By Anders Indset
For centuries, our economies followed a predictable arc. The Old Economy, born of steam and steel, turned muscle and coal into wealth—think Ford’s assembly lines churning out Model Ts, capitalists counting profits in rivets. The New Economy, a digital sprint, made data the new oil—Google’s algorithms and Amazon’s warehouses rewired the world, minting billionaires from coders and disruptors. Both were human triumphs: we tamed machines, then networks, error-correcting our missteps to bend technology to our path of progress. But now, a seismic shift looms. For the first time, we’re creating technologies—quantum computing, communication, artificial general intelligence, biotechnology—beyond our full control and understanding, handing authority to algorithms that could rewrite society’s operating system: the economy itself.
What I call the Quantum Economy marks a pivot into an exponential age, where technology becomes a lens for seeing the once-unthinkable. Quantum computers, scaling in labs at Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Google, wield probabilistic power, crunching trillions of possibilities to optimize energy grids or drug design in seconds. Quantum communication networks, using entanglement for unhackable data flow, could link global markets into a pulsing web. AI, supercharged by quantum processing, and biotechnology, crafting crops or cures at the molecular level, amplify this transformation. These exponential technologies promise abundance—limitless energy, tailored medicine, sustainable resources—but carry a shadow: systems so powerful they might outstrip us, widening a “quantum divide” between those who wield them and those left behind.
This isn’t just about markets; it’s about how organizations evolve to harness this potential and guard against its perils. The economy, society’s operating system, runs through the enterprises that power it, and they must adapt. Over decades studying exponential technologies, I’ve developed Triangular Alchemy, a management framework for the Quantum Economy. It balances three pillars: Forge (Activate), sparking innovation through real-world experiments with customers; Efficiency (Optimize), streamlining operations to do more with less, uniting economy and ecology by turning sustainability into a profit center; and Investment (Scale), betting on high-upside ventures to fuel growth and resilience, building assets for downturns or strategic exits. Unlike rigid models, Triangular Alchemy fosters the Becoming Organization—a dynamic enterprise that rejects finite goals in favor of iterative, adaptive ambitions. Embracing uncertainty, it views crises as catalysts for creation, fostering a culture of exploration. These pillars clash and cycle, their “dynamic tension” driving a learning flywheel: one year, Efficiency tightens the core; the next, Forge and Investment seize a quantum-driven market shift.
This alchemy demands Anticipatory Leadership, a cornerstone of the Becoming Organization. Leaders must map quantum advances to societal shifts—climate needs, regulatory changes, human behavior—steering through disruption with foresight. In the Quantum Economy, leaders don’t just execute; they orchestrate a learning flywheel, where experiments (Forge) feed scalable ventures (Investment) and smarter operations (Efficiency), keeping the organization perpetually adaptive.
The stakes are high. Exponential technologies could erase scarcity—cheap fusion power, precision medicine, zero-waste agriculture—unlocking a world where value isn’t hoarded but shared. Yet the risk is equally stark: algorithms might optimize us out, deeming entire communities “inefficient” or concentrating power in quantum monopolies. Capitalism faces a fork: evolve into a humanistic system, balancing abundance with purpose, or harden into a machine serving itself. Organizations that ignore this—clinging to old playbooks—face obsolescence; the average S&P 500 lifespan has already crashed from 61 years in 1958 to under 18 today, with 75% projected to vanish by 2027.
The human role is the linchpin. In the Quantum Economy, our agency shifts from micromanaging to setting intent—guiding these systems with ethics and vision. A farmer in Iowa might use a quantum model to plant smarter, a scientist in Lagos to optimize water use, but it’s their choices that keep humanity at the center. A “Quantum Enlightenment Collective” could rise—coders, thinkers, leaders—democratizing these tools through open-source platforms, ensuring a kid in Mumbai can shape the future as deftly as a Silicon Valley tech mogul. This isn’t utopia or dystopia; it’s a choice.
The Quantum Economy is a mirror for our thinking, moving us from the industrial era’s cause-and-effect to the digital age’s networks, and now to probabilities and possibilities. It’s not just the next economic stage—it’s a call to rethink value, reality, and responsibility. Triangular Alchemy offers a path: organizations that forge, optimize, and invest with anticipatory leadership can ride this wave, not drown in it. The question isn’t whether the economy will change—it’s whether we’ll shape it or be shaped by it. In the Old Economy, we asked how to produce more; in the New, how to disrupt. Now, we ask: How do we steer an exponential world to reflect our humanity? Or in simple terms: If we could have it all, which future is worth striving for?
Anders Indset is a deep-tech investor in exponential technologies such as AI, quantum technology, healthtech, and cybersecurity, initiator of the Quantum Economy Alliance and author of The Quantum Economy, Ex-Machina and his newest title, The Singularity Paradox. For more information, please visit, https://www.andersindset.com.