The book begins at a ‘fork in the road’—with humanity facing an uncertain future, equipped with new forms of power, knowledge and governance. This opening section introduces the book’s central premise, key concepts and historical scope. It outlines the concept and content of an ‘episteme’ and introduces the four epistemai—atomistic, mechanistic, organic and dataistic—through which the book explores the production of modern knowledge. The chapter also provides a brief overview of the life and work of Michel Foucault, including an explanation of his theorisation of power, which informs this book’s analysis. Finally, it defines the modern era covered by the book. All this is intended to equip readers to explore the evolving relationship between power, knowledge and governance from the age of Enlightenment to the age of artificial intelligence.