On the Existential Hope Podcast, we explore three ways culture and society shape the future we’re creating. Isabelle Boemeke explains how fear-driven narratives around nuclear power slowed down progress on cheap, clean energy. Anna Gát shares what it takes to build communities that help people connect, even when they disagree. And Andrew Critch explores what AGI might look like, and how it will reflect the culture it’s trained on.

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Announcing: the winner of our $10K Meme Prize!

We asked the internet to submit their hopeful yet realistic visions for the future in the form of memes and short-form media. We received almost 400 entries. Here’s our favorite.

After reviewing almost 400 entries, we are thrilled to announce the winner of our Meme Prize: “Voices from 2099” by JellyfishDAO!

Their short video invites us to see the present through the lens of a society that has effectively solved aging – where things like being too sick to enjoy retirement are a distant dream, while talking to your great-great-great-grandmother is a normal part of reality. Selected by a judging panel including Steven Pinker, Jason Crawford, Liv Boeree, and others, the piece stood out for its production quality, emotional impact, and for portraying solved aging as vivid, plausible, and worth striving for – not just utopian.

Want to see more? Explore the full gallery of finalists here.

New Episodes on the Existential Hope Podcast

Isabelle Boemeke on what everyone gets wrong about nuclear energy

Isabelle Boemeke, model-turned-science-communicator and author of Rad Future, explores why nuclear energy has such a bad reputation. We dig into widespread fears around safety and nuclear waste, and compare them to what the data actually shows – especially when measured against both other renewable energy sources and fossil fuels. We also touch on the importance of abundant, cheap, clean energy for improving global living standards, and on effective, non-traditional ways to communicate science.

❝You would need something like 200 Chernobyls happening every single year for nuclear to be as dangerous as fossil fuels, from a death toll perspective.❞

Transcript & Resources →

This special episode was recorded live at the 2025 Progress Conference, hosted by our friends at Roots of Progress. We’re grateful to them for bringing together so many thinkers reimagining how humanity can keep moving forward—and for making conversations like this one possible!

Anna Gát on creating communities that connect, even when people disagree

Anna Gát, founder of the Interintellect community, joins us to share her experience creating an online community that encourages a diversity of opinions, but where people still feel safe and can make authentic human connections. We talk about how both Interintellect and her podcast, The Hope Axis, were born out of her frustration with Western “complaint culture” (wealthy people’s tendency to focus on negativity despite living overall comfortable lives), and her desire to do something constructive from it. Finally, we explore the importance of hopeful action and of being “realistic optimists” in shaping a better society.

❝I find that when people ask me how to run a community, I say: Like human beings, communities need a job. Find something that is both holding it together but not restricting things.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Andrew Critch on what AGI might look like in practice

In our conversation with AI safety researcher and mathematician Andrew Critch, we explore different ways to think concretely about AGI. From what it might look like in practical terms, to the consequences of training it on human culture, to making good decisions about how we use it. He also shares his view that a great way to prepare for AGI is simply to build helpful products today.

❝I think the most important question now is: What are we all going to do together with AGI? It’s going to be built, it’s going to be everywhere, and people are going to be able to interact with it and do things with it.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Xhope library recommendations

Hand-picked resources from the Existential Hope library that connect with this month’s conversations.

1. The Meaning Of It All - Richard Feynman. Collection of three lectures on the relationship between science and society. Book

2. Hope is not Optimism - Examines hope as a proactive response to difficult realities, highlighting the “double-bind of hope” in fields like oncology, where truth and optimism must be balanced. Argues that hope is not just optimism but a way to engage with the future. Co-authored by experts in psychology and oncology. Article

3. The Artificial Intelligence Revolution - Wait But Why. Intro-level post summarizing potential implications of Artificial (General) Intelligence. Forum/blog-post

Community updates

Each month we highlight new research, stories, and big-picture thinking that offer practical ways to imagine and work toward better futures.

Big Think’s collection of articles about progress

Progress isn’t only about tech, but also about stories that make building feel worth it. This special issue by Big Think gives a great overview of the progress movement: science, culture, energy, governance, longevity, and the stories that motivate it all.

One featured piece, Why culture may be our most powerful lever for progress, was written by Existential Hope Program Director Beatrice Erkers. She explores how cultural forces like memes and movies act as “invisible infrastructure,” shaping technology, policy, and ambition long before they materialize in the real world.

The Gentle Romance

When a cutting-edge AI researcher – formerly at OpenAI – turns to science fiction, the result can be stories that are imaginative while still feeling technically informed. We highly recommend Richard Ngo’s The Gentle Romance, a collection of stories that meaningfully explore different futures with smarter-than-human AI: how could this technology reshape our sense of self, purpose, and what matters?

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New Episodes on the Existential Hope Podcast

Sam Bowman on what’s holding back progress (and how to fix it)

Economist Sam Bowman, editor of Works in Progress, joins us to discuss how better housing, transport, and energy could unlock prosperity and optimism across the West. He shares lessons from cities that still know how to build—and why belief in progress begins with the courage to rebuild our world.

❝We can fix a lot more than we think—we just have to start building again.❞

Transcript & Resources →

This special episode was recorded live at the 2025 Progress Conference, hosted by our friends at Roots of Progress. We’re grateful to them for bringing together so many thinkers reimagining how humanity can keep moving forward—and for making conversations like this one possible!

Amy Proal on rethinking chronic disease

Microbiologist Amy Proal, co-founder of the PolyBio Research Foundation, joins host Allison Duettmann to explore a radical idea: that many chronic diseases—from Alzheimer’s to autoimmune disorders—may stem from lingering infections hidden deep within our tissues. They discuss how persistent pathogens drive inflammation and aging, PolyBio’s pioneering tissue studies, and practical steps like cleaner indoor air to prevent future pandemics.

❝Instead of suppressing the immune system, we can strengthen it to build a healthier, more resilient civilization.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Jacques Carolan on the future of brain health

Jacques Carolan, Program Director at the UK’s ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), joins us to explore the next frontier in neurotechnology—tools that can read and modulate brain activity with unprecedented precision. We discuss ultrasound that could lift mood without surgery, gene therapies to prevent seizures, and “living electrodes” that may one day repair brain tissue. Jacques also shares ARIA’s bold approach to funding high-risk science and why the coming decade could redefine how we care for the brain.

❝If we can build precision neurotechnologies, we can move from treating symptoms to truly repairing the brain.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Xhope library recommendations

Hand-picked resources from the Existential Hope library that connect with this month’s conversations.

1. We need a new philosophy of progress - Traces the rise, fall, and potential revival of optimism about human progress. From Enlightenment ideals to 19th-century breakthroughs and 20th-century disillusionment, the essay argues for a renewed philosophy of progress that confronts challenges while envisioning a positive future. Advocates for learning from history to inspire solutions and avoid stagnation in the 21st century.

2. What To Expect From The Next Generation of BCIs - Sumner Norman. Seminar summarizing the state of the art and exploring the future of BCIs. Video‍

3. Longevity FAQ - Laura Deming. Covers main longevity concepts and misconceptions.

Community updates

Each month we highlight new research, stories, and big-picture thinking that offer practical ways to imagine and work toward better futures.

New article on why hope matters and how to broaden and spread it

In his recent keynote for Habitat for Humanity, psychologist Clay Routledge shared how hope isn’t naive optimism but a powerful force that fuels resilience, connection, and human progress. Read his reflections on why hope is essential, and how we can spread it.

Deadline coming up! Submit your entry for the $10K Existential Hope Meme Prize by November 23

We’re looking for memes that make people believe in humanity’s future again — creative, grounded, and genuinely hopeful. Submit your vision of a thriving civilization → https://www.existentialhope.com/existential-hope-meme-prize

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New Episodes on the Existential Hope Podcast

Nathan Labenz on the best-case scenarios for AI

Host of The Cognitive Revolution podcast, Nathan Labenz joins us to explore where today’s AI truly stands, what’s working, what’s hype, and how we can steer the technology toward meaningful, positive impact. With a builder’s eye and grounded optimism, Nathan helps separate signal from noise in the AI revolution.

