Had the great fortune of reading two astounding books over the last few weeks, both picked separately, which turned out to be quite complementary to each other. Moreover, I happened to read them in exactly the right order -
Leonard Mlodinow makes a case for more of what he calls 'elastic', or intuitive, thinking - the random connections that our brain architecture allows us to make that lead to great ideas, insights and creativity.
Which then leads nicely to a man whose entire career - exemplified by his Gaia hypothesis - is one long example of intuitive thinking.
Mlodinow makes the case that the next stage of AI is replicating such thinking - Lovelock makes the same point, going further to speculate that the future of AI is the future of our planet and indeed will lead to our 'successors' in the universe.
'Novocene' in particular is exhilarating to read - a series of huge leaps of intuitive thinking from someone who will surely be celebrated as one of the great minds of our time (he wrote the book during the approach to his 100th birthday).
Lovelock's theory/speculation (essentially his Gaia hypothesis) that humans are the current evolutionary peak of life (as the first beings with awareness of the world) and that it is the existence of life on our planet that has allowed the planet to maintain the conditions - (atmosphere, temperature) for life is so simple and revelatory to read. What he comes to next is quite mind-blowing to absorb and contemplate - if it comes true.