Chapter 9: The Intelligent Universe

Some thoughtful observers are beginning to focus on an portentous possibility: that we may be approaching a kind of cultural tipping point, after which human history as we currently know it will be superseded by hypervelocity cultural evolution driven by transhuman computer intelligence. If this prospect is realistic, then a key task may be to not only comprehend the ideas that are currently driving historical trends but also to attempt to actually shape them -- to launch an exercise in what I have previously called memetic engineering -- aimed at ensuring that the better angels of our nature prevail in the strange new transhuman cultural environment that may lie just over history's frontier. This essay will suggest that the emergence of a novel scientific worldview that places life and intelligence at the center of the vast, seemingly impersonal physical processes of the cosmos may offer the best hope for meeting this uniquely daunting challenge. The concept of an intelligent universe may turn out to be the key tool with which memetic engineers will build the cultural foundation for a benign cosmic future in which human beings no longer play the dominant role.