Steven Kotler is an author and entrepreneur, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at Florida Atlantic University. He is the Founder and Director of the Flow Research Collective. His non-fiction books include The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer, Mapping Cloud 9, Tomorrowland: Our Journey from Science Fiction to Science Fact, and The Rise of Superman. In addition, he has written three novels. He has also coauthored a number of non-fiction books with Peter Diamandis, including The Future is Faster Than You Think, Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, and Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World. He will be discussing his newest book coauthored with Peter Diamandis, We Are As Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance.

Steven discusses how humanity is rapidly entering an “Age of Abundance” driven by exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, automation, and advanced communications systems. He explains that while these innovations are creating unprecedented opportunity, they are also overwhelming human biology, contributing to anxiety, burnout, cognitive overload, and social instability because the human brain evolved for scarcity rather than exponential change. Kotler argues that cultivating flow states, adaptive flexibility, curiosity, creativity, and meaningful human engagement may be essential for thriving psychologically, spiritually, and socially in the accelerating world now emerging.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:10 Abundance and scarcity

00:08:07 Godlike technology

00:11:22 Anxiety and overload

00:18:50 Flow as survival

00:25:22 Understanding flow

00:32:31 AI and cognition

00:42:35 Environmental renewal

00:51:48 Adaptive flexibility

01:03:45 Conclusion

(Recorded on May 16, 2026)

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Published on June 1, 2026