Existential Hope

Announcing: the winner of our $10K Meme Prize! After reviewing almost 400 entries, we are thrilled to share that the winner of our Meme Prize is “Voices from 2099” by @JellyfishDAO! Their short video makes us see the present day through the eyes of a future society that has solved aging. Congratulations!

YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=SIb-wH… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2t5E4T… Transcript and resources: existentialhope.com/podcasts/david…

Having an AI boyfriend or girlfriend might seem creepy, but what if it helped you get better at human relationships? In this episode, we talk with @davideagleman, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford, bestselling author, and science communicator. We get a neuroscientist’s perspective on how AI and other technologies can help us become better humans – wiser, kinder and more empathetic, not just more productive. Links below! 0:00 Cold open 0:35 How David Eagleman became a neuroscientist 3:43 How malleable is the brain? 5:26 Can AI make us better humans? The Reddit debate bot experiment 9:57 AI relationships and becoming better at dating real people 13:21 Using AI to hear his late father's voice again 17:23 Mind uploading and digital immortality 22:24 What technology could make us more kind and empathetic 23:01 How AI could revolutionize debate education and critical thinking 27:27 Why AI needs a "tough love" mode to help us grow 29:14 Does AI making life easier rob us of useful friction for learning? 33:18 Why brain-to-brain communication probably won't help us understand each other 36:26 Could neurotechnology let us experience the world as another species? 40:55 The current state of neuroscience and where it's heading 47:02 How to get started if you're inspired by this conversation

Our parent organization @foresightinst will be celebrating its 40th anniversary with their first Vision Weekend in the UK this June! There will be plenty of existential hope in the air: from experts talking about the possibilities that are being unlocked in AI, neurotechnology, and longevity, to a dedicated track on existential hope in the age of AI. Speakers for our track include: • @anderssandberg (Institute of Future Studies) on building grand futures • @leahelizmorris (Encode), on AI for science • @lifeext, (@foresightinst), on Foresight’s 40th anniversary • Zoe Brammer (@GoogleDeepMind), on what AI can do for science by 2030 • @WeinbaumJonah (@IFP), on the steps needed to scale new technologies

Most people hate their jobs. In fact, studies show many of us would literally prefer to be unconscious than be at work. So why are many afraid of AI taking their jobs? We highly recommend this conversation between @Liv_Boeree and @willmacaskill about our future with AI. Here are our favorite takeaways: • Since AI makes human labor worthless, each of us could own resources like the seas and space. Instead of getting universal basic income, companies could then pay us rent to use these resources for their data centers and energy. • AI makes it possible for one person to control an entire military or police force with perfect loyalty. We should distribute power and wealth before the transition is complete, or whoever is on top could stay there forever. • If AI eventually does everything better than us, our purpose could shift from "being useful" to "being connected". We could find meaning in the things that don't need to be efficient, such as art, deep relationships, or shared human experiences.

@SkepticallyZass @metaculus Thanks for letting us know how that feels. Do you think people's reaction to it might change if, in the future, we work much less in general because of AI automation?

@HopeExistential @metaculus Living in Canada where lots of people receive something akin to UBI has made me despise the idea despite supporting it for years It creates entitled lazy useless people who have nothing to strive for and often behave horribly precisely because they don't need to work

Will AI force G7 governments to give everyone a "salary" just for existing? Forecasters on @metaculus see an 18% chance that a G7 nation will launch a large-scale (25k+ people), publicly funded Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot before 2031. Here are the key insights from the debate ↓

@metaculus Read more about the Tool AI scenario here: ai-pathways.existentialhope.com/the-tool-ai-20… Or add your forecast and comments here: metaculus.com/tournament/for…

This question is part of our AI Pathways Tournament, where we evaluate different futures shaped by AI development. This question is related to the Tool AI scenario — a future defined by advanced, narrow AI that helps humans while keeping us in control. In the Tool AI scenario, we imagine that by 2035 a large-scale job replacement will be seen as a trade worth making in most of the world. To avoid leaving anyone behind, UBI will be needed as a social safety net. A 25k-person pilot would be a real sign that governments are taking the "AI transition" seriously.

If you enjoyed our meme prize and its winner last year, you'll love this one. @xprize wants to see your vision of a future worth building. A 3-minute trailer could win you $2.6M+ to make a full feature film. It’s one of the largest sci-fi film competitions in the world, and @foresightinst is a proud partner.

We have more scientists and more research funding today than at any point in history. Yet, progress often feels very hard. @ilangur argues that our current system actually "traps" talent in rigid silos. At @ARIA_research, they’re trying something different: - Betting on the ideas that experts think won't work (because that’s where the real breakthroughs hide) - Letting researchers start their own labs or companies instead of just writing papers - Creating spaces that attract the world's most ambitious minds and spark great opportunities If you’re interested in how we can speed up the next century of innovation, this is a great talk to check out ↓

"I don't understand the point of being overly pessimistic because, either way, you’ve got to try." Our program director @beatrice_erk recently joined the Blue Sky podcast, where she talked with Bill Burke about how we can stop dreading the future and start designing it. Some highlights: • Instead of thinking about feeling more fulfilled, we should focus on doing something meaningful. Resources like @80000hours can help people spend their career solving high-leverage problems rather than just worrying about them. • Data from experts like @_HannahRitchie and @HansRosling shows that we have the tools to solve problems like poverty and the climate. • We can do much better than avoiding a bad future. We can envision what a truly great future could look like, and then map the changes that need to happen to make it real. Listen for a good dose of grounded optimism ↓

How much digital privacy is it okay to give up for family safety? We often share our location for safety, closeness, or just convenience. But the trail also feeds brokers, price hikes, or tracking. Our fellow Peggy Yin and other student discussed this tradeoff in this Wall Street Journal’s Future View: wsj.com/opinion/digita…

YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=JAx74v… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4IZlTj… Transcript and resources: existentialhope.com/podcasts/marc-…

What if, by 2100, the poorest country in the world was as rich as Switzerland is today? It might sound too good to be true, but the data shows this is actually achievable, and with an economic growth that is similar to the one we have been experiencing in the past 20 years. We unpack the details of how we could make this happen, from technology to economy and society, in our latest podcast episode with Marc Canal. @MCanalN is a Senior Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute (@McKinsey_MGI), and co-author of the book A Century of Plenty. Links below! 0:00 - Cold open 0:50 - Why the McKinsey Global Institute wrote “A Century of Plenty” 4:16 - What was the world like in 1925? 9:00 - The most surprising stats from 100