Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform our Lives, Work, and World Hardcover – June 11, 2024

People feel that technological change is happening so rapidly and at such a scale that they can only be passive bystanders. I want to inspire people to feel differently.

Every person has a critical role in determining how some of the most consequential technologies in human history should and should not be used. It’s a huge task but we’ve got to do it and we’ve got to start now.

That’s why I’ve written this book.

How can we ensure that emerging technologies benefit humanity rather than harm it?

Humans have co-evolved with our technologies for hundreds of thousands of years. Taming fire for cooking helped us allocate more energy to our brains. Farming allowed us to build our civilizations and even led to changes in our genetic make-up. No technology comes with a built-in value system. Every technology can be used for good or for ill.

It’s up to us to take steps to increase the odds that our technologies will be used for what we consider good and to decrease the chances they will be abused. It requires coming together to determine what are our common values and goals, then fostering governance systems on every level moving in this direction.

Why do you think so many are frightened by the concept and potential applications of Artificial Intelligence?

Like writing and electricity, AI is a general purpose technology that will—directly and indirectly—change most aspects of our lives and world. Some people are imagining some sort of apocalypse, where future AIs treat us like our ancestors treated the Neanderthals. That is one possibility, but I can imagine many more positive potential futures.

What is both scary and exciting about AI is that it will eventually likely have the ability to learn and grow on its own. We humans have given birth to AI, but like any child, we will not be able to fully control it as it grows up. The good news is that most kids grow up to be generally good people.

What kinds of things should the average person look for when evaluating actors in the emerging worlds of biotech and Artificial Intelligence?

The word describing how we build systems that optimize the types of outcomes we want and minimize what we don’t is “governance.” Governance isn’t just about what governments do but about what we all do and what all our communities and institutions do at every level.

A first step toward better governance must be a much deeper process of collectively exploring what our goals and aspirations should be. This is incredibly hard work, but I outline a framework for setting out in the right direction in the book.

What are three key points you hope readers will take away Superconvergence?

First, all technologies are converging in ways that continually accelerate progress. Most technologies are embedded in every other, so what we’re really facing is across-the-board technological progress in all areas.

Second, our newfound abilities to engineer intelligence and re-engineer biology will empower us to transform the living world around us in ways that today seem like science fiction. This will have profound and massive implications for healthcare, agriculture, industry, computing, energy, and nearly every other area.

Third, while we can imagine both utopian and dystopian applications of our new superpowers, it’s up to us to do the hard and essential work now to optimize the phenomenal potential benefits and minimize the horrific potential harms.

More about Jamie

Jamie Metzl is a leading technology and healthcare futurist and the founder and chair of OneShared.World.

He is the author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity and four other books and was a member of the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on human genome editing.

Jamie previously served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the United Nations in Cambodia.

His work has been featured by most major media organizations around the world, including 60 Minutes, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, the Times of London, Le Monde, and Paris Match.

His podcast interviews with Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, and others have reached tens of millions of listeners.