Existential Hope Drop #6: Creon Levit, Planet Labs
On Space, Technology And The Long-Term Future
October 2022: HOPE DROP #6: CREON LEVIT
Are we alone in the universe? What could a future for humans in space look like? And what would Creon Levit's advise to Elon Musk be if he wants to start a self-sufficient mass colony there? This Hope Drop features Creon Levit, chief technologist and director of R&D at Planet Labs.
What could we gain if we explore space more?
Creon Levit is chief technologist at Planet Labs, where he works to move the world toward existential hope via novel satellite technologies. He also hosts Foresight Institute's Space Group.
Creon speaks on:
His experiences working with NASA & Planet Labs
Natural systems technologies
Regenerative Agriculture
And much more!
What could a future world with community, technology, and adventure for all look like?
That is the vision of a positive future as envisioned by Creon Levit, which is the basis for this art piece. It shows a positive future that is highly technological, in which all people have access to community and adventure. To hear Creon expand on his vision, and tell more about his work at Planet Labs, listen to his interview in the Existential Hope podcast.
About the artist
This piece was made by Anosh. Anosh is a leading creative at BETC and a member of the Existential Hope Gallery. In this piece, he is working with AI-based tools to create a dialogue between the vision of a super machine and an artist.
What would it be like and feel like to live in a future world with community, technology, and adventure for all?
Telling stories can help us make what seems abstract become real and clear in our minds. Therefore we have created a storytelling bounty based on Creon's vision of a positive future imagining a world where we have had a shift in the human nature that makes it possible for all to have flourishing lives.
Creon's vision:
Imagine a shift in human nature where we could all have love, community, technology, and adventure, as well as a lack of severe hardship or fear. This pivot of humanity depends on a pivot on the individual level to make it happen.
To some extent, things are already pivoting towards the kind of future we could all have with love, community, technology, and adventure, as well as a lack of severe hardship or fear. Experiences such as community gatherings and collaboration are prime examples of what everybody could have in the fantastic future.
While it may feel less obvious that the collective world is shifting in that direction, things are still seemingly getting better for most people. Of course, there is suffering and danger, but it does not bode well to go invading another country anymore. In a way, these are hopeful signs of progress. We have been learning a lot over the last few years. Now we need to continue learning at a rapid rate.
People have to fall in love with their lives, fellow humans, civilization, and the future. On the one hand, some might say, “You are proposing a change in human nature and that will never happen.” I am not so sure though. I think humans are changing, not uniformly or quickly, but in a positive direction. Things like slavery, brutal combat, and warfare used to be commonplace and they are now anomalies on the way out. So the pivot of humanity depends on this pivot on the individual level to make it happen.
NEWS FROM THE XHOPE ECOSYSTEM
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FORECASTING OUR WORLD IN DATA WITH METACULUS
Metaculus is launching Forecasting Our World In Data, a tournament that will deliver predictions on technological advancement, global development, and social progress on time horizons ranging from one to 100 years, with close collaboration from the Our World In Data (OWID) team. Join the tournament now!
SENTIENCE INSTITUTE PRESENTS NEW RESEARCH ON DIGITAL MINDS
Sentience Institute is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary think tank working towards a flourishing future for all human and nonhuman sentient life. Their focus is building the small but growing field of digital minds research. Recent work includes:
"Predicting the Moral Consideration of Artificial Intelligences" in Computers in Human Behavior.This follows our 2021 moral circle expansion paper in Futures and literature review in Science and Engineering Ethics.
“Artificial Intelligence, Morality, and Sentience (AIMS)”. An extensive dataset of the first detailed nationally representative survey on the topic.
"The History of AI Rights Research". A history of research on AI rights and other moral consideration of artificial entities.
The Summit on AI in Society. Speakers included Erik Brynjolfsson, Ted Chiang, Alexandra Chouldechova, Brian Christian, Iason Gabriel, Melanie Mitchell, Dewey Murdick, and Stuart Russell.
SIMON INSTITUTE IS HIRING
Simon Institute's mission is to increase the capacity of policy networks to mitigate global catastrophic risks and build resilience for civilization to flourish. In its first 1.5 years, SI has developed significant opportunities to boost the safe development of emerging technologies.They are now looking for highly dedicated colleagues to build an extraordinary team with.