Gaia Wakes - by Topher McDougal (Hardcover)

About the Book

A bold and compelling new framework for understanding the past, present, and future of our planet, one which explores the development of a technologically enabled planetary brain capable of coordinating ecological functions and peering far into the future and universe.

Book Synopsis

Gaia Wakes presents a compelling new framework for understanding the past, present, and future of our planet. Starting from a strong foundation in economics and drawing on a vast range of multidisciplinary scholarship, Topher McDougal explores the possibility of a fifth transition towards an upgraded Earth: the development of a technologically enabled planetary brain capable of coordinating ecological functions and peering far into the future and universe.

Gaia Wakes endows the emergence of a planetary brain with both a plausible economic mechanism and a historical context in which that mechanism has operated over the course of 3.8 billion years of life on Earth. It argues that the global environmental devastation we are beginning to experience and rapid recent advancements in artificial intelligence may jointly be part of a naturally recurring cycle of "upgrades" that has driven the increasing complexity of life on Earth.

Ambitious and provocative, the author combines economics with a breathtaking range of subjects including futurism, technology, philosophy, ecology and planetary and environmental sciences to offer new insights into questions that have long challenged us about the relationship between humankind and the world in which we live. Gaia Wakes stands out as a bold and original perspective on the future of our planet.

Review Quotes

A provocative and optimistic vision that requires leaders to consider their role in preparing humanity to live alongside - and within - complex technological systems.--Rebekah Bastian, Forbes

A riveting read for anyone curious about Earth's next chapter.--Alta Online

McDougal's writing is academic yet accessible ... Gaia Wakes is a well-polished and thought-provoking read.--John Mauro, Before We Go

A much-needed optimistic vision for our planet's evolutionary trajectory, one that defies the bleakness that pervades so much of the conversation about our environmental future. Gaia Wakes is an important and timely book.--Richard Florida, Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and author of The Rise of the Creative Class

Are we on the verge of Earth consciousness just when we need it most? McDougal's daring and timely thought experiment explores if and how such consciousness might come about in our age when ecosystems are collapsing as fast as AI is advancing.--Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and author of Humanitarianism 2.0: New Ethics for the Climate Emergency

A bold and stimulating set of ideas.--Bill Moomaw, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy, Tufts University, and lead author for the Nobel-award winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

A set of deep-running and potentially revolutionary thoughts that may yet lead us to treat Earth more gently and inclusively than we do in our current age.--Jurgen Brauer, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Augusta University, Georgia, and author of War and Nature

Amidst prevailing doom and gloom about the future of the planet, there is a hunger for outside-the-box ideas that provide some sense of hope - for a future that is different from the one we dread. In this exceptionally original and ambitious book, Topher McDougal provides a vision for such a future. Gaia Wakes traverses and synthesizes vast ranges of knowledge to present a new intellectual framework for understanding the past, present, and future of planet Earth and the place of our species in it. At once analytic and speculative, the book will provoke readers to consider the possibility that we might one day have a technologically enabled planetary-scale brain and mind.--Jonathan Blake, Associate Director, Planetary Program, Berggruen Institute, co-author of Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises

About the Author

Topher McDougal is Professor of Economic Development in the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic and Americas Quarterly.