gene editing". Using this approach, scientists can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago.

In The Invisible History of the Human Race, Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. While some books explore our genetic inheritance and some popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy.

Could humans unknowingly be a part of a larger superorganism—one with its own motivations and goals, one that is alive, and conscious, and has the power to shape the future of our species? This is the fascinating theory from author and futurist Byron Reese, who calls this human superorganism “Agora.” In We Are Agora, Reese starts by asking the question, “What is life and how did it form?” From there, he looks at how multicellular life came about, how consciousness emerged, and how other superorganisms in nature have formed.

In How We Do It, primatologist Robert Martin draws on 40 years of research to locate the roots of everything from our sex cells to the way we care for newborns. He examines the procreative history of humans as well as that of our primate kin to reveal what's really natural when it comes to making and raising babies, and distinguish which behaviors we ought to continue - and which we should not. Although it's not realistic to raise our children like our ancestors did, Martin’s investigation reveals surprising consequences of - and suggests ways to improve upon - the way we do things now.

InsurTech solutions have created amazing new opportunities for insurers to innovate and evolve. But the path to bringing them to market can vary greatly, with some efforts going well and some fraught with delays, cost-overruns, scope issues and more.

In the age of artificial intelligence, where the lines between human and machine blur, a new era of creativity and possibility emerges. Surviving Creative Evolution by Shannon Hayner is your compass in this transformative landscape, offering a unique blend of spirituality, philosophy, and practical self-care strategies to help you not just survive but thrive amidst automation anxiety.

While examining the history of our planet and actively exploring our present environment, science journalist Michael Tennesen describes what life on Earth could look like after the next mass extinction.

Adversarial Minds provides a thorough analysis of the interplay between society and AI, being one of those current events books that will help you keep up with the increasing complexity of our world while trying to provide a useful guide map to what our future holds. Debut author and computer scientist Nate Myers insightfully tackles the main debate over artificial intelligence in his AI book, familiarizing the listener with basic terminology and key concepts in a friendly and compelling manner.

In his acclaimed Cosmosapiens, renowned scientist John Hands looked back on how we humans evolved from the origin of the universe to the present day. Building on that work, The Future of Humankind: Why We Should Be Optimistic looks ahead to our ultimate destiny. Listeners embark on a fascinating journey in which Hands evaluates current major predictions for our future in three categories—extinction, survival, and transformation—before making his own unique and astonishing forecast.

From the big bang to the origin and evolution of intelligent life in a search for the meaning of human existence, Why Are We Here?, by author Bruce Brodie, offers a look at evolution and the future of life on the planet.

Some of the most prominent experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been increasingly sounding the alarm of the current and future dangers of untethered use of AI. Some have even stated that AI poses a very real and imminent threat to the future of mankind, even to the point of AI possibly taking control of the Earth through Machine Learning and even ending the existence of Man.

As we approach 2050, it is projected that human consciousness will encounter a superior intelligence for the very first time: artificial machine intelligence. It is important for us to understand the evolutionary impact of this event, but also that we are being altered from the inside out for the singularity to arise.

The environmental crisis is advancing at an unprecedented pace and scale. It will outpace us if we don’t turn our attention to an even deeper concern regarding the future of humanity: We need to work together to create change. Our current approach to collaboration is outmoded. To transform our world, we must transform the way we lead. We collectively share the power and responsibility for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future. Leaders who hope to shape that future must develop the ability to embrace relationships as our most impactful, influential tool.

This book raises ethical questions that might become part of mainstream consciousness in years to come and points out the role of communication and language in helping create (or avoid) a potentially dystopian future.

Future Science features 19 young scientists, most of whom are presenting their innovative work and ideas to a general audience for the first time. Featured in this collection are William McEwan, a virologist, discussing his research into the biology of antiviral immunity; Naomi Eisenberger, a neuroscientist, wondering how social rejection affects us physically; Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist, showing what massive datasets can teach us about society and ourselves; and Anthony Aguirre, a physicist, who gives readers a tantalizing glimpse of infinity.

In On the Evolution of Intimacy, psychiatrist and futurist Charles Johnston addresses how our times are making possible a critical "growing up" in how we think about intimacy and gender. With intimacy, the changes he describes are as significant as those which brought us Romeo and Juliet-style romantic love. With gender, they take us beyond both the polarizing assumptions of traditional gender roles and the simplistic conclusions of a postmodern unisex ideal.

At present people perceive the world full of many calamities and above all with much uncertainty. This is due to the worrying deterioration of society, economy, and security. The future of people, as well as that of humanity itself, is not so clear. This, of course, can undermine the desire to stay ahead, because some think that there is not much that can be done to improve the situation.