Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis is driven by a passion for evolution and complexity, he studies the past, present and the future of the universe. Fundamental for his approach is a modern, scientific version of the classical Scala Naturae named the Operator Hierarchy. This hierarchy offers a mechanistic basis for the classification of objects in the world, connects biotic and abiotic evolution, and by extrapolation suggests future system kinds in evolution. Since 2013 Gerard has been involved in the artificial intelligence company ‘Mind|Construct’.Gerard obtained his Masters in Wageningen (1986, cum laude), received his first PhD in Ecotoxicology (Wageningen, 1993) and, seventeen years later, his second PhD in philosophy (Nijmegen, 2010). Gerard has (co-)authored over a hundred publications and has published two books: ‘The operator hierarchy’ and ‘The pursuit of complexity’. He has been interviewed by a national newspaper in the series about “Controversial thinkers whose ideas can change our view of the world”.