Book premiere: Emanuel Deutschmann presents “Die Exponentialgesellschaft”. In conversation with Jonas Schaible

Advances in artificial intelligence, waves of infection and the climate crisis may seem to have little to do with each other at first glance, but they are often linked. And they follow a similar, exponential pattern: one variable - computing power, people infected with coronavirus or CO2 molecules in the atmosphere - increases by a constant factor per unit of time. At first, this often seems harmless, but then the curve suddenly goes almost vertically upwards, with potentially uncontrollable consequences.

For his highly topical book Die Exponentialgesellschaft. Vom Ende des Wachstums (Suhrkamp 2025) on the stabilization of the world, Emanuel Deutschmann has analysed a vast amount of data. He shows that developments in an astounding number of areas have reached this steep phase. We live in an exponential society, which is why crises and social conflicts are on the rise. We should actually be turning the corner and stabilizing growth at sustainable levels. But while the stabilization camp is campaigning for appropriate measures, the expansionists are pushing for more speed, more cars, more profit. The future of humanity could be decided by the outcome of this debate.
In conversation with Jonas Schaible (editor in the SPIEGEL capital office), he will present his new book.

The event takes place in German.