This book sheds new light on these big questions by incorporating findings from physics, anthropology, psychology, history, philosophy, and computer science in a brand-new theory of economic growth. Looking back across the millennia, it identifies five major technological revolutions which have transformed humankind's capacity to process energy and information―the cognitive, agricultural, scientific, industrial, and digital revolutions―and characterizes the new avenues of economic development which they have opened while also exponentially accelerating growth.