Future Evolution

Following the catastrophes of the 21st century - the pandemics, the environmental disaster, the end of oil, the ensuing chaos - people are doing whatever they can to get by and pursuing a simpler and sometimes happier existence. In little Union Grove in upstate New York, the townspeople are preparing for Christmas. Without the consumerist shopping frenzy that dogged the holidays of the previous age, the season has become a time to focus on family and loved ones.

In the thought-provoking tradition of Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now and Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, a fascinating and reassuring look at the philosophy, psychology, and practice of optimism, and why being optimistic is a moral obligation—even in the face of seemingly insurmountable...

In these lively and fascinating essays, scientists from around the world weigh in on the latest advances in the search for intelligent life in the universe and discuss just what that might look like. Since 2000, science has seen a surge in data and interest on several fronts related to E.T...

From the author of Growth, one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2024, a guide for helping the next generation through an educational world, and a job market, forever changed by AI – as well as for anyone navigating the upheaval in today’s workplace We live at an extraordinary...

A call to action that pulls together all of Sir Ken Robinson’s key messages and philosophies, and that challenges and empowers readers to re-imagine our world, and our systems, for the better. Sir Ken Robinson changed the lives of millions of people. The embodiment of the prestigious TED...

With stories that entertain as much as they inform, renowned evolutionist David Sloan Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution and shows how, when properly understood, they can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life to the nature of religion. What is...

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.

In Liar's Poker barbarians seized control of the bond markets. In The New New Thing some guys from Silicon Valley redefined the American economy. Now, with his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how the Internet boom has encouraged great change in the way we live, work, and think...

Dr. Debra Soh, neuroscientist, noted sex researcher, and author of the “exceptional” (The Times, London) The End of Gender, reports on the hidden crisis of a sudden decline of sexual activity. There’s a strange paradox in today’s developed world: society has never been more sexualized...

You're no idiot, of course. You know Heisenburg's uncertainty principle has nothing to do with where you put your car keys. But modern cosmology is relatively complicated. The mystery of the universe definitely isn't one we can flip to the end to see whodunit. That hasn't stopped physicists...

From FSGO x Logic: stories about rural China, food, and tech that reveal new truths about the globalized world In Blockchain Chicken Farm, the technologist and writer Xiaowei Wang explores the political and social entanglements of technology in rural China. Their discoveries force them to...

A Harvard Business School professor and a16z crypto research partner and a career marketer and Web3 entrepreneur demystify the coming digital revolution, showing how NFTs will transform our online and offline interactions. NFTs aren’t just pictures on the internet, or a fad that has come and...

A paradigm-shifting blend of science, religion, and philosophy for the agnostic, spiritual-but-not-religious, and scientifically minded reader Many people are fed up with the way traditional religion alienates them. Too often it perpetuates conflict, vilifies science, and undermines reason...

An entertaining and eye-opening look at the history of the crossword, who constructs them, and why crosswords matter as both a reflection of and influence on our culture From Wordle to Spelling Bee, we live in a time of word game mania. Crosswords in particular gained renewed popularity during...

Ten years have passed on Tygon since the Virtual Prophet woke the Dreamers. Games of life and death continue, and the stakes for winning - or losing - promise to affect the inhabitants across three realities.

How rethinking our relationships with other species can help us reimagine the future of humankind In the woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, sometime deep in our species’ past, something strange happened: a bird called out, not to warn others of human presence, but to call attention to herself...

David Christian is renowned for pioneering the emerging discipline of Big History, which surveys the whole of the past. With Future Stories, he casts his sharp analytical eye forward, offering an introduction to the strange world of the future, and a guide to what we think we know about it at all scales, from the individual to the cosmological. Christian consults theologians, philosophers, scientists, statisticians, and scholars as he explores how we prepare for uncertain futures, including the future of human evolution, artificial intelligence, interstellar travel, and more.

“Evenhanded and insightful.” —Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) “An accessible, often fascinating primer.... Essential, illuminating reading.” —Kirkus From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Digital Doctor comes an engaging, clear-eyed, and ultimately hopeful...

First published in 1971, 2150 A.D. is a groundbreaking science-fiction classic, with over 600,000 copies sold, that earned cult status by imagining humanity’s spiritual evolution decades before consciousness-driven sci-fi entered the mainstream, making it a compelling read for fans of Avatar...

The first-ever inside look at DARPA—the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars America's greatest idea factory isn't Bell Labs...