Civ 2.0: Structural Limits of Human Governance and the Prospects of AI-Mediated Civilizational Transition

Humanity’s central challenge is no longer technological capacity, but coordination. As artificial intelligence and other global-scale technologies accelerate, existing political and economic institutions struggle to manage civilization-level risks such as climate destabilization, systemic inequality, arms races, and technological misuse. This paper frames contemporary society as a late-stage “Civ 1.0” paradigm in structural decline and examines why fragmented governance and human cognitive limits undermine effective collective decision-making. It then outlines pathways toward “Civ 2.0”: an emerging, AI-mediated governance architecture aimed at aligning global decisions with human values, democratic legitimacy, and planetary boundaries. The analysis focuses on an ongoing transition already underway, the outcome of which may determine whether human civilization stabilizes and thrives, or fails its next evolutionary bottleneck.