The Wizard and the Prophet, by Charles C. Mann

Act II — A Seismic Shock
Written By Paul Verhagen

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Groundbreaking Scientists and their Conflicting Visions of the Future of Our Planet (2018)

Identifies the two conventional camps that structure the tech optimism versus pessimism debate: the Wizard (abundance, accelerate) versus the Prophet (limits, catastrophe). I use the distinction structurally, and Mann's biographical method makes it vivid in a way no taxonomy could.

Read it asking: both camps agree that the future is a technical problem with a technical answer. What does the argument look like if you refuse that premise? That refusal is roughly where my book stands.

Paul Verhagen
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