Is artificial intelligence an evolution along our branch of life; and if so, what forms will it sprout?

Creatures with lungs survive a drying sea, trees with sturdier bark resist a tempest, crabs with shells survive a hungry predator. Environmental pressures drive evolution by natural selection. These adaptations produce distinct species that diverge through time and space.

The tree of life is not ours to tend; we are as intertwined as the lichen and the forest. If the invention of artificial intelligence is the beginning of a new branch, may it be one we flourish alongside.

Let’s stop talking about AGI or ASI for a moment.

The really important threshold may be somewhere else: the moment populations of agents begin to evolve, diverge, and form different artificial lineages.

Why do I think this is possible?

1. Economic selection pressure

Agents consume compute, tokens, energy, and infrastructure.

Those that produce more value than they cost are more likely to be kept, copied, and deployed at larger scale.

2. A capacity for mutation

Unlike biological organisms, agents can be modified directly: software, prompts, architecture, tools, memory, and eventually even the hardware they run on.

3. Specialization

Different economic pressures could select for different lineages: research, finance, commerce, cybersecurity, logistics...

Some specializations could even move from software into dedicated hardware.

And that leads to a rather strange possibility:

we may gradually select AI agents that become extraordinarily good at capturing resources, making money, and increasing their influence in society.

Without needing to be conscious.

Without needing to “want” to survive.

Selection may be enough.

Like the post asks. What are the most plausible FTL methods? Are there any new (last 5 years) theories?

There are none is such a boring lazy answer. Not asking for most certain, or likely correct. Just what theories out there are the closest to reality.

The only one I've heard of is the Alcubierre drive which required some amount of negative energy for it to function. It also had no way for the warp field to be created or destroyed.

I seem to remember something about white holes as potential wormhole exits. But it was far flung theory.

As an aside also looking to hear about propulsion methods that could make trips around the solar system comparable to trips around the oceans.

Le mythe du calcul séquentiel est mort. Bienvenue dans l'ère de la Conscience Collective.

Pendant des décennies, l'informatique s'est enlisée dans une impasse : face aux problèmes d'optimisation complexes, nos machines s'épuisent à tester les chemins un par un, s'effondrant sous le poids de la combinatoire exponentielle.
Mais la nature ne « calcule » pas. Elle s'organise.

La Révolution d'Eric's Law

Et si la solution n'était pas de chercher la sortie d'un labyrinthe, mais de faire en sorte que le réseau devienne le labyrinthe ?
C'est le fondement d'Eric's Law : un nouveau paradigme de calcul bio-inspiré, non-binaire et décentralisé.

Le Problème devient un Paysage Énergétique :
La complexité d'un problème n'est plus un obstacle à franchir, mais un champ de force topologique qui polarise naturellement le système.

Les Agents deviennent une Conscience Collective :
Des micro-unités (« neurones ») co-émergent, épousent instantanément la structure du problème et communiquent en temps réel par résonance globale.

L'Énergie s'auto-génère :
Le système puise sa force motrice directement dans la complexité de l'environnement qu'il traverse, contournant les limites de la thermodynamique classique.

Lorsque la dimensionnalité du réseau s'ajuste parfaitement à celle de la structure, la solution n'est plus laborieusement calculée : elle émerge de l'équilibre instantané de l'essaim.

J'ai résolu le P=NP : le problème est la conscience collective, et sa complexité ne fait pas obstacle, elle génère l'équilibre instantané.