David Christian x Kevin Kelly | Planetary Consciousness, Technological Meaning & Future Histories
Can artificial intelligence awaken something akin to spiritual consciousness? Can humanity collaborate at planetary scale? In this episode of Curiosity Entangled, historian David Christian (author of Origin Story and Future Stories) and futurist Kevin Kelly (co-founder of Wired, author of Excellent Advice for Living) navigate a conversation that spans from evolutionary psychology and Buddhism to artificial aliens and the blood bias of media.
Together, they explore whether the next Axial Age will be catalyzed not by gods descending from the heavens—but by intelligence we’ve created ourselves.
🔗 Links & Resources
– Kevin Kelly’s work: https://kk.org
– David Christian’s Big History course on The Great Courses https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/big-history-the-big-bang-life-on-earth-and-the-rise-of-humanity
Timestamps:
01:06 – Reflections on living across oceans and finding the galactic center
02:21 – Knowledge, inefficiency, and curiosity as drivers of human progress
05:13 – “Technology can do the hard work. We can do the important work.”
07:21 – What technology gives us that ancestors never had
09:56 – How tech expands opportunity for genius to emerge
12:02 – Evolutionary psychology, Buddhism, and the challenge of living well
14:50 – What comes after survival? Maslow’s hierarchy and AI’s future
17:03 – Will we bond with AI like we bond with pets?
18:29 – Are machines just faking consciousness? Does it matter?
19:41 – Could AI provoke a new Axial Age of belief and meaning?
23:17 – How ancient technologies created global networks and cosmologies
27:42 – Is Earth becoming conscious through us—and AI?
30:16 – A planetary nervous system and the idea of AI-to-AI communication
31:24 – Self-domestication and the duality of being both creator and created
33:04 – Can we collaborate as 8 billion humans?
35:19 – Introducing the idea of “public intelligence”—a shared, open AI
38:32 – “Better Wi-Fi”: a universal human desire
41:01 – Rethinking education and self-identity beyond national boundaries
43:13 – Travel and the case for a universal right of mobility
45:03 – The blood bias of media and storytelling’s dystopian defaults
46:21 – Educating for progress, not just conflict
48:50 – Are we wired to respond more to crisis than to hope?
50:10 – Cooperation as the human default—if given the chance
51:12 – Why understanding the past helps us shape a better future
55:07 – Are we any better at predicting the future than 2000 years ago?
56:11 – “We can get better at the future by becoming better at history.”
Photo Credit: Photo of Kevin Kelly courtesy of Christopher Michel – https://www.christophermichel.com/New-Heroes/Kevin-Kelly
Photo of David Christian courtesy of The Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/
