Bridging the Metacrisis

Humanity’s Radical Leap Into the Future

Let me take you back to the year 1995. The internet was a curiosity, something most people thought was for sending email and checking out a handful of websites. Fast forward to today, and you realize that this “thing” we once saw as a neat tool has now rewired how we shop, communicate, learn, and even think. It’s no longer a tool — it’s the platform for much of modern life.

Now, there’s a new curve on the horizon, one we are not fully prepared for, even though it’s already here

We are standing on the edge of a chasm that most of us can’t yet see, let alone understand. Throughout human history, there have been moments when everything changes — when the old ways of thinking, doing, and living are shattered, replaced by something so radically different that it becomes hard to imagine how we ever lived before.

The printing press, the steam engine, the internet — all were revolutionary shifts in human consciousness and society. But I am here to tell you that the next great shift, one that will likely eclipse them all, is already happening, and we’re woefully unprepared for it.

This is not just a technological shift, although technology will certainly play a starring role. This is not just an economic shift, although the global economy will be redefined.

This is, at its core, a paradigm shift in how we understand ourselves, our world, and the relationships that sustain life on this planet. And the clock is ticking — this shift is coming within the next three years or before the end of this decade.

The question is: Will we be ready?

Framing the Theory: Understanding the Inevitable Shift

To understand the radical shift I’m proposing, it’s essential to distinguish between a hypothesis and a theory. A hypothesis is a starting point — a guess based on limited evidence, awaiting validation through further investigation.

A theory, however, is much more robust. It is a well-substantiated explanation, grounded in evidence and repeated testing, that explains how phenomena occur, even when it can’t predict specific outcomes.

In this case, I am not proposing a hypothesis. I am proposing a theory.

The signs are all around us, plain as day, and the evidence is irrefutable: this shift is coming. You don’t need to be a tech futurist or an environmental scientist to see it — just look at the way exponential technologies, collapsing ecosystems, and our growing understanding of planetary limits are converging. The momentum is building, and whether we’re ready or not, this change is about to reshape everything we know. These forces, when considered together, make the shift in human consciousness not a question of if but when.

While its difficult to predict the exact outcome of this shift — how society will look on the other side — I can assert with confidence that this transformation is inevitable.

The complexity of this shift, in line with Bill Sharpe’s second horizon -in his three horizon framework - aligns with the unpredictability inherent in systemic dynamics.

The role of biodiversity, which supports 60% of global GDP, will be central to this future.

The shift itself, driven by these interconnected forces, is certain.

Why Can’t We See It?

Now, here’s the kicker: We can’t see this shift coming because we’re still thinking with old mental models. Our sense-making abilities, our frameworks for understanding the world, are stuck in a past that no longer serves us. We’ve grown used to gradual, linear progress. We’ve been conditioned to believe that change happens incrementally, that we’ll have time to adjust. But this new reality is emerging along an exponential curve. Change isn’t just faster — it’s accelerating, and we’re still looking in the rearview mirror.

This inability to grasp what’s coming is a direct result of operating within an outdated paradigm. We’re living through the early stages of what technologists call the exponentiality curve, where advances in technology are not simply additive but multiplicative. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the rise of artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence: A Billion Times Smarter?

Consider this: Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer of Google X, has predicted that artificial intelligence will soon be a billion times smarter than humans. Let that sink in.

AI will not just outperform us in calculations or data analysis — it will redefine intelligence as we know it. Yuval Noah Harari has called this alien intelligence because it will operate on levels we cannot even fathom. Imagine a form of intelligence so advanced that we can’t understand its thought processes, let alone predict its decisions.

This is where things get tricky. How do we, as humans, prepare for something that is far beyond our comprehension? The answer isn’t in trying to keep up with AI by enhancing our current capabilities. It lies in a shift in consciousness — in rethinking what it means to be human in an age where technology may surpass us in every measurable way.

The Planetary Wake-Up Call

But AI is just one part of the equation. At the same time that we’re grappling with the rise of artificial intelligence, we’re also facing a very different kind of crisis: the collapse of planetary boundaries. We are finally coming to terms with the fact that the way we’ve treated our planet — extracting resources, polluting ecosystems, and destroying biodiversity — is unsustainable. The systems that underpin life on Earth are failing.

This realization brings us to a startling conclusion: Biodiversity, often treated as an afterthought, sustains 60% of the global GDP. Yet, we’ve systematically eroded the natural systems that make life, and our economies, possible. The upcoming shift will force us to reckon with this fact. Restoring biodiversity will no longer be a nice-to-have; it will be an economic and ecological necessity.

The Crisis of Separation

So what’s the common thread tying AI, planetary collapse, and biodiversity loss together?

It’s the crisis of separation — our separation from nature, from each other, and from ourselves. The old paradigm has led us to believe that we are isolated individuals, standing apart from the world around us, that we can extract from nature without consequences, that technology will always solve our problems.

But this is the lie we’ve been living under. The coming shift will reveal what has been true all along: We are deeply interconnected. The health of our planet, the evolution of our technologies, and the well-being of our societies are all interwoven. You cannot fix one without addressing the others.

Preparing for the Inevitable Shift

So, what do we do? How do we prepare for a shift that we can’t fully understand but know is coming? The first step is recognizing that this is not a shift we can control. It is not a problem we can solve with the tools of the old paradigm. Instead, we need to embrace a new way of thinking, a new consciousness that is equipped to handle the complexity and uncertainty of the future.

This new consciousness will prioritize regeneration over extraction. It will recognize that biodiversity restoration is not just an environmental goal but a core pillar of economic sustainability.

It will embrace the fact that we are entering a world where AI will play an outsized role, but that our human value lies not in competing with AI but in cultivating the uniquely human qualities of empathy, creativity, and connection.

The Shift is Here, Whether We’re Ready or Not

The bottom line is this: The next three years — or before the end of this decade, at most — will bring a radical transformation in human consciousness and societal systems. The rise of artificial intelligence, the collapse of natural systems, and the growing realization of our interconnectedness will force us to evolve in ways we cannot yet imagine.

The shift is coming, whether we are ready for it or not.

The only question that remains is how we will respond. Will we cling to the old ways, hoping that incremental change will save us?

Or will we embrace the radical new paradigm that this shift demands — one that values biodiversity, embraces technological intelligence, and fosters a deeper connection with the natural world?

The world as we know it will be transformed, and the only question is how prepared we are to adapt.

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