❝We’re living through a time where the gap between perception and actual AI capabilities is wider than ever.”❞

Transcript & Resources →

Ken Liu on sci-fi as our modern mythology

Award-winning author and translator Ken Liu joins us to discuss his new novel All That We See or Seem, how AI might become a “camera for thought,” and why he views science fiction as today’s living mythology. We explore EgoLets, dream guides, and how technology, used wisely, might make us more human.

❝Technology is the human mind made tangible. AI is a camera that captures our patterns of thought.❞

Transcript & Resources →

David Duvenaud

Computer scientist David Duvenaud (University of Toronto, Anthropic) reflects on what lies beyond AGI, why no one has a clear plan for it, and how tools like forecasting and futarchy could help us navigate an age of radical uncertainty.

❝It’s striking that for all the talk about AGI, no one really has a plan for what comes after.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Xhope library recommendations

Hand-picked resources from the Existential Hope library that connect with this month’s conversations.

1. The Artificial Intelligence Revolution - Wait But Why. Intro-level post summarizing potential implications of Artificial (General) Intelligence. Forum/blog-post

2. A Reply to WBW on Machine Intelligence - Luke Muehlhauser. Responds to the WBW post on AI with clarifications and corrections. Forum/blog-post ‍

3. 71 Definitions of Intelligence - Shane Legg. Reviews various explanations of intelligence. Forum/blog-post

Community updates

Each month we highlight new research, stories, and big-picture thinking that offer practical ways to imagine and work toward better futures.

$100,000+ creative contest on Keep the future human

Our friends at the Future of Life Institute and Anthony Aguirre invite you to join the Keep the Future Human creative contest, with $100,000+ in prizes for digital media that helps spread hopeful, human-centered visions for AI.

Create something that inspires: a short film, story, infographic, interactive demo, or any creative piece that explores how we can keep AI aligned with human flourishing.

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These references are sticky because they’re simple and powerful. Metaphors and short explanations shape how we think and talk about the future. If all the ones we reach for are dystopian, our imagination narrows, and so do our options.

But what if the cultural landscape included equally compelling reference points for hopeful futures? For abundant energy, solved aging, the end of infectious disease, or global coordination that works.

To help seed those kinds of references, we’re launching the Existential Hope Meme Prize: a $10,000 award for the best meme that conveys a scientifically grounded, positive vision of the future.

Memes aren’t just internet jokes. They’re one of the fastest ways ideas spread, cross cultural boundaries, and shape public imagination. Dystopian memes already define much of how society pictures the future.

To help select the winning entry, we’re fortunate to have a wonderful panel of judges:

• Allison Duettmann, Foresight Institute

• Brooke Bowman, Vibecamp

• Emilia Javorsky, Future of Life Institute

• Jason Crawford, Roots of Progress

• Liv Boeree, Win Win podcast

• Michael Graham Richard, OSV Infinite Media

✨ Submit your meme HERE
✨ Help share the announcement post on X HERE

We can’t wait to see what you create!

Submit meme

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When we think about building a better future, where should we focus our energy? On creating better tools and technologies? On updating our mindsets and philosophies? Or on getting a clearer picture of the destination we're aiming for?

Our four latest episodes of the Existential Hope podcast dive into each of these questions. From the engineers building the foundations of our future to the philosophers asking where we should be going, each guest offers a different, crucial piece of the puzzle for how we can better build toward flourishing futures.

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New Episodes on the Existential Hope Podcast

Fin Moorhouse on Why We Must Aim for Flourishing

Researcher Fin Moorhouse, co-author of the Better Futures series along with Will MacAskill, makes the case that simply avoiding extinction isn't enough. He argues that we must actively aim for flourishing—a future that is not just "okay," but truly great. Fin introduces concepts like "moral trade," "common sense utopias," and "viatopias" as frameworks for thinking more ambitiously about the future.

❝We are making the case that the second dimension—do we flourish?—could matter, maybe comparably as much [as survival]. It's not a case of noticing how bad things are, but just not noticing how much better things could be.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Andrew White on Building an AI Scientist

Andrew White, co-founder of Future House, is building the tools to automate science itself. He shares how his team is creating specialized AI agents that can parse the entire scientific literature, analyze data, and even design experiments, leading to breakthroughs like identifying a potential new treatment for blindness in just a few weeks.

❝When we think about what the right questions to work on are, we just say, 'Okay, how many fundamental new discoveries can our systems make?' Every time we get a new discovery, we're advancing scientific knowledge and evaluating the systems at the same time. That's where we want to be.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Pablos Holman on Deep Tech and Solving Real Problems

Inventor and hacker Pablos Holman, author of Deep Future, delivers a powerful critique of a tech world "drunk on software." He argues that the greatest opportunities for progress lie not in the next app, but in "deep tech"—the fundamental industries like energy, shipping, and manufacturing that make up 98% of the global economy. Pablos makes the case for using our modern "software toolkit" to reinvent the physical world.

❝Most big problems in the world, you can trace them back to energy... If you had clean, cheap energy like a nuclear reactor can provide, you could get clean water for free. If you get the clean water, then you solve the health and disease problems.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Sam Arbesman on The Magic of Code

Scientist and author Sam Arbesman reframes code not just as an engineering discipline, but as a humanistic, liberal art—one of history's most powerful "tools for thought." He discusses the democratization of creation through "vibe coding,"and why humility is the most essential trait for navigating our complex future.

❝The computer is not the thing. It's the thing that gets you to the thing... Let's remember that computers can also be things for people. They can be useful, and they can also be engines and vehicles for delight and wonder.❞

Transcript & Resources →

Xhope library recommendations

Hand-picked resources from the Existential Hope library that connect with this month’s conversations.

1. Existential Risk and Existential Hope - Owen Cotton-Barratt, Toby Ord. Introduces the term Existential Hope. “Just as we tend to talk about the existential risk rather than existential catastrophe, we want to be able to refer to the chance of an existential eucatastrophe; upside risk on a large scale. We could call such a chance an existential hope… The word ‘eucatastrophe’ is made of the Greek root ‘eu-’ meaning ‘good’ and the word ‘catastrophe’ in its classical sense of a sudden turn. It was coined by Tolkien to refer to the sudden and unexpected turn for the better, frequently found at the end of fairy tales.” Academic paper

2. The Beginning of Infinity - David Deutsch. On the power of explanations to unlock futures of infinite potential. Chapter 8 and 9 are especially recommended. Book

3. Protopia - Kevin Kelly. Kelly introduces the concept of protopia, a state of incremental progress where small, continuous improvements—like advances in civil rights, democracy, and human welfare—collectively shape a better future. He contrasts this with utopian ideals, emphasizing slow, steady advancements over time. Forum/blog-post

Community updates

Each month we highlight new research, stories, and big-picture thinking that offer practical ways to imagine and work toward better futures.

Fully Automated Luxury Communism

We’re a bit late to the party, but we recently came across this leftist vision of the future. Positive futures framed from a leftist perspective are surprisingly rare, which makes this resource stand out. Whether or not you agree with it, it’s an interesting take on imagining an abundant future, so we wanted to share it!

Explore potential AI scenarios at tomorrows-ai.org

Our friends at the Future of Life Institute have just launched a fascinating new project that we think you'll love. "Tomorrow's AI" is a beautiful scrollytelling site that visualizes 13 interactive, expert-forecasted scenarios of how advanced AI could transform our world—for better or for worse.

