Michael Muthukrishna: A Theory of Everyone

Thanks to my colleague at LSE Department Psychological and Behavioural Science for giving me an advanced read of his forthcoming book "A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going". I obviously have some bias in knowing Michael but I have no hesitation at all in recommending this book - it is a gripping read. 

One of the most interesting sessions I conducted in the wider world series involved interviewing Michael last year about the interfaces between cultural evolution and emerging behavioural public policy. One of the main threads running through the book is the cultural evolution of collective intelligence and the potential for developments in collective intelligence to act as countervailing forces to less hopeful trends in climate change, stagnation in technological development, and conflict. 

Michael is a remarkable writer in the greatest traditions of making science exciting for broader audiences. I had a warm glow reading the book thinking of the number of younger readers in particular he will inspire to see psychology and ideas about human behaviour and development in the context of some of the existential issues of the 21st century. 

Is is probably fair to say that he has a more optimistic vision of the role of technology and in particular AI in our future than the average UK based academic. He situates AI as a potentially crucial part of human cultural evolution and something that can potentially transform our collective intelligence and problem solving abilities. More generally he paints very vivid images of how human capabilities can be transformed by global collective problem solving across domains such as conflict, energy, and climate. 

The book bursts into life with a whirlwind global tour of the author's own unbringing and is relentless in the urgency and vividness of the prose throughout. I think each of the chapters that range from ideas on how to improve human intelligence, reduce global climate, and transform the economy will generate debate as to whether he is being too optimistic about the potential for solutions to be found. But he certainly finds a unique expression of the role of understanding deep level human psychology in wider social, economic, and technological transformations. The book has been widely positively reviewed and I am happy to add to this.