Copies of the book and a reader’s guide will be available to check out ahead of time at the Reference Desk. Past participation is not required for this once-a-month book club. Everyone is welcome to join the low-key, no long-term commitment, friendly group. Registration is requested.
We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organize your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy. None of us are prepared.
In The Coming Wave (2023), Mustafa Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side, the thread of overbearing surveillance on the other. How do we ensure the flourshing of humankind? Maintain control? Navigate the path to a successful future?