Author & Public Intellectual
I'M DANIEL
Author of Civilisation Beta. Thinker on AI, the Social Contract, and what it means to architect our civilisational future — by design, not by default.
How AI reshapes civilisation is not an abstract question. It is the question of our time — and the window to answer it consciously is closing.
About Daniel
In conversation with Futurist Gerd Leonhard
Visionary thought leader on how AI impacts society
Daniel Ziekenoppasser-Powell is the author of Civilisation Beta: How AI Architects the Next Epoch — a grand exploration of how artificial intelligence is reshaping business, society, and human ambition.
Blending systems thinking, futurism, and grounded insight, Daniel charts a path through our most pivotal civilisational transition yet. His work explores the deep structures of the coming age: the fraying Social Contract, the political philosophy underpinning AI governance, and the proactive, human-centric principles required to navigate what he calls "Cultural Alignment" — the intentional redesign of our societal norms, institutions, and values for the epoch ahead.
A practitioner as much as a thinker, Daniel has spent his career at the intersection of technology strategy and organisational leadership. He has spoken at leading conferences and been welcomed by an extraordinary circle of global public intellectuals — including futurist Gerd Leonhard — who recognise in his work a genuinely original contribution to how we think about AI and civilisation.
The Book
Daniel Ziekenoppasser-Powell
CIVILISATION
BETA
How AI Architects the Next Epoch
Civilisation Beta
How AI Architects the Next Epoch
The AI revolution is the expressive power of a new printing press, the cognitive force of a new steam engine for the mind, and the productive might of robotics finally completing the industrial age — all arriving simultaneously. Civilisation Beta is the era that follows: unstable, uncharted, and arriving whether we are ready or not.
In this book, Daniel moves beyond hype to deliver a clear-eyed analysis of AI's converging forces. More importantly, he champions the critical need for Cultural Alignment — the intentional redesign of our societal norms, institutions, and values to ensure responsible and intelligent stewardship of this new epoch at a civilisational scale.
The question is no longer if our world will fundamentally change, but how we will navigate it. This is your roadmap.
Research Feed
Daniel's Research Feed
Live from his Zotero library — the sources shaping Civilisation Beta. Updated continuously.