Hyperintelligence

A captivating journey through the evolution of human and artificial intelligence

Hyperintelligence: How the Universe Engineers Its Own Mind is a must-read for anyone who wants a glimpse into the AI-driven future. This entertaining and thought-provoking book tells the story of how complexity and intelligence developed out of cosmic nothingness. The authors take a big-picture analytical approach to identify the major forces that set this process in motion and led straight to the development of AI. Taking a close look at three of these forces—complexity cascades, critical density, and creative pulse—they sketch out the next chapter in the 13.8-billion-year history of intelligence, highlighting the enormous opportunities that AI and other new technologies present. You'll find yourself fascinated, enlightened, reassured, and inspired to help drive innovation for a brighter and more intelligent future for all.

• Discover how the swirling particles released in the Big Bang came together to generate complexity and intelligence
• Gain an optimistic perspective on new technology when you see it as part of the big picture of biological and social evolution
• Learn about the latest data-driven predictions for the future of AI and other innovations
• Prepare to shift your mindset and embrace the possibilities AI offers

Written in an accessible and engaging style, Hyperintelligence is a great read for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone curious about, not only the future, but also how that future fits into the grand cosmic story that began 13.8 billion years ago.

Preface ix

Part 1. Cosmosphere 3

1. Virtually Nothing 7

2. Hydro’s Hot Date 23

3. From LEGO to Life 37

Part 2. Biosphere 49

4. The Creation of Maria 53

5. Are We the Aliens? 63

6. Evolution’s Brushstrokes 71

7. The Global Computer 81

8. The DNA of Culture 87

9. Minds in the Making 99

Part 3. the Technosphere 111

10. Code, Synergy, and Energy 115

11. From Warrior Kings to Office Mice 125

12. The Great Acceleration 131

13. The Big Bang of Intelligence 145

14. The New Token Factories 159

15. Life Decoded! 167

16. The Malthus Myth 171

Part 4. Unisphere 179

17. QuanGeni, 2049 183

18. Synthetic Civilization 199

19. Hyper- science: Innovation on Steroids 207

20. Survive Now, Live Forever? 215

21. Print Me a Dodo, Pleeeze! 227

22. Hydro Saves the World 233

23. Chilling in Tritium Tavern 241

24. Magical Media with AI, Art, and Love 247

25. From 9 to 5 to Flow – Work in the AI Age 257

26. The Long Journey 267

27. Situation Report from Kepler- 186F 279

About the Authors 283

Index 287

LARS TVEDE is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, successful financial investor, and bestselling author with a million books sold. Among his many startups are Supertrends, a firm that uses AI, text-mining, and crowd-sourcing to map global innovation, and 55 Capital.

JACOB BOCK AXELSEN is an expert in mathematical modelling and a specialist in AI and quantum computers. Jacob holds degrees in mathematics and economics (BSc), biophysics (MSc), and physics (PhD), and worked for many years on scientific research and in senior management consulting.

DANIEL KÄFER is an international futurist with management experience from telecom, social media, music publishing and business advisory. He’s an expert in AI, the metaverse, social media, digital transformation, and digital marketing.

In Hyperintelligence, a team of renowned technology, business, and investing professionals delivers a captivating exploration of the evolution of intelligence and a thought-provoking vision of a future in which AI takes centre stage. The book offers a unified, coherent theory for the cosmic development of complexity and intelligence, with AI playing a pivotal role in its future stages.

Accessible and entertaining, Hyperintelligence acknowledges potential pitfalls, but chooses to highlight the enormous opportunities of AI and other technology.

The authors rely on three general phenomena to characterize, analyse, and predict the development of cosmic complexity: complexity cascades, critical density, and creative pulse. Using these phenomena as a base, they rely on mathematical formulas to help you understand the innovation fuelling humanity’s drive forward.

Hyperintelligence tracks 13.8-billion-years of complexity, explaining how intelligence has changed and transformed over the millennia. It walks you through how contemporary and future technology will fit into this evolution, highlighting the “Swiss Army knife” nature of technological tools: useful, but with sharp edges that can be dangerous.

Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders responsible for guiding their organisations into and through an uncertain future, Hyperintelligence will also earn a place in the libraries of entrepreneurs, consultants, professionals, and anyone else with an interest in the nature of intelligence and the role of AI in its evolution.

Intelligence is exploding.

Soon, AI will eclipse us beyond comprehension, ushering in an era of both wonder and the bizarre.

But this is merely the latest chapter in a 13.8-billion-year cosmic journey: the universe spontaneously creating ever-greater minds. From primordial soup to humans to hyperintelligence, the drive towards complexity is relentless.

We now stand at the precipice of solving humanity’s most profound intelligence-related challenges within decades.

What this means for our future, both personal and societal, unfolds in Hyperintelligence. Explore what will become of everything we understand when global intelligence truly goes wild.

From three leading experts in AI and complexity, who have collectively founded 16 companies and published 20 books, comes a groundbreaking exploration: the story of how the universe thinks—and how its thinking continues through us.