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Rather than prescribing a single preferred outcome, the reports explore two different plausible futures, shaped by the choices we make and the systems we choose to build.

Explore the scenarios

Forecast on Metaculus

The Tool AI Pathway

A future shaped by powerful but controllable AI systems with limited agency. This scenario explores the idea that many benefits often associated with AGI could instead be achieved through advanced, tool-like systems. It asks: what if we focus on scaling such systems, designed to assist rather than act independently, in ways that are both safe and effective?

The d/acc Pathway

A future shaped by decentralized, democratic, and defensive acceleration, where coordination technologies drive progress across science, governance, and infrastructure. This scenario builds on growing interest in bottom-up and resilience-focused approaches to technological acceleration. While the concept is gaining traction, it has often remained abstract, especially given its intentionally plural nature. Here, we aim to make it concrete: what might d/acc look like in practice?

Why we’re doing this:

Much of today’s discussion around AI futures tends to focus on a few high-profile trajectories, often involving AGI, short timelines, or centralized control. But those aren’t the only possibilities.

We chose these two scenarios because they represent directions that are often mentioned, but rarely explored in detail:

• Tool AI, as a path that might deliver major benefits without the risks of developing AGI

• d/acc, as a decentralized and plural approach to progress and with a strong emphasis on defensive technologies

Our hope is that by making these options more concrete, we can help broaden the range of paths being considered, and support deeper reflection on which ones might be more or less worth pursuing.

Metaculus integration

To invite deeper discussion around the scenarios, we’ve partnered with Metaculus to launch a set of forecasting questions based on key milestones in each future. Alongside this, we’re running a $5,000 Commenting Prize.

Forecast on Metaculus

How they were created:

Each scenario is designed to be plausible given specific conditions. The goal is to make these futures more tangible and discussable, while leaving room for critique and iteration.

Both reports are written by Linda Petrini and Beatrice Erkers. They were developed through expert interviews and multiple rounds of feedback on the written reports. The scenarios reflect a synthesis of many perspectives, and they shouldn’t be taken as endorsements or official positions of any individual listed below.

Contributors (interview and feedback participants):

d/acc Pathway:
Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Glen Weyl (Microsoft Research, RadicalXchange), Kevin Owocki (Gitcoin), Andrew Trask (OpenMined, DeepMind), Emilia Javorsky (Future of Life Institute), Deger Turan (Metaculus), Allison Duettmann (Foresight Institute), Soham Sankaran (PopVax), Christine Peterson (Foresight Institute), Marcin Jakubowski (Open Source Ecology), Naomi Brockwell (Ludlow Institute), Molly Mackinlay (Protocol Labs), Lou de Kerhuelvez (Nodes).

Tool AI Pathway:
Adam Marblestone (Convergent Research), Anton Korinek (University of Virginia), Anthony Aguirre (Metaculus, Future of Life Institute), Saffron Huang (Anthropic), Joel Leibo (DeepMind), Rif A. Saurous (Google), Cecilia Tilli (Cooperative AI Foundation), Ben Reinhardt (Speculative Technologies), Bradley Love (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Konrad Kording (University of Pennsylvania), Jeremy Barton (Nano Dynamics Institute), Owen Cotton-Barratt (Researcher), Kristian Rönn (Lucid Computing).

Videography by Petr Salaba (AI-generated).

We’re deeply grateful to anyone who contributed their time and insights to this experiment.

How you can engage:

• Explore the scenarios

• Discuss the Metaculus questions (with a $5K prize pool)

• Share with others thinking about AI strategy

We’re also publishing follow-up content over the coming months, podcast episodes, and more scenario materials, and we’d love to collaborate or cross-post where useful.

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Michael Nielsen explores how to think and steer toward the future better. Jim O’Shaughnessy shares insights on innovative funding and venture capitalism to build the best futures. And in a special episode, Andrew Miller discusses how to bring autonomous vehicles into society better and faster.

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New Episodes of the Existential Hope Podcast

🎙 Michael Nielsen – Hyper-entities, tools for thought, and wise optimism
A conversation about how we can think and reason better about the future, and steer more realistically toward the futures we actually want. We walk through Michael’s recent work, from “hyper-entities” to new tools for thought, and explore how it connects to existential hope: not just avoiding bad outcomes, but deliberately building good ones.

🎙 Jim O’Shaughnessy – Curiosity, creativity, and OSV Ventures
OSV Ventures is a rare example of a venture organisation explicitly aligned with building long-term, positive futures. This conversation explores their approach, why it’s unusual, and how they use unconventional bets and bold ideas to push those futures forward.

🚗 Autonomous Vehicles Special – With Andrew Miller, author of The End of Driving
This episode is a deep-dive special with Andrew Miller, who knows the autonomous vehicles space inside out. Self-driving cars are one of those technologies where the technical capability is already here, so the real questions are: Where exactly are we today? When will we start seeing them more widely in society? And what would it take to make that rollout a best-case scenario?

Xhope library recommendations

Hand-picked resources from the Existential Hope library that connect with this month’s conversations.

1. The Beginning of Infinity - David Deutsch. On the power of explanations to unlock futures of infinite potential. Chapter 8 and 9 are especially recommended. Book

2. Pragmatic Optimism - Nell Watson. Quotes Petrarch who lived in 1343 CE: "My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age.” Forum/blog-post

3. Why I Believe That Us Engineers Should Carry a Techno Optimist Attitude – Konrad Kording. An inspiring call to action for engineers and technologists to dream bigger. Forum/blog-post

Community updates

Each month we highlight new research, stories, and big-picture thinking that offer practical ways to imagine and work toward better futures.

Introducing Better Futures — William MacAskill (Forethought)

A new series of essays exploring why “flourishing” should be considered alongside “survival” as a top priority for the long term. It’s a clear, structured argument that fits squarely with the Existential Hope theme, complete with the concept of “viatopia” as a society able to steer toward near-best outcomes.

The Connection — Alexandre Variengien

A near-future short story about “connection” technology that translates subjective experience, leading to shared libraries of lived knowledge, collective problem-solving clusters, and new governance models. A vivid, character-driven way to think about social and technological change.

White Mirror — Tinkered Thinking (OSV Publishing)

A new book from OSV Publishing: an anthology of 31 hopeful, idea-rich stories following the inventor–explorer Lucilius across space and time. Rather than dystopia, it imagines concrete, optimistic futures that explore not just what’s possible, but what’s necessary for humanity.

AI Options, not ‘Optimism’ — Eric Drexler

A recent post arguing for shifting from debating odds of success to thinking like participants: back-chaining from success states (e.g., steerable superintelligence), mapping dependencies, and focusing on concrete options rather than optimism vs. pessimism.

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From her work at Google X and Facebook’s moonshot labs to her current mission at Openwater, Jepsen has spent decades at the frontier of tech and health. Now, she’s building a future where scanning the body for disease is as simple as putting on a hat — no radiation, no giant machines, no $1M price tag.

We explore:

• Why light could be the key to affordable, real-time medical diagnostics

• How her device works — and what it might replace

• What it takes to challenge the medical-industrial complex

• Her vision for global healthcare access and early detection

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Mary’s recommended resources

• The Allen Institute for Brain Science - Founded by the late Paul Allen, this research institute focuses on understanding the brain's complexity.

• Neuralink - The neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk, which Mary Lou mentions receives a disproportionate amount of media attention.

• The NeuroRights Foundation - An organization advocating for the protection of human rights in the age of neurotechnology, mentioned in the context of new laws in Chile and Montana.

• Openwater - Mary Lou Jepsen's company, which is developing non-invasive devices to see inside the body and brain with high resolution.

