Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence

Really glad I read this. Lovelock turned 100 years old writing this book, which is something you have to remind yourself of page after page due to its lucidity and energy that outdoes that of thinkers 70 years his junior. It was hard to miss his optimistic interpretation of our present and potential future throughout.

Lovelock, more so than those more cautious, like Nick Bostrom, see the myriad outcomes of artificial intelligence as quite positive for critical components of mass energy generation and management, social organization, ect.

My biggest complaint is that only one-third of this book was actually about Lovelock’s concept of the Novacene; the first two-thirds are a review of his Gaia theory and a review of the Anthropocene. Both are essential precursors to build upon, but I wish the book was longer and we could hear more of the author’s analysis on the potential transition between organic and inorganic life in the next few centuries.