In this episode of Mere Mortals, I review Solve Everything: Achieving Abundance by 2035 by Dr Peter H. Diamandis and Dr Alexander D. Wissner-Gross, a bold manifesto arguing that AI could give humanity the capability to solve nearly every major problem within a decade. I break down the article’s moonshot vision, the idea of directing intelligence with precision, and the hard truth that culture, government, and human inertia may still trap us in the muddle.

00:00 Intro
00:49 The promise of abundance by 2035
01:10 Who are Peter Diamandis and Alexander Wissner-Gross?
01:53 Was this article written with AI?
02:30 How the article is structured
04:06 The core thesis: solving everything through intelligence
05:15 The real world vs the dream world
05:59 “Shape the charge” — directing AI where it matters
07:20 The moonshots that could unlock abundance
09:33 Why benchmarks should reward outcomes, not hours
11:40 What abundance actually means
12:19 The biggest weakness: culture, government, and the muddle
14:33 Is this realistic or just optimism?
15:15 Why the article is still worth reading
16:49 Final reflections
17:10 Subscribe and what’s next

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In this episode of Mere Mortals Book Reviews, I break down The Adolescence of Technology by Dario Amodei and why it reads less like a tech article and more like a civilisational warning memo. We explore AI safety, misuse, power, economic disruption, and the frightening speed at which these systems are advancing. The core tension is brutal: if this technology keeps accelerating without real guardrails, humanity may not get a second chance to correct the course.

https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/the-adolescence-of-technology

(00:00) – Welcome Back to Mere Mortals
(00:39) – Why I’m Reviewing More Long-Form Articles
(01:09) – Who Is Dario Amodei and Why He Matters
(01:37) – What The Adolescence of Technology Is Really About
(02:08) – The Five Big AI Risks in the Article
(03:04) – The “Country of Geniuses” Thought Experiment
(04:18) – The Two Extreme Narratives About AI
(06:00) – Why Dario’s Position Makes This Different
(07:21) – This Is Happening in Years, Not Decades
(08:08) – Anthropic, Government Pressure and Ethical Boundaries
(09:50) – Safety vs Speed in the AI Arms Race
(10:21) – Why Governance and Guardrails Matter
(11:31) – AI, Power Seizure and Geopolitical Risk
(12:33) – The Meaning Behind “The Adolescence of Technology”
(13:00) – Work, Meaning and the Coming Economic Upheaval
(14:02) – What Happens If We Fail to Slow Down
(15:16) – Who This Article Is For
(15:58) – Final Reflections and Why It Hit So Hard

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I don’t even have the physical book… because Accelerando is free online and after reading it, I understand why it’s become a cult recommendation.

This is dense, idea-heavy sci-fi that doesn’t hold your hand.
It throws you into transhumanism, post-human economics, AI evolution, and singularity-level futures… and expects you to keep up.

You’ll get:

uploaded “lobsters”
humans splitting into multiple versions of themselves
“alien” civilisations that look suspiciously like corporate structures
and a final twist involving a cat… that reframes the entire story

I didn’t understand everything.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

(00:00) No book in my hand… here’s why
(00:40) It’s free online (and why that matters)
(01:10) Charles Stross: the “idea-dense” writer
(01:50) Warning: this book fights back
(02:20) The concepts you need before reading
(03:15) The structure: 3 generations, huge time jumps
(05:10) Uploaded lobsters & the early weirdness
(05:40) “Aliens”… or evolved corporations?
(06:20) Dyson/Matrioshka-scale engineering madness
(07:40) People splitting into copies of themselves
(08:35) My honest verdict: hard, but worth it
(09:00) Final takeaway: what this book is really saying

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