Mary’s vision for the future

What if the technologies we fear most could help us become more human? In this vision, brain-computer interfaces don’t isolate or surveil us—they dissolve misunderstanding, cure mental illness, and expand our capacity for empathy. By increasing the bandwidth of communication and letting us truly “step into someone else’s mind,” neurotech could help overcome one of humanity’s oldest bottlenecks: ourselves.

Xhope library recommendations

1. TheNeurotechEU - An overview of the neurotechnology domain. Website/Blog

2. Neuralink: The Brain’s Magical Future - Tim Urban. An overview of Neuralink’s likely plans for Brain Computer Interfaces. Forum/blog-post

3. What To Expect From The Next Generation of BCIs - Sumner Norman. Seminar summarizing the state of the art and exploring the future of BCIs. Video

Community updates

Become a 2026 Foresight Existential Hope Fellow – apply by July 31st!

Our year-long program supports early-career scientists, engineers and innovators advancing beneficial technologies. Fellows are invited to our events and seminar groups alongside senior scientists and field leaders – with opportunities to present their work. We also offer career counseling and introductions to relevant researchers and funders.

Introducing 10 Billion — A New Movement for a Thriving Future

By 2060, the world may hold 10 billion people. That comes with real challenges — but also the chance to build a future where more of us can thrive.

10 Billion is a new effort to explore what that future could look like — one based on shared vision, human potential, and collective action.

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In this conversation, we explore how those models worked, why many of them disappeared, and what it would take to bring them back. Eric explains why fast-moving, engineering-driven labs like BBN (which built the first nodes of the internet) may be essential to accelerating progress in fields like AI, biotech, and beyond.

We also cover:

• Why most funders underuse applied history

• How systems engineers at Bell Labs identified billion-dollar problems

• What a $100M research organization should do differently

• What makes Eric hopeful about the future of meta-science

Eric runs FreakTakes, a Substack focused on the organizational infrastructure of scientific progress. He’s a fellow at the Good Science Project and works with ARIA UK and Renaissance Philanthropy to support new models for R&D.

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Eric’s recommended resources

• FreakTakes Substack – Eric’s deep-dive essays on the forgotten structures of science

• The Making of the Atomic Bomb – by Richard Rhodes

• The Rise and Fall of American Growth – by Robert J. Gordon

• BBN Technologies – the applied research lab that helped build ARPANET

Eric’s vision for the future

Eric’s vision for the future centers on fostering a new era of scientific progress by recreating effective historical models of R&D, to focus on high-impact areas that directly enhance human well-being, such as improving housing, food production, longevity, and leisure time.

Xhope library recommendations

1. An Era of Stagnation and Universal Institutional Failure - Peter Thiel, Eric Weinstein. On why and how innovation and scientific progress are declining. Video

2. Where is My Flying Car? - J. Storrs Hall. An account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future. Book

3. Institutional Failure as Surprise - Samo Burja. A historic account of why institutions fail. Forum/blog-post

Community updates

Share your worldbuild – and win up to $1,000

We’re awarding a $1,000 prize for the best vision of what 2035 with AI could look like.
Plus, four $500 prizes for standout submissions in the categories “Best Institution” and “Best Image or Video”.

Deadline: June 30

What to watch: New Murderbot series just dropped

Based on Martha Wells’ award-winning novellas, Murderbot follows a self-aware security android that’s hacked its own governor module — and would really rather just be left alone to stream soap operas.

Worth watching if you’re interested in AI agency, boundaries, or what it means to do “alignment” from the other side.

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In this episode of the Existential Hope podcast, we sit down with Dr. Aaron Stupple – physician, thinker, and author of The Sovereign Child. Drawing from the rationalist traditions of David Deutsch and Karl Popper, and grounded in the parenting philosophy of "Taking Children Seriously," Aaron explores what it means to treat children as full moral agents from birth.

From screen time and sugar to sleep and sovereignty, Aaron shares how applying rigorous epistemology to parenting transformed his relationship with his children — and how it might transform the future of civilization itself.

Key Topics

• Applying Popperian epistemology to parenting

• Why children are not "pre-persons" but full moral agents

• Moving beyond control vs. permissiveness

• Real-life examples: screens, food, bedtime, and education

• Parenting as civilizational infrastructure for a better future

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Aaron’s recommended resources

• Taking Children Seriously. A parenting philosophy founded by Sarah Fitz-Claridge and David Deutsch

• The Sovereign Child by Aaron Stupple

• The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff

Aaron’s vision for the future

Aaron envisions a future where children are recognized as full moral persons from the start—sovereign, creative, and capable of shaping their own lives. Progress means moving beyond control-based systems toward relationships rooted in trust, understanding, and collaboration.

He believes that flourishing societies begin in flourishing families. By treating children not as projects to manage but as individuals to engage with, we unlock deeper human potential—cultivating autonomy, empathy, and joy from the earliest years. A hopeful future isn’t just built with better technology, but with better ways of being together.

Xhope library recommendations

1. The Open Society And Its Enemies - Karl Popper. On the importance of openness in society, science, and technology for resilience and progress. Academic paper

2. The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt. Explains how our political differences can be explained by moral foundations that themselves have an evolutionarily adaptive origin. Book

3. The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker. Shows the biological roots of human behavior and morality. Book

Community updates

Future-proofing our global food system

ALLFED is the only organization fully dedicated to preventing global food system collapse. Their 2024 Annual Report highlights progress on practical solutions to keep people fed during global catastrophes. To continue this vital work, they’re currently fundraising. Learn more about their mission here and support them.

Submit your 2035 world & win up to $1,000

Bring your vision of a better future to life—and get rewarded for it. Submit your world by June 30 and enter to win up to $1,000 in prizes as part of the Existential Hope Worldbuilding Course. You can submit anonymously.

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While material conditions have improved, many people—especially younger generations—report growing pessimism and disconnection. Clay argues that a lack of meaning, not just external barriers, often holds us back. By understanding how humans derive purpose and motivation, we can unlock new paths to flourishing.

We discuss:

• Why agency—the belief that we can shape our future—is crucial for progress

• How nostalgia can fuel innovation rather than trap us in the past

• The difference between hope and optimism, and why hope drives action

• The psychology behind rising pessimism and how to counter it

• What a world that maximizes meaning and human potential could look like

If you’ve ever wondered how psychology can help us move from existential angst to existential hope, this episode is for you.

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Clay’s recommended resources

1. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – A powerful exploration of resilience and purpose.

2. The Science of Hope – A research paper from the Human Flourishing Lab on the psychology of hope.

3. HumanProgress.org – A data-driven look at long-term global progress.

Clay’s vision for the future

Clay envisions a future where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to reach their full potential. Progress isn’t just about better institutions—protecting human rights, free speech, and opportunity—but also about cultivating meaning, agency, and connection.

Even in wealthy societies, many feel disconnected and pessimistic. To truly flourish, we need more than solutions to global challenges—we need a mindset that embraces curiosity, resilience, and purpose.

Xhope library recommendations

1. Human Behavioral Biology - Robert Sapolsky. Entertaining lectures, explaining why and how we make decisions that he expands on in his book Behave by exploring human behavior from the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the moment the behavior occurs to factors in our evolutionary legacy. Video

2. On What Matters - Derek Parfit. The successor to Reasons and Persons provides an overview of classic moral theories, such as deontology, consequentialism, contractualism, and of major moral issues, such as free will and responsibility. Book

3. Moral Progress vs. the Simple Passage of Time - Holden Karnofsky. How to potentially distinguish value drift from moral progress. Blog post

Community updates

New fund alert: Open Philanthropy’s $120M abundance & growth fund

With $120M in funding, Open Phil will support projects advancing housing reform, clean energy, biotech innovation, and high-skill immigration. Aimed at removing structural bottlenecks to progress and enabling scalable impact.

