D. Scott Phoenix

Two billion years ago, life on Earth was mostly single-celled until bacteria figured out a new trick, photosynthesis, which makes oxygen.

Now, at the time, oxygen was poison.

But somewhere in that dying world, an extraordinary thing happened.

A larger cell swallowed a smaller one, and instead of digesting it, they merged.

That one accident in a dying world is the reason everyone in this room is alive today.

For us to make it to a merger with AI, we have to stay merged with each other.

So if you're like me, you might be feeling at least a bit unmoored by how fast everything is changing.

AI, our society, the world order, and that's just since this morning.

I have two young daughters, and like a lot of us, I've been trying to make sense of the future they're growing up into.

And what helped me make sense of it actually wasn't looking forward.

It was going back, all the way back.

You see, two billion years ago, life on Earth was mostly single-celled, until bacteria figured out a new trick, photosynthesis, which makes oxygen.

Now, at the time, oxygen was poison.

It shredded the delicate chemistry that nearly all life on Earth depended on, and the planet changed faster than life could keep up with.

Some scientists call what followed the first mass extinction event in Earth's history

But somewhere in that dying world, an extraordinary thing happened.

A larger cell swallowed a smaller one, and instead of digesting it, they merged.

The smaller cell became what we now call the mitochondria, the little powerhouse inside almost every complex cell on Earth.

That merger created an energy surplus so vast, it funded everything that followed.

Larger cells, bodies, brains, every breath you take is still powered by the descendants of that ancient partnership.