In the mid-90s the advent of the worldwide web was accompanied by great proclamations about a new utopia, a connected world in which borders, differences and deprivations would no longer exist. While the internet has undeniably delivered remarkable benefits, such as granting us access to all of human knowledge at our fingertips, it is hard to argue that its overall impact has been entirely positive. All this, however, has had the rather strange effect of making people angry, encouraging discontent and polarization, encouraging a new wave of anti-science movements and destabilizing democracy and truth. This conference program centers on two key objectives: first, to define the concept of intelligence—its meaning, origins, and characteristics—and second, to evaluate the current advancements in computer technology, including algorithms capable of autonomous learning and experience-based data accumulation. Much of the discussion centered on the second objective, which has sparked great interest in the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI). For many scientists and participants to this meeting, this interest comes from the hope—or concern—that AI could bring us closer to achieving ‘supreme knowledge’.