Join Edge City South Africa

This expedition will serve as a deeper exploration of South Africa’s growing innovation ecosystem and how it could become a key node in our global network. We’ll explore the local talent network, urban environment, and cultural context while building relationships that last beyond the trip itself.

New newsletter on AI futures: Forethought

Forethought just launched a new research newsletter exploring how to navigate rapid, AI-driven technological change. From the risks of power concentration and new forms of warfare to the potential for economic abundance and better collective decision-making, they ask: how can we shape the best possible future?

New book: Abundance: On the Future of Progress by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson

In this new book, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson makes a timely case for removing the bottlenecks holding back progress—and rethinking what’s possible. They explore how better institutions, permitting, and technology policy can unlock a more capable future.

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Steven argues that while progress isn’t automatic, it is real. By tracking long-term trends in violence, poverty, democracy, and innovation, we can see how human effort—driven by reason, science, and cooperation—has repeatedly pushed civilization forward. Yet, media narratives and cognitive biases often make us blind to these achievements, reinforcing a sense of stagnation or decline.

In this conversation, we explore:

• The hidden progress shaping our world today—from rising literacy rates to declining poverty, and why these trends rarely make the news.

• Why pessimism can be self-defeating—and how a more accurate understanding of history can help us build a better future.

• The role of AI, biotech, and clean energy—and why they might unlock transformative improvements, if used wisely.

• How to communicate ideas that inspire hope—including Steven’s advice on cutting through jargon and tribalism to make ideas stick.

If you’ve ever wondered whether humanity is on the right track—or how to ensure we stay on it—this episode is for you. Listen now to hear how we can move from existential dread to existential hope. 🚀

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Steven’s recommended resources

Steven's books

1. Enlightenment Now – A defense of reason, science, and progress.

2. The Better Angels of Our Nature – Examines the decline of violence over human history.

3. How the Mind Works – A deep dive into cognitive psychology and human intelligence.

4. Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters – Explores the role of rational thinking in decision-making and progress.

5. The Sense of Style – A modern guide to writing with clarity and impact.

Other books

6. Full Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand – An eco-modernist take on environmentalism and technology.

7. The Roots of Progress – A movement and resource hub focused on understanding and fostering human progress.

8. Ada Palmer’s Sci-Fi Books – Mentioned as a science fiction author discussing historical trends and future challenges.

Organizations, websites, and data sources

9. Our World in Data – A data-driven platform that visualizes long-term global trends on progress.

10. Human Progress – A libertarian-leaning website showcasing economic and technological progress.

11. Hans Rosling’s Work – Data visualization on global development trends by the late Hans Rosling.

12. 80,000 Hours – A career planning resource focused on making a positive impact.

13. Future of Life Institute (FLI) – A nonprofit addressing existential risks from transformative technologies.

Steven’s vision for the future: A future without war, poverty, or disease, & why it’s within reach

Pinker has a long list of potential breakthroughs that could transform our world for the better. He points to history as proof that seemingly impossible progress—such as the abolition of slavery, gruesome punishments, and debtor’s prisons—can and does happen. War, he argues, could follow the same trajectory, becoming a relic of the past rather than an unavoidable reality.

He envisions a future where extreme poverty is eradicated, especially in Africa, following the economic successes of South Korea, China, and India. Advances in medicine could drastically reduce premature deaths, curing diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. AI-driven diagnostics could revolutionize healthcare, providing personalized and precise treatments far beyond human capability.

Automation could eliminate dangerous and repetitive jobs, allowing people to focus on more meaningful work. At the core of his vision is the need for abundant, clean, and affordable energy—unlocking economic prosperity while solving environmental challenges. With innovations in battery storage and next-generation nuclear power, this could become a reality.

Beyond technology and economics, Steven is optimistic about the future of human rights. Democracy could continue its expansion, women’s rights could reach full equality worldwide, and LGBTQ+ rights could become universal. Just as past social movements reshaped history, these changes are possible—not inevitable, but within reach if we choose to work toward them.

Xhope library recommendations

1. We need a new philosophy of progress - Traces the rise, fall, and potential revival of optimism about human progress. From Enlightenment ideals to 19th-century breakthroughs and 20th-century disillusionment, the essay argues for a renewed philosophy of progress that confronts challenges while envisioning a positive future. Advocates for learning from history to inspire solutions and avoid stagnation in the 21st century. Article

2. Human Behavioral Biology - Robert Sapolsky. Entertaining lectures, explaining why and how we make decisions that he expands on in his book Behave by exploring human behavior from the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the moment the behavior occurs to factors in our evolutionary legacy. Video

3. Tools to Transform Our Thinking - Daniel Dennett, A talk on how to get better at reasoning, including popular methods such as the “intuition pump”. Video

Community updates

Join the new “Pathways to Progress” reading group!

Pathways to Progress aims to create a community of individuals committed to exploring and contributing to human prosperity. They seek to encourage discussions on technological and scientific innovation and foster a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind human advancement. Readings will investigate historical examples of progress, the implications of economic growth on moral progress, industrial policy, and the relationship between technological progress and societal change.

Short story: The Gentle Romance

What the journey from AI assistant to full-virtuality can teach us about the nature of love. A short story by Richard Ngo.

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Ada argues that one of the most critical advantages we have over past generations is our ability to envision a future radically different from our present. Unlike Renaissance thinkers limited by their own history, today’s societies can draw from an endless array of speculative worlds—both utopian and dystopian—to expand the horizons of what we dare to demand.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Ada digs into everything from concrete ideas for how to govern in a more pluralistic, adaptable world, to the importance of storytelling in addressing existential risks, exploring:

• Why pluralism might be the antidote to centralized, one-size-fits-all governance and how speculative fiction shows us ways to make it work.

• How past and present technological advancements—like eradicating malaria—can inspire hope for tackling today’s most urgent challenges.

• What makes despair the ultimate barrier to progress, and how celebrating successes can keep us moving forward.

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Ada’s Recommended Resources

• Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun: The Book of the New Sun

• Isaac Asimov: Isaac Asimov's works

• Robert A. Heinlein: Robert A. Heinlein's works

• Samuel R. Delany: Samuel R. Delany's works

• J.R.R. Tolkien: Tolkien's works

• Anne McCaffrey: Anne McCaffrey's works

• Thomas More - Utopia: Utopia by Thomas More

• Francis Bacon - New Atlantis: New Atlantis by Francis Bacon

• Malka Older - Infomocracy: Infomocracy by Malka Older

• Brian Fies - Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow: Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow

• Naoki Urasawa - 20th Century Boys: 20th Century Boys

• "Speculative Resistance" by Malka Older: Malka Older’s Website

• Petrarch’s Writings - Remedies Against Fortune, Fair and Foul: Petrarch on Wikipedia

• Fix the News Newsletter: Fix the News

• Malaria Eradication Efforts: World Health Organization - Malaria

• Universal Basic Income (UBI): Basic Income Earth Network

Ada’s Vision for the Future: Aligning Education with Modern Needs

Ada envisions a future where education addresses foundational societal challenges:

• Moving beyond standardized tests to cultivate creativity and problem-solving skills.

• A well-educated populace resists the concentration of power by making informed choices, ensuring that decision-making reflects diverse voices rather than a privileged few.

• Preparing people to transition from repetitive work to fulfilling, creative roles as automation reshapes labor markets.

• Transforming teaching into a respected and well-paid profession to attract top talent.

• Encouraging continuous learning through life to navigate a rapidly evolving world.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• Nine Subgenres to Help You Understand the Future - Jay Owens. Reviews alternative futurisms, including Chinese Sci-Fi, Afrofuturism, Gulf Futurism, Climate Fiction, Solarpunk, Water Crisis Thrillers, Kitchen Sink Dystopia, Woke Space Opera, The New Weird. Forum/blog-post

• Hieroglyph - Ed Finn, Kathryn Cramer. A collection of distinctively positive sci-fi stories authored by major sci-fi writers. Sci-fi content

• Better Worlds - The Verge. Animated sci-fi video stories focused on positive futures. Video

• Archipelago & Atomic Communitarianism - Scott Alexander. A fictional vision of society defined as an archipelago of value-aligned communities coexisting peacefully. Forum/blog-post

Community Updates

Join Us in Beta Testing Our Worldbuilding Course!

