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Creativity Squared: On A.I.'s Historical Significance

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope this finds you well wherever in the world you're reading this!

As I’ve been working on my Imagination Age material, I recently came across this fantastic YouTube video featuring Peter Leyden on the extraordinary moment in time we find ourselves in.

If you’re new to Peter, he’s a futurist, author, and former managing editor at WIRED magazine during the 1990s, when the publication was at the forefront of covering the rise of the digital age.

In the video, Peter makes the case that 2025 marks a period when world-historic, game-changing technologies are beginning to scale — transforming not just industries, but civilization itself.

We’re witnessing and living through the metamorphosis of old systems that no longer serve us, and on the precipice of new systems as part of an entirely new age in human history (although I’d call it the Imagination Age!).

Peter reminds us — we’ve been here before:

The full video is worth a watch! Here’s a summary of what the 15 minutes pack in.

The Power of Tipping Points

Every major technological revolution follows the same curve — the slow, awkward start before the exponential rise. Think of the iPhone moment, when a “clunky” technology suddenly becomes indispensable. According to Peter, we’re not witnessing one tipping point, but three simultaneously: A.I., clean energy, and bioengineering (similar to futurist Amy Webb’s technology supercycle of A.I., connected ecosystems of things, and biotechnology). Each will redefine how we live, work, and organize society.

Lessons from 240 Years of Reinvention

He traces these turning points back across American history, observing a pattern of how roughly every 80 years the nation reinvents itself:

• 1780s–1810s — The Founding Era: America emerged from the Enlightenment, birthing modern democracy, capitalism, and science — a civilization-level reboot.

• 1860s–1890s — Post–Civil War Reconstruction: Out of devastation came the Gilded Age’s surge of innovation — railroads, universities, and the industrial economy.

• 1945–1970 — The Post-War Boom: After the Depression and global conflict, America built a high-growth, high-trust society powered by infrastructure, education, and shared prosperity.

Peter shares that we’re standing at the fourth great juncture — another 80-year inflection point — charged with reinventing civilization for the rest of the 21st century.

Three Transformations Underway

1. The Age of A.I.

Generative A.I. — sparked by ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022 — marks a shift as profound as the Bronze or Iron Age, in Peter’s words. For the first time, machines amplify not our muscles, but our minds (unlike the Industrial Revolution). He stated, “We are entering an era where digital intelligence augments every form of human thinking, creativity, and problem-solving — an irreversible step forward.”

2. The Rise of Clean Energy

For the first time in history, energy itself is a technology, not a commodity. Solar panels, batteries, and wind systems get cheaper every time we make more of them. As production scales, costs fall exponentially. The result? If we play our cards right, a world of abundant, affordable, clean energy — transforming the economy as steam engines once did.

3. The Revolution in Bioengineering

Since the discovery of CRISPR, humanity can edit life as easily as writing code. We can grow real meat from cells, tailor genetic outcomes, and design organisms to meet human needs. The cost of sequencing a human genome has plummeted from $3 billion to under $100 and keeps dropping. He shared, “That cost curve unlocks a new era of designed biology — where we can program life itself for health, food, and sustainability.“

The Fourth Reinvention: Building a 21st-Century Civilization

Peter argues that today’s converging technologies form the foundation for something even larger — the possibility of building a new civilization. Just as the Enlightenment gave birth to modern institutions, this era could see a transformation built on new economic and political systems that reflect our interconnected, digital world.

He sees these fundamental shifts in three key areas:

• From financial capitalism to sustainable capitalism

• From representative democracy to digital democracy

• From nation-states to coordinated global governance

These shifts, if they come to pass, will challenge every assumption about how societies function — and how we define progress itself.

The Call of Our Time

If history is a guide, each 80-year reinvention begins with chaos, polarization, and collapse of the old order — but ends with 25 years of astonishing progress, as Peter explains in the video.

We are in that messy middle now.

He ends with:

“The question isn’t whether change is coming; it’s whether we’ll face it with courage, imagination, and collective purpose. If we do, we can build a civilization that’s more just, sustainable, and abundant than anything before. This is our generation’s tipping point. The sooner we recognize the magnitude of this moment, the better prepared we’ll be to shape it.”

I couldn’t agree more with his call to co-create our shared future, and the need for courage, imagination, and collective purpose. And we’ll continue to explore that here, so stay tuned for more on the Imagination Age!

Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with Big Kitty Labs: exclusive to this newsletter, they’re offering a free software strategy session and bonus blueprint — a $2K value! Book your free call now with their A.I. expert developers to gain clarity on how to transform your idea into a business breakthrough: https://bigkittylabs.com/offer 

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility to manifest more magic in 2025! 🪄✨

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

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“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

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