Dispatches from the Edge of Evolution
Post-Animal, Post-Human, Post-Scarcity
We're living through the moment where everything begins to change. Not in some abstract, sci-fi sense—but at the cellular, cognitive, and societal levels, right now, all around us.
We’re entering a post-animal, post-human, and ultimately a post-scarcity world. Each phase is an inflection point—technological, economic, and ethical—and all of them are converging faster than most of us can process.
Let’s break it down.
🧬 1. Post-Animal: The End of Industrial Life
I built Wild Earth and backed many alt protein companies on a simple thesis: we can unhook our food system from the suffering of animals. And now that’s no longer a fringe idea—it’s the future of food. From plant based alternatives to cell-based meats to precision-fermented proteins, we’re redesigning nature’s playbook.
But this is bigger than food.
This is about reclaiming biology as a technology—one not bound by tradition, but by intention. Just like we learned to program computers, we’re learning to program cells. In a world where you can grow leather without a cow and meat without a slaughterhouse, the rules of production—and consumption—start to collapse.
Jordi Visser talks about the coming wave of efficiency-driven innovation as a generational force, particularly among younger consumers. He’s right. Post-animal is not a trend—it’s a generational rejection of legacy systems that are inefficient, unsustainable, and frankly, cruel.
This is the first domino. And it’s falling fast. The Future of Food is far from ending, it’s just beginning.
🤖 2. Post-Human: Merging with the Machine
Elon Musk once said that humans are already cyborgs—we just have a slow interface (our thumbs). He’s not wrong.
With the rise of AGI, neural interfaces, and synthetic cognition, we're not talking about AI replacing humans—we’re talking about integrating with it. The idea of “human” is becoming modular.
The past decade gave us smartphones as prosthetic memory.
The next decade? AI copilots, brain-machine interfaces, and gene-edited cognition. From GPTs that finish our thoughts to nootropics that rewire them, the lines are blurring.
These aren’t just tools, ChatGPT now “knows you” and can increasingly help you navigate the infinite white space of constant information and find your own, unique path through it.
Raoul Pal often talks about exponential technologies and the Age of Acceleration—how macro trends like AI aren't just technological shifts, but societal restructurings. Post-human is that shift. It’s the dissolution of boundaries between biology and technology and a post labor society.
We're moving from tool-users to co-evolving intelligences.
🪙 3. Post-Scarcity: Crypto and the Operating System of Abundance
If biology is the hardware and AI is the software, then crypto is quickly becoming the operating system of the new world.
Not the speculative casino version—the permissionless, programmable capital version.
Imagine a world where scientific research (Decentralized Science) is funded by DAOs, where protein design is shared on-chain, and where regenerative economic systems incentivize open-source cures. That’s not a dream—it’s being built now.
James at InvestAnswers often hammers home how AI and crypto will unleash massive productivity gains and wealth redistribution. He sees Ethereum and Solana as foundational infrastructure, not just assets. They’re permissionless capital stacks for funding the post-everything economy.
In a world where marginal cost drops to near-zero, what becomes of the global ledger? It was once gold, then the US dollar and now 1’s and 0’s in the form of Cryptocurrency.
Web3 offers us a shot at escaping the artificial scarcity of legacy systems. That includes capital, data, and opportunity. It’s not perfect. But it’s ours to shape.
🌍 From Micro to Macro: Why This Matters Now
At the micro level, we’re reprogramming ourselves—physically, cognitively, socially.
At the macro level, systems are cracking:
Economic inequality based on fiat currencies around the world, is peaking.
Climate and ecosystem disruption is accelerating based on the old, extractive industrial models
Post Industrial Institutions are faltering all over the world.
And yet, there’s hope. Because we’re also building new systems—decentralized, regenerative, intelligent systems—that aren’t trapped by the past.
This is the fork in the road.
That’s why I keep building, investing, and writing. Because the post-animal, post-human, post-scarcity world isn’t science fiction anymore. It’s a design challenge.
⚡️ So What Now?
If you’re reading this, you’re likely one of the builders, thinkers, or early adopters. So here’s what I invite you to do:
Build with purpose: Use AI, bio, or crypto—but tie it to first principles. Solve for health, post industrial production, and regeneration.
Invest in edge-thinkers: Fund the rebels. Support the weirdos. They’re building what comes next.
Join the conversation: This newsletter is evolving into a home for post-everything thinking. I’d love to hear from you—what you're building, fearing, and imagining.
🚀 Dispatches from the Edge
I’ll be publishing more of these “dispatches” as we navigate the next decade. Because this isn’t a trend report. It’s a field guide for the future—the one we’re already inside.
Let’s make it intentional.
— Ryan