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More Everything Forever

AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity

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About this listen

 'Book of the Year' as chosen by The Conversation

'Disconcerting . . . a disturbing and important book' NEW SCIENTIST

'Smart and wonderfully readable' NEW YORK TIMES

The bad science and sinister ideas behind Silicon Valley's foolish obsession with immortality, AI paradise and limitless growth.

Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs.

In More Everything Forever, scientist and writer Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow to reveal why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the truth is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience. And behind these fanciful visions of space colonies and digital immortality is a cynical power grab, at the expense of essential work spent on solving real problems like the climate crisis.

More Everything Forever exposes the powerful myths that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are. Computer Science Future Studies International Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Social Sciences Technology Silicon Valley

Critic reviews

An important book as well as a good one. A really significant contribution to our discussion of the future . . . Becker's book is very entertaining as it exposes how the emperor has no clothes (Kim Stanley Robinson, author of THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE)
With a wild and utterly engaging narrative, Becker gives us a refreshing reality check on the fantasies of billionaires, futurists and utilitarian philosophers who are plotting to "optimize" the future of humanity. A fascinating exposé (Melanie Mitchell, author of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A GUIDE FOR THINKING HUMANS)
I love this book. Becker has become our greatest prophet of doom (Errol Morris, documentary filmmaker and author of THE ASHTRAY)
Our world has fallen into the clutches of billionaires who mistake dystopian science-fiction stories for suggestions, rather than warnings. Speaking in my capacity as a dystopian science-fiction writer, I can confirm that this isn't merely very stupid, it's also very, very bad (Cory Doctorow, author of RED TEAM BLUES and LITTLE BROTHER)
Disconcerting . . . More Everything Forever is a disturbing and important book (New Scientist)
Smart and wonderfully readable . . . Amid [Becker's] sharp criticisms of the tech figures he writes about is a resolute call for compassion. He encourages us not to get hung up on galaxies far, far away but to pay more attention to our own fragile planet and the frail humans around us (New York Times)
Becker subjects Silicon Valley's ideology to some much-needed critical scrutiny, poking holes in - and a decent amount of fun at - the outlandish ideas that so many tech billionaires take as gospel. In so doing, he champions reality while also exposing the dangers of letting the tech billionaires push us toward a future that could never actually exist
With admirable clarity and patience, Becker dismantles the fantasies one by one: the AI apocalypse that obscures the real and immediate problems the algorithms are causing, concerning bias, misinformation and energy consumption; the absurd notion of "mind uploading" and the transcendental Singularity that will grant us immortality in a digital nirvana ("All of humanity, running on a computer, until the end of time"); the pipe dream of creating a civilization of billions on airless, frigid, radiation-strafed Mars . . . Writing More Everything Forever took guts (Philip Ball)
A much-needed reality check . . . A valuable meditation on the questionable stories we tell about progress, salvation, and ourselves
A compelling survey of the ideas espoused by a band of futurist thinkers who have championed - and profited from - a boundless faith in the power of artificial intelligence . . . Engaging with these tech-infused visions is necessary because they are starting to affect how society is governed
All stars
Most relevant
An excellent summary and critique of the nonsense spouted by the tech leaders and their cultists. Required reading/listening.

Required listening

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It's about time someone wrote a book that lays out all the shady practices and down right unrealistic goals of the a bunch of morally bankrupt and ignorant billionaire who pretend to care about society and humanity.

Becker does a fantastic job as a scientist of examining why such lofty goals of Space colonisation and ai are much more difficult than the silicon valley tech gurus and their rich buddies make it out to me. He does a good job laying out very clearly their shallow moral foundations and rather incoherent logic behind their decision making for the future.

I also found the some parts to just be rather educational abkut certain scientific concepts such as space travel, planets and the physics behind it
as layman it was rather helpful in that regard.

A must read for anyone who is interested in being realistic about the future.

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Becker does a great job dissecting the ideology of the tech bros. His takedown of Elon Musk’s Mars dream is particularly brilliant. The book nicely balances cultural, philosophical and scientific arguments. Becker does sometimes indulge in cheap pot shots, but his antagonists – Altman, Musk, Thiel, Zwitkowsy, Bostrom et al – are so utterly stupid that it is easy to see why he couldn’t resist the urge. Still it’s a pity, because the cheap shots detract a bit from the really very powerful main arguments.

Essential critique of Artificial Ideology

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A fascinating listen but the direction of the argument can get confusing at times. it's unclear what the point of each chapter is. It seems to wander a bit, especially in the middle chapters which makes it hard to follow.

informative take and well researched

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interesting at times, useful critique of silicon valley hyper optimism... but most of the book is just a lefty rationalisation of his disgust for techno billionaires

woke take on singularity and co

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