John M. Smart is an American futurist, systems theorist, and foresight educator known for exploring how intelligence, technology, and complex systems evolve over time. He is the co-founder of the Evo-Devo Institute and founder of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, organizations devoted to understanding accelerating technological change and the long-term development of complex systems. Smart’s work blends futures studies, biology, cosmology, and information theory, seeking patterns that link everything from cells and societies to artificial intelligence and the universe itself.

At the heart of Smart’s thinking is the idea that complex systems—from brains to civilizations—tend to become increasingly efficient, dense, and information-rich as they evolve. He is best known for concepts such as STEM compression and the transcension hypothesis, which speculate that advanced civilizations may ultimately turn inward toward ultra-dense computation rather than outward toward endless space expansion. Part futurist, part cosmic naturalist, Smart writes and teaches about “foresight”: the disciplined art of thinking about possible futures. In his view, studying the future is not fortune-telling but something more like meteorology for civilization—watching the clouds of technology gather and asking, with a smile, whether tomorrow’s storm might actually be a sunrise.

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