We're preparing to launch our Existential Hope Online Worldbuilding Course and are seeking beta testers to help us fine-tune it. Beta testing will run in February and March. About the course:

• Estimated time: 3-10 hours, depending on how much you want to explore the material.

• Core areas:

  1. Existential Hope: Moving from risk-based thinking to imagining actionable, positive futures.

  2. The Power of Technology: Examining how transformative tools like AI can shape our world.

  3. Worldbuilding: Crafting interconnected and detailed visions of the future.

If you're interested, fill out this form to sign up. We’ll notify you when it’s ready for testing!

Vitalik Buterin on D/acc: One Year Later

One year after introducing the philosophy of decentralized and democratic, differential defensive acceleration (D/Acc), Vitalik Buterin shares its progress and evolution. From breakthroughs in open-source vaccines and ZK-SNARKs in government ID to the rise of prediction markets and decentralized tools, Vitalik reflects on how these technologies align with the vision of empowering individuals over central authorities.

How Sci-fi can Have Drama Without Dystopia or Doomerism

“But you can’t have a story where everyone is happy and everything is perfect! Stories need conflict!”

This common critique of hopeful sci-fi misses the mark. Conflict doesn’t require dystopia. As Jason Crawford explains, compelling stories can explore human struggles, ethical dilemmas, and the challenges of building better futures—all without resorting to doom-filled narratives.

Read Jason’s complete list of eight ways to have conflict in a future we actually want to live in here.

Exciting Opportunities on Metaculus

• AI Benchmark Series: Compete for $30,000 by forecasting real-world questions. Launches Jan 20. Learn more

• ACX 2025 Contest: Predict trends in politics, AI, culture, and more by Jan 31. $10,000 in prizes. Enter here

• Bridgewater Competition: Forecast globally for a $25,000 prize pool and career opportunities. Starts Feb 3. Join now

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In this special episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers turn the tables and interview each other instead of a guest, sharing candid insights into their journeys, hopes, and visions for humanity.

Together, they explore big concepts like moral circle expansion, how neurotech could deepen empathy (even with animals!), and why worldbuilding in 2045 can help us envision and create better futures today.

Prepare for the new year by diving into strategies for building a future worth striving for.

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Allison and Beatrice’s Recommended Resources

• Peter Singer's Moral Circle Expansion: Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress

• Future of Life Institute (FLI): futureoflife.org

• "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch: The Beginning of Infinity

• Wild Robot Movie and Book: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

• Vitalik Buterin's "Techno-Optimism" Blog Post: My Techno-Optimism

• Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler: Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology

• Foresight Institute: foresight.org

• Netflix Series: "Alone": Alone

• Entrepreneur First and Defensive Technologies Incubator: Entrepreneur First

• Vision Weekend by Foresight Institute: Vision Weekend

A Vision for the Future: An Expansion of the Moral Circle

Beatrice’s eucatastrophe envisions a future where humanity expands its "moral circle" to include not just people worldwide but also animals and potentially other sentient beings. She imagines technologies like neurotech and AI enabling direct emotional sharing or communication across species, fostering deeper empathy and understanding. For example, if someone could feel an animal’s fear or communicate its needs, it might inspire greater compassion and action. While challenging, this moral shift could drive global cooperation and environmental stewardship, embodying hope for a more inclusive and interconnected future.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• What To Expect From The Next Generation of BCIs - Sumner Norman. Seminar summarizing the state of the art and exploring the future of BCIs. Video

• Fun Theory - Eliezer Yudkowsky. On why a future defined by advanced neurotechnology does not have to be boring. Forum/blog-post

• Gaming the Future - Allison Duettmann, Mark S. Miller, Christine Peterson. Introduces a decentralized approach to advanced AI that focuses on improved problem-solving arising from the cooperation of individual agents. Book

• What Success Looks Like – Marius Hobbhahn et al. Discusses scenarios and strategies for ensuring the safe development and deployment of transformative artificial intelligence (TAI), exploring different situations where AI alignment might or might not be an issue. Forum/blog-post

Community Updates

The world of tomorrow, Virginia Postrel

The future was once imagined as glamorous. Past futurists proposed experimental and bold solutions to grand challenges—domed cities to address overpopulation, high-speed transit networks to connect continents.

This essay asks why we’ve stopped dreaming at that scale.

Virginia Postrel argues that reclaiming an ambitious future first requires tackling the unglamorous barriers holding us back—outdated zoning laws, sluggish infrastructure, and regulatory gridlock. But fixing these isn’t enough. We must also break free from "default" thinking and dare to imagine boldly once again: building entirely new cities, advancing high-risk nuclear technologies, and creating experimental zones where innovation flourishes. Only by addressing both the practical and visionary challenges can we work towards the extraordinary futures we’ve forgotten how to dream.

NatureLM is the first large-scale audio-language model designed for analyzing animal sounds. Trained on a diverse dataset of bioacoustic archives, human speech, and music, it addresses bioacoustics tasks through natural language prompts and audio inputs. Capable of detecting and classifying thousands of species and vocalizations, including species it has never encountered, NatureLM demonstrates emergent abilities that push the boundaries of bioacoustic research. By enabling zero-shot tasks and refining species identification, it provides ethologists with unprecedented tools to study animal communication. Future developments could expand its applications to conservation, ecosystem monitoring, and deeper exploration of cross-species communication.

If you haven’t already seen it, we recommend taking a look at the winners of FLI’s Superintelligence Imagined, a contest for the best creative educational materials on superintelligence, its associated risks, and the implications of this technology for our world.

With one winner and five runners up, there’s a lots of (wonderful) creative content to look through.

In a landscape dominated by sci-fi dystopias like Terminator and Blade Runner, where robots often represent our collective doom, The Wild Robot offers a refreshing shift. This film portrays a robot not as a threat, but as a symbol of growth, survival, and connection. Its journey inspires a subtle but powerful message of hope in an increasingly automated world, suggesting that technology–when embraced with care–can bring out the best of humanity.

View now in cinemas or to rent on Youtube.

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Tune in to hear how FROs are unlocking innovation, tackling bottlenecks across fields, and inspiring a new approach to advancing humanity’s understanding of the world.

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Adam’s Recommended Resources

• Engines of Creation – A foundational book by Eric Drexler exploring the potential of molecular nanotechnology to transform the world.

• A.I. Artificial Intelligence (IMDb) – A sci-fi film directed by Steven Spielberg, exploring advanced AI and its relationship with humanity.

• Steve Byrnes Blog – A blog focused on neuroscience, AI alignment, and understanding human cognition through the brain’s steering subsystems.

• DNA Origami – A technique for designing and assembling nanoscale structures using DNA strands as a building material.

• Expansion Microscopy Description – A technique that enlarges biological specimens for nanoscale imaging using physical expansion methods.

Adam’s Vision for the Future: Understanding the Brain to Better Guide Humanity

Imagine a future where we finally understand the human brain’s basic structure—how it drives our values, motivations, and well-being. This isn’t about uploading minds or building superintelligence but about gaining practical insights into how our brains work. With this understanding, we could improve mental health, align technology with human needs, and make life better in countless ways.

At the same time, science becomes more efficient. We remove the red tape and inefficiencies that slow progress, enabling researchers to focus on solving big problems instead of navigating bureaucracy. This shift unlocks faster innovation and encourages bold new ideas.

