Abstract

AbstractAuthor and historian Yuval Harari has foreseen a future where humans emerge as “self-made gods of planet Earth.” Yet what may displace Homo Deus as the main mover in evolution? A prime candidate is a hybrid lifeform of greater scope. A new genus of superorganisms – Deus Narrans – will have an opportunity to engage actual and artificial intelligence in creating value across today’s political and cultural divides. The art, technology and science endeavors arising from such new ventures may surpass in influence those benefiting the human species alone, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, biosciences, and other accelerating technologies for sustainable abundance. For eons, material scarcities prompted zero-sum rivalries among and between humans and other species to reproduce at the expense of one another. As plenitude and longevity grow, new forms of non-zero sum interchange will arise among sentient beings. Evolution in a post-scarcity era will differ from earlier epochs by turning to the spread of “lumenes” – replicable qualities of spirit or patterns of emotional response in sentient beings – across today’s cultural and species lines. New communication technologies and pattern languages can speed this shift. Technologies already are emerging for even distantly-related lifeforms to converse, share emotions, and act in mutually rewarding ways. These tools will become central as evolution grows branchier. Genetic engineering and artificial intelligence soon will make Homo Sapiens the ancestor of myriad new cultures and species, many far surpassing our present capabilities. As a common ground for connecting sentient life forms in new ways, Deus Narrans can meet the need for spreading empathic resonances, understandings and collaboration among beings across cultural and species divides. The heart of such interactions may be a fractal system for launching co-creative ventures in the realms of art, science, and technology. This chapter maps how “social tetrahedrons” and “narrative fractals” can serve as interfaces through which sentient beings of all kinds can share experiences and create value at all scales in multiple realms. As transcultural and transspecies startups emerge, they may set the stage for millions of humans – as well as individuals from new lifeforms to come – to explore, thrive, and co-evolve in relationships made possible by Deus Narrans.