The Immense Journey From the Birth of the Universe to the Rise of Intelligence

In the beginning -- Quantum foundations and the building blocks of matter. Does God play dice?: conceptual quantum physics for the perplexed ; The Feynman path integral ; Entanglement ; The basic building blocks of matter -- Let there be light -- Prebiotic molecules and protocells. Prebiotic molecules ; Protocells -- The first cells. Metabolism ; The beginning of life ; The early Earth: plate tectonics and serpentinization ; Proteins and the genetic code of early life ; The tree of life from Darwin to Woese ; An endosymbiotic interlude ; The tree of life revisited ; Photosyntesis and the oxygenation of the atmosphere ; The evolution of multicellularity -- Darwinian evolution and beyond. Horizontal or lateral gene transfer ; Tempo and mode ; Epigenetics ; Epigenetics and phenotypic plasticity -- Sense, thought and consciousness. Modes of thought ; Vision ; Primary consciousness ; The special case of dolphins ; Higher-order consciousness ; The human advantage ; Cultural evolution and social Darwinism ; The neural basis of human language ; Homunculus: the "I" or inner self ; The ultimate source of consciousness ; Emergence in biological neural networks ; The neural basis of memory -- Beyond our Earth. Thermal history of the Earth ; Venus and the runaway greenhouse effect ; Life on other planets in the solar system -- Civilization and its discontents. The evolution of humans, race, and culture -- Race ; Human capabilities and culture ; The human condition: past and present ; The human condition and the 21st century ; The tragedy of the commons ; Sources of energy ; What is wrong with the climate models? ; Automation and education ; Preconditions for reversing current trends ; A gloomy prediction -- Coda and implications.