Together, these changes create a turning point: we overcome key barriers to understanding ourselves and advancing as a society, opening up real possibilities for a better future.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• TheNeurotech - An overview of the neurotechnology domain. Website/Blog

• Neuralink: The Brain’s Magical Future - Tim Urban. An overview of Neuralink’s likely plans for Brain Computer Interfaces. Forum/blog-post 

• Mind-uploading - Kurzgesagt. Explainer video on mind-uploading. Video

• The Ultimate Interface: Your Brain - Ramez Naam. On the promises of brain machine interfaces. Book

Community Updates

RadicalxChange launched Combinations: a new publication exploring ideas about economics, democracy, and the relationship between technology and power.

Stories shape our understanding of the world, yet it is the mechanisms we build that transform these stories into tangible realities. Combinations’ inaugural issue, “Myth and Mechanism,”explores the interplay between the grand narratives that have guided humanity—our theologies, historical legacies, and collective myths—and the concrete institutions and technologies that perpetuate them.

ALLFED is running a special 10% Gift Match Opportunity to amplify your impact in supporting a food-resilient future. Until midnight on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, any gift up to $5000 will be matched 10%.

Give now to help fund ALLFED’s ongoing work to research, evaluate, and promote resilient food solutions.

Existential Hope Program Director Beatrice Erkers ( gave a talk at EAGxVirtual 2024 on the role of "Existential Hope" in shaping the long-term future.

The talk goes into how Existential Hope can work alongside efforts to reduce existential risks and inspire a more holistic approach to future-building, one that emphasizes not only avoiding catastrophes but also aiming for profoundly positive futures.

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Join us as we explore how neuroscience might redefine what it means to truly live—and challenge assumptions around mortality. For more insights, listen to the podcast episode and stay subscribed for future updates!

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Ariel’s Recommended Resources

• The Future Loves You: How And Why We Should Abolish Death –  Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, set to be released on November 28, 2024.

• Brain Preservation Foundation - An organization that has existed for about 10-15 years, focusing on brain preservation techniques.

• Being Mortal - A book by Atul Gawande, an American doctor, focusing on palliative care and medicine.

• Terra Ignota Tetralogy - A science fiction series by Ada Palmer, set in the 2200s, depicting a flourishing but complex future society.

• Uncle Tom's Cabin - Mentioned as an example of literature that helped build empathy and momentum against slavery.

Ariel’s Vision for the Future

Ariel's eucatastrophe envisions a future where brain preservation technologies are fully integrated into the medical system. This would allow individuals nearing the end of life to choose preservation at a critical stage, with the possibility of future revival. Hospitals and hospices would incorporate advanced brain preservation facilities, storing preserved individuals in dedicated warehouses. Ariel imagines a future where the political will exists to develop and implement these technologies at scale, ensuring affordable and accessible procedures for all who elect to use them. With this system in place, the cost would be manageable, around $10,000 per procedure and a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for annual storage. This vision represents a hopeful convergence of technology, healthcare, and societal support.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant - Nick Bostrom. Much-cherished fairy-tale-like story illustrating the loss incurred by aging and our deathist acceptance.

• Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution - Ronald Bailey. A moral argument in favor of advancing biotechnology.

• Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke. Fictional account of the end of death.

• Crazy Ideas for Future Synbio & Bioengineering - Stephen Malina. Lists potential future goals and applications in biotechnology.

• The Hedonistic Imperative - David Pearce. A manifesto-like book on the benefits of biotech, neurotech, and similar technologies to enable humans escape our hedonic treadmill. 

Community Updates

The 2024 Progress Conference brought together ambitious minds to reimagine positive futures. Beatrice Erkers and Allison Duettmann led an Existential Hope session, asking: 'How can we make the future cool again?' In an era of dystopian narratives, they explored how optimistic sci-fi can reignite our appetite for progress. Stay updated on recordings from the Progress conference here.

In Machines of Loving Grace, Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) presents “a vision of a world that is both plausible if everything goes right with AI, and much better than the world today”. It includes:

“The defeat of most diseases, the growth in biological and cognitive freedom, the lifting of billions of people out of poverty to share in the new technologies, a renaissance of liberal democracy and human rights.”

The Qualia Research Institute had recently released its work modeling "cessations" – advanced meditation states where consciousness blinks out for a moment, which you can read about here. This work draws from research findings from their High Energy Awareness Research Team, a group of experienced psychonauts with a technical background in meditation, physics, and visual art, who got together last year in order to model exotic states of consciousness. This team plays with the premise that we are likely to find key hints about how the mind works by exploring its "high energy states", much akin to how in physics particle accelerators generate crucial empirical data to test models and theories.

ALLFED (Alliance To Feed The Earth In Disasters) are looking for research volunteers for food security during global catastrophes.

Their goal is to ensure feeding all and preserving biodiversity in catastrophe, via planning, collaboration, and research.

Opportunities include participating in collaborative meetings, applying creative thinking, gaining experience in publishing peer-reviewed papers, and conducting project-specific tasks. View their database for instructions and application link.

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Hosted by Allison Duettmann, this interview explores the challenges we face today, but more importantly, the immense opportunities we have to build a future that looks like the future.

Some key topics covered:

• Technological Innovation in areas like energy, housing, and healthcare

• Cultural Shifts and how to overcome societal complacency

• Supersonic Flight and Beyond: The potential of transportation innovation

• Regulatory Barriers: How they currently hold back progress and ways to reform them

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Eli’s Recommended Resources

• Abundance Institute - abundance.institute

• Mercatus Center at George Mason University - mercatus.org

• Jason Crawford - Jason's blog, The Roots of Progress

• Peter Thiel's Zero to One book - amazon.com

• The Atlantic article by Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen - The Atlantic - We Need a New Science of Progress

• Derek Thompson's 'Abundance Agenda' - The Atlantic - The Abundance Agenda

• Ezra Klein's 'Supply-Side Liberalism' - Ezra Klein in Vox

• Concorde supersonic plane - Concorde on Wikipedia

• The Jetsons TV show - The Jetsons on IMDb

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - NEPA Overview

• Stuart Buck and the Good Science Institute - Good Science Institute

• Boom Supersonic - boomsupersonic.com

• Statins and Health Outcomes - Statins Overview on Mayo Clinic

• Prospera - Charter City - prospera.hn

• Maxwell Tabarrok's Substack - Maximum Progress - Maximum Progress Substack

• Works in Progress - worksinprogress.co

Eli’s Vision for the Future: Cheap Supersonic Flights Accessible to Everyone

Eli's vision of a eucatastrophe (the opposite of a catastrophe) for the future centers on reviving supersonic flight, where planes fly faster than the speed of sound, dramatically reducing travel times. He imagines advancements in engine efficiency and materials science making supersonic travel not only feasible but affordable—allowing extreme speeds at today's economy class prices.

This transformation would bring fast, accessible travel to all, creating a more connected world where supersonic flight is no longer a luxury but a universal convenience.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• Growth, Progress, Culture - Patrick Collison. Asks if growth, progress, and culture are declining and what we can do about it.

• Where is My Flying Car? - J. Storrs Hall. An account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future.

• The Progress Dashboard - Tony Morley. A visual overview of all things progress studies.

Community Updates

The Cosmos Institute has launched with a mission to cultivate an optimistic philosophy of technology. Steering a path between dystopian risks and accelerationist transhumanism, this new organization offers a fresh perspective on our technological future. Explore their initiatives:

• Fellowship program for emerging thinkers

• Funding opportunities through Cosmos Ventures

• Regular content including essays, debates, and podcasts via their Substack

Join us October 10th - November 10th in Edge Lanna, Chiang Mai to live in a healthy community focused on incubating novel technologies and ways of living. Read the Lanna welcome essay here. Edge City is an IRL experimentation lab for new ideas, tech, culture, and organizations, all dedicated to accelerating human flourishing. ‍

We hope to see those of you in attendance join our Existential Hope workshop there.

