We are the most innovative species in the universe. We have created amazing things, from the wheel to the internet. But our innovation has also made us dangerous.

The pace of our development is accelerating. Innovations are breeding more innovations in a positive feedback loop that is leading to exponentially increasing rates of change. Our minds cannot grasp the full implications of exponential growth. We think more in terms of linear change, leading us to have a blind spot on the future.

However, fast the pace of change is today, it will be much faster in the years to come. This will bring ever more rapid scientific and technological advances. But it will also create stress on the systems involved—personal, social, and planetary. The greater the pace of change, the greater the stress and the more likely systemic breakdown.

We are heading into a future with technology beyond our dreams, but in a world that is breaking at the seams. There is no blame for this. Spiraling rates of development, with all their consequences, positive and negative, are the inevitable fate of any intelligent, technologically empowered species.

So how do we live with such spiraling rates of development? How do we prepare for a future that is becoming more and more unpredictable? What does it mean for humanity and our place in the cosmos?

Forgiving Humanity is a thought-provoking and challenging book. It is a must-listen for anyone who is concerned about the future of humanity.