Portfolio

Books:

MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (Basic Books, 2025)

“Smart and wonderfully readable….Amid [Becker’s] sharp criticisms of the tech figures he writes about is a resolute call for compassion. He encourages us not to get hung up on galaxies far, far away but to pay more attention to our own fragile planet and the frail humans around us.” — The New York Times

The cover of a book, showing the words "More Everything Forever" shooting up into a field of stars. Below that, the subtitle and author's name appear. The subtitle is "AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity." The author's name is Adam Becker.

“A call to clear-eyed humanism….In an era when billionaire space races and AI hype dominate headlines, More Everything Forever arrives as a much-needed reality check.” — The Atlantic

“A compelling survey of the ideas espoused by a band of futurist thinkers who have championed — and profited from — a boundless faith in the power of artificial intelligence….Engaging with these tech-infused visions is necessary because they are starting to affect how society is governed.” — Jaron Lanier, Nature

“An urgent call to deflate the world-shaping power of tech billionaires….Becker articulates a timely and informed wake-up call….His vehement critique is fundamental to diminishing their power.” — Science

“Timely and thoughtful.…Becker, an astrophysicist and science journalist, takes a wild ride through speculative technologies and assesses their merit, using real science…An important and sober investigation of Silicon Valley’s boldest claims about the future.” — Kirkus (starred review)

“Compulsive [and] brilliantly written….comes at the subject with the exasperated contempt it deserves. Think of it as Fear and Loathing in Silicon Valley.” — New Zealand Herald

WHAT IS REAL? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics (Basic Books, 2018)

“A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science.” — James Gleick, The New York Times

Paperback cover of the book "What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics." Black text on a white background with a pattern of multicolored waves interleaved with the text.

“In What Is Real? Adam Becker tells a fascinating if complex story of quantum dissidents…An excellent, accessible account.” — The Wall Street Journal

“Becker’s book is one of the first attempts we have at telling this story in a way that acknowledges how it actually turned out—acknowledges, that is, who won these debates about the Copenhagen interpretation, who lost them, who pretended otherwise, and how they got away with it….He has clearly done extensive and meticulous historical research.” — The New York Review of Books

“Splendid….With deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists…[Becker] hopes to convince us that the Cophenhagen interpretation has had too great an influence on physics for historically contingent reasons.” — The Washington Post

“A riveting storyteller, Becker brings to life physicists who have too long remained in the shadow of Bohr and Einstein….What Is Real? offers an engaging and accessible overview of the debates surrounding the interpretation of quantum mechanics.” — Science

“[A] fresh debut….Vivid biographical portraits enliven even dense theoretical explanations with wit and bite….With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Selected Writing:

“Tech oligarchs are gambling our future on a fantasy,” The Guardian

“Nuclear fusion is the tech that could power AI and save the planet—if it ever works,” Fortune

“From Black Holes to Breakfast, Three Books Show How Einstein’s Legacy Lives On,” The New York Times

“Junk Science or the Real Thing? ‘Inference’ Publishes Both,” Undark

“What Is Spacetime Really Made Of?” Scientific American

“Math’s Fundamental Flaw,” Veritasium (script co-written with Jonny Hyman and Derek Muller)

“One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles,” Quanta

“Physicists Criticize Stephen Wolfram’s ‘Theory of Everything,’” Scientific American

“Why does time always run forwards and never backwards?” BBC Earth

Selected Videos, Podcasts, and Interviews:

On with Kara Swisher (podcast)