Register before November the 10th for the Dubai Future forum, 19th - 20th November 2024.

This year, the summit will aim to reflect diverse viewpoints on the UN Summit of the Future and then support in implementing the core outcomes and recommendations of the Summit. It will also more broadly seek to explore the possible futures for the world’s children, in an effort to ensure that these futures remain hopeful and positive.

The Good Science Project, a non-profit think tank, is seeking ambitious ideas for policy briefs on improving federal R&D efforts. You’ll need to write a single paragraph that details an evidence-based R&D reform that you believe will make government work better. If your idea is promising, The Good Science Project will work with you on a full-fledged policy brief.

See their call for proposals here, or submit your idea directly here.

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In this month’s Hope Drop we speak to Kristian Rönn, an entrepreneur formerly affiliated with the Future of Humanity Institute. Kristian calls these deeply rooted impulses “Darwinian demons.” These forces, a by-product of natural selection, can lead us to act in shortsighted ways that harm others—and even imperil our survival as a species. In our latest episode, Kristian explains how we can escape these evolutionary traps through cooperation and innovative thinking.

Kristian's new book, The Darwinian Trap, is being published on September 24th. Be sure to preorder it today!

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Kristian’s Recommended Resources

• Nick Bostrom's works, particularly "Superintelligence"

• "The Darwinian Trap" by Kristian Rönn

• Scott Alexander's post "Meditations on Moloch"

• The Win Win Podcast by Liv Boeree

• Talks and articles by Daniel Schmachtenberger

• Peter Singer's work on utilitarianism

Kristian’s Vision for the Future: Reputational Markets to Manage What Humankind Really Values

Kristian envisions reputational markets as a game-changer for global business. This system would allow everyone to collectively manage and value reputations, rather than having any single entity in control. Companies would be motivated to act ethically to maintain a good reputation and the right incentives would drive widespread, long-term focus on values and ethical behavior. This shift would help move away from shortsightedness and the tendency to overly optimize for financial incentives rather than what we truly care about.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• What is Intelligence? - Kurzgesagt. Intro-level explainer video defining intelligence.

• Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark. On how AI affects crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our understanding of being human.

• Avoiding the Precipice: Race Avoidance in the Development of AI - Olga Afanasjeva, Jan Feyereisl, Marek Havdra. Maps out various races with their actors, and potential responses.

• An Open Agency Architecture for Safe Transformative AI - Davidad. A proposal for an AI system that ends the risk period without causing catastrophic harm.

Community Updates

Over the past 70 years, science fiction has dramatically changed. The data shows us that what used to be an optimistic and inspiring genre has evolved to reflect our own fears and anxieties.

Metaculus: 5 Years After AGI Series

How will power be distributed in a post-AGI world? Might some scientific advances backfire? How exactly will AGI be used for the benefit of all. Explore Metaculus' new series. 

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Learn more about our work at existentialhope.com.

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Simeon’s Recommended Resources

• Siméon Campos' Website - simeon.ai

• Science4All YouTube Channel - Science4All

• David Krueger's Work - David’s website

Siméon’s Vision for the Future: Safe AGI Benefitting All

Siméon envisions a eucatastrophe where advanced AI systems are developed with inherent safe capabilities, ensuring they pose no risks. Robust governance through a multi-stakeholder bargaining process is crucial to make sure AGI benefits the majority rather than just a few, as advanced AI could potentially allow unprecedented control over people. This governance can help technology alleviate constraints imposed by genetics or birthplace, enabling individuals to become more like who they wish to be. Moreover, with safe AGI and solid international governance, technology could address major global issues such as poverty, hunger, and disease, creating a hopeful and positive future for humanity.

About the art
This art piece was created with the help of Dall–E 3. 

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Library Recommendations

• What is intelligence? Luke Muehlhauser. Attempts an explanation of intelligence.

• Existential Hope Transformative AI Institution Design Hackathon - Foresight Institute. Nine proposals for new governance mechanisms for transformative AI.

• Building Safe AI - Andrew Trask. Describes how federated learning could be leveraged to build an AI system that can produce insights based on the encrypted data of two mutually suspicious parties without itself gaining access to the data or leaking any information about its own algorithms.

• The Landscape of AI Safety and Beneficence Research - Richard Mallah. Overview of the AI safety landscape.

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About the Foresight Fellowship on Existential Hope

The Foresight Fellowship is a one-year program committed to giving change-makers the support to accelerate their bold ideas into the future. The mission is to catalyze collaboration among leading young scientists, engineers, and innovators who work to advance technologies for the benefit of life. 

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Learn more about our work at existentialhope.com.

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James’ Recommended Resources

• Interstellar, Christopher Nolan, 2014 [film]

• The Precipice, Toby Ord, 2020

• The Peripheral, William Gibson, 2014

• The Martian, Matt Damon, 2015 [film]

James’ Vision for the Future

James is aiming for a future driven by significant technological advancements. In his view, technologies such as AGI, nuclear fusion, and widespread access to genetic treatments could lead to a world with less disease, abundant clean energy, and economic growth, supporting innovation and prosperity across the board. His Existential Hope scenario is a society where individuals have the freedom to invent and pursue their own visions of the future, leading to diverse and vibrant communities living in harmony with these future advanced technologies.

Therefore, James worries that policies which slow technological progress will mean “we're unable to solve the big problems that we should have solved earlier”. For him, “not taking any risks might be the biggest risk of all”. 

About the art
This art piece was created with the help of Dall–E 3. 

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Library Recommendations

• What’s Our Problem? - Tim Urban. Introducing a new framework for thinking about our socio-economic turmoil.

• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century- Yuval Harari. On large-scale trends that will shape this century and how to avoid risks arising from them. 

• Where is My Flying Car? - J. Storrs Hall. An account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future.

• Roots of Progress Fellowship. A nonprofit focused on creating a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century, seeking to understand, champion, and accelerate human advancement by advocating for the belief in and systematic study of progress.

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Community Updates

Join Rethink Priorities for a webinar hosted by Bob Fischer and Arvo Muñoz from their Worldview Investigations Team, exploring the practical applications of the CRAFT Sequence tools for constructing effective giving portfolios.

August 5, 2024 20:00 GMT+1

Register

“In politics, there is no ‘world’; only states. For pathogens, there are no ‘states’; there is only the world.”

Aware of the deadly viruses, climate-changing carbon molecules, and harmful pollutants which cross the globe unimpeded by national borders, Jonathan Blake (Berggruen Institute) and Nils Gilman (Berggruen Institute) write about a new system of political governance to manage plantary issues and their local consequences.

For those interested, please also see Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises (Blake and Gilman, 2024) which discusses how the profound mismatch between the scale of planetary challenges and the institutions tasked with governing them is leading to cascading systemic failures.

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In the essay We Need An FDA For Artificial Intelligence, Emilia Javorsky, FLI proposes the establishment of a regulatory body analogous to the FDA to oversee the development and deployment of AI technologies. As AI permeates various sectors, the potential for bias, privacy violations, and other ethical concerns grows. Javorsky argues that a dedicated agency would be responsible for setting rigorous standards and evaluating AI systems prior to their implementation, thus ensuring their safety and ethical integrity. This regulatory framework would protect public interests, support innovation, and build trust.

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The Good Science Project, a non-profit think tank, is seeking ambitious ideas for policy briefs on improving federal R&D efforts. You’ll need to write a single paragraph that details an evidence-based R&D reform that you believe will make government work better. If your idea is promising, The Good Science Project will work with you on a full-fledged policy brief.

See their call for proposals here, or submit your idea directly here.

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Learn more about our work at existentialhope.com.

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