The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma By Mustafa Suleyman (with Michael Bhaskar)

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 BOOK REVIEW By Dr. S. B. Adams (PhD)


What if the future is not merely approaching but accelerating toward us forcefully, unpredictably, and with consequences humanity is barely prepared to confront? That is the central warning in The Coming Wave, Mustafa Suleyman’s bold and unsettling examination of how emerging technologies are reshaping the foundations of global power, governance, and human society.

Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and one of the most influential voices in artificial intelligence, writes not as a distant observer but as someone seated at the control panel of the world’s most consequential technologies. His message is clear: technological transformation is no longer linear; it is tidal. And the tide is rising faster than existing institutions, laws, and societies can adapt.

🌊 A Collision of Technologies, Not a Single Wave

Suleyman’s “wave” is a convergence of powerful technologies AI, synthetic biology, quantum computing, autonomous systems, and beyond. Each is transformative on its own. Together, they form a force with the potential to upend economies, national security, public health, and even the meaning of work.

The core dilemma is simple:
These tools are becoming exponentially more capable, cheaper to access, and increasingly difficult to regulate.

Suleyman puts it starkly:

“Soon, the ability to reprogram life itself will be in the hands of thousands. The consequences? Unknowable.”

This is not hyperbole; it is a sober assessment of a world where power is shifting from large institutions to smaller groups and, in some cases, to individuals.

🧠 Why This Book Matters for Nigeria, Africa, and the Global South

For readers in developing countries, this book is not merely informative; it is urgent.

While the Global North experiments with generative AI, precision medicine, and advanced biotechnology, much of Africa continues to struggle with basic digital infrastructure. Yet the same technologies redefining global power will also reshape our economies, labor markets, security landscape, and governance systems, whether we prepare for them or not.

Three realities make this book particularly relevant:

  1. Automation will disrupt low-skilled and mid-skilled jobs, sectors where African youth are most concentrated.

  2. Digital dependence without digital sovereignty risks creating a new form of geopolitical inequality, “algorithmic colonialism.”

  3. Weak regulatory institutions leave many African states vulnerable to cyber threats, disinformation, and the misuse of emerging technologies.

Suleyman’s wake-up call is therefore not just global; it is profoundly local.

⚖️ Technology, Power, and a New Global Vulnerability

The book wrestles with an uneasy question:

How do we govern technologies that evolve faster than the institutions meant to regulate them?

Suleyman describes scenarios that are both alarming and plausible:

  • AI models that surpass human understanding but remain unregulated

  • Bioengineered pathogens designed with cheap, widely available tools

  • Autonomous cyber-attacks capable of crippling national infrastructure

  • Weaponised misinformation is destabilising fragile democracies

For countries like Nigeria, battling cybercrime, terrorism, infrastructural fragility, and governance deficits, the risks are magnified.

Suleyman is not pessimistic; rather, he is brutally honest. Innovation brings extraordinary promise, but without proactive governance, those same technologies may create crises for which we are structurally unprepared.

📚 Style, Structure, and Accessibility

Despite its scale of ideas, The Coming Wave is highly readable. Suleyman blends empirical research, historical analogies, geopolitical insights, and personal reflections from his work in AI

The writing is clear, purposeful, and occasionally gripping. Passages on synthetic biology, cyber warfare, and runaway AI are particularly compelling—not because they are speculative, but because they feel disturbingly near.

🌍 Localising the Message: A Call to African Policymakers, Educators & Professionals

The book challenges developing nations to rethink their role in the global technology ecosystem. Are we:

  1. Shapers of innovation?

  2. Passive consumers?

  3. Or victims of technologies we did not build and cannot control?

For Nigeria specifically, The Coming Wave underscores urgent priorities:

(i)  Digital governance reforms

(ii) Investment in STEM education and advanced research

(iii) National AI and biotechnology strategies

(iv) Cybersecurity capacity building

(v) International partnerships that ensure technological inclusion, not dependency

No African country can afford to sit out the technological revolution. The cost of inaction will be geopolitical irrelevance.

🔍 Final Verdict

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)

This is one of the most important techno-political books of the decade: ambitious, unsettling, and necessary. It is especially recommended for:

(i) policy professionals

(ii) academics

(iii) tech practitioners

(iv) security and governance actors

(v) students seeking future-proof awareness

(vi)  anyone interested in Africa’s place in the coming technological order

Skip it only if you prefer light reading or avoid complex global issues.

💬 Let’s Discuss

How do you think Nigeria or Africa can position itself in the age of AI, synthetic biology, and global technological realignment?
What opportunities or risks do you foresee?

Share your reflections below.

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