"We need a paleontology of the present, a rethinking of our condition in the perspective of deep time, in order to produce a synthesis of the arts and sciences adequate to the challenges we face."

- W.J.T. Mitchell

In the decades since their publication, Michael Crichton's best-selling novel Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg's best-selling film adaptation both transformed the world, setting in motion revolutionary technological developments and accelerating the breakdown of boundaries between the real and the virtual, the past and the future, civilization and the natural world.

Intended as a cautionary tale, Jurassic Park backfired by seeding the imagination with a gripping narrative that lit the world on fire with interest in the possibility of de-extinction...as well as the commercial opportunities enabled by an arms race to create and own new monsters of modernity: the AI, biotech, and VFX that ratcheting attempts at regulation and surveillance only help to fuel.

Michael Garfield's daring and ambitious synthesis explores the intersections of the techno-thriller, chaos theory, complex systems science, the history of computation, emerging media, and culture...an ode to all the promise and the peril of the portals that we open and the self-fulfilling prophecies we midwife through our digital devices and scientific innovations. "Dinosaurs" (our rampant tech and institutions) and humans must find better ways to live together...to survive and stay sane through this phase transition into What Comes Next.

Synthesizing insights from more than 300 podcast interviews and 20 years of independent scholarship, Garfield's here to help you navigate an ever-weirder future populated by ChatGPT, COVID-19, deep fakes, and resurrected mammoths. The raptors are already on the mainland...how, then, can we coexist?

The Complexity Lounge is delighted to welcome Michael Garfield, who has interviewed some of the leading thinkers in the field of complexity science. This should be awesome - weird, but awesome.

Please note the time slot- this is an afternoon event for those of you on EDT (12:00 noon to 2:00 pm). This event will be recorded and posted on The Complexity Lounge Vimeo page.

Bio
Artist and philosopher Michael Garfield helps people navigate our era of accelerating weirdness and cultivate the curiosity and play we'll need to thrive in it. As host and producer of both Future Fossils Podcast and The Santa Fe Institute's Complexity Podcast, Michael has charted internationally and consistently for years, racking up over 1.5M downloads while acting as an interlocutor for a worldwide community of artists, scientists, philosophers, and visionary leaders. His institutional communications work feeds and is fed by over fifteen years of synthetic and trans-disciplinary "mind-jazz" performances in the form of essay, multi-instrumental live music, live performance painting, and public speaking, walking through walls between academia, tech, and entertainment. Follow him on Sub-stack for an avalanche of mind-expanding podcasts, writing, art, and music.