Michael cares deeply about humans, and he sees patterns at a scale most of us don’t. With Humans on the Loop he is putting much-needed energy into ensuring we retain agency as we’re absorbed into complex technological systems

Let's dream together better!  Exploring agency in the age of automation with paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield.

**If you could do anything with technology, what *will* you do?**

*Explore this project's [vision document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kIoDlRD721UhZW4SjXIeccpCo2-v3ngoF1iZDwNyfPU/edit?usp=sharing), [pitch deck](https://bit.ly/hotl-slideshow), and early essays ([1](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/hotl-01), [2](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/hotl-02), [3](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/hotl-03)).*
*[Subscribe](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/subscribe) to upcoming episodes, original music, writing, and more on Substack!*

**About:**

We are in the middle of a major evolutionary transition on the order of the emergence of syntactic language. In our AI-infused society, the gap between imagination and “reality” is smaller than it’s ever been — and now it’s time for humankind to graduate from asking if our dreams are possible to asking how we can dream better. This means cultivating [deeper self-awareness, more discipline, more  humility](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1781407921504502210) — and a new metaphysics of technology to help us wield new superpowers. But decades into [a period of rapid information scaling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnFIfse2NNw), our grasp of [consensus reality](https://michaelgarfield.medium.com/deepfakes-the-archaic-revival-a-the-long-now-foundation-ignite-talk-ff0814714f88?sk=3a0c0c3a1545784cc5ca3bfa5b9b73d7) and [executive function](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/215) have eroded, causing an epistemic crisis. The wicked problems of this century require coordination at unprecedented scale, but [our greatest natural resource — attention](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1588394533662130176) — has worn even thinner than our topsoil. How do we regenerate it and restore the faculties we need to be good stewards of this new ecology of minds?

It is cliché to talk about how “the genie is out of the bottle” with new technologies, but few people take seriously the wisdom on offer in premodern traditions like Judaism with its golems, Islam with its djinn, Shinto with its kami, and the Western Hermetic paths with their egregores. These deep mythic structures form the basis for modern cognition and offer us [a resonant, well-anchored canon](https://michaelgarfield.medium.com/the-future-is-indistinguishable-from-magic-5b9596a4ea) that can help us write new playbooks for the Digital Era and [its magical technologies](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1729950387979846136). Navigating[the challenges that come with new information technologies](https://michaelgarfield.medium.com/an-oral-history-of-the-end-of-reality-ba76ab3bb1f5?sk=5b92b3e6321a9ee56221b8b24ac374da) is a group exercise and [demands inherently plural approaches](https://www.patreon.com/posts/70075367?pr=true). The right response to tools that amplify our biases is [to lean in with curiosity and play, not fear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKtfC0ZeYfc). Luckily, we still have access to many of [the living legends](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1766357659433705710) who helped pioneer personal computing and the World Wide Web, plus a wealth of [luminaries who helped us learn to live amidst digital media](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1662153876219494400), and [it’s crucial that we get their wisdom on the record](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/203) as we bring their (and our) visions to fruition.

[I have spent two decades](https://michaelgarfield.blogspot.com/p/writerspeaker.html) studying and synthesizing [deep time perspectives on intelligence and technology](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/the-evolution-of-surveillance), [innovation](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/festivals), and [the future of human-technology co-evolution](https://michaelgarfield.medium.com/being-every-drone-the-future-of-xr-robotic-telepresence-19f12889da78)…as well as testing bleeding-edge creative tools in public, [helping cultivate systems literacies](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/your-2024-futures-thinking-curriculum) for navigating transformation, and fostering a massive network of mentors and collaborators ([1](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/podcast), [2](https://complexity.simplecast.com/episodes)) with whom I share a devotion to the cultivation of a healthy Biosphere and Technosphere. As [AI comes of age](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/askfuturefossils), this is the moment to recruit as many of them as we can into a multimodal public inquiry on wisdom and technology, power and responsibility, holistic practices for cultivating saner futures…and how we can keep Humans On The Loop and at the wheel.

[It’s going to be a trip](https://twitter.com/michaelgarfield/status/1679219389294612487) — how can we make sure that it’s a good one? Let’s find out together.

**Please** [email me](mailto:michaelgarfield@gmail.com) **if you have any questions, offers, or booking/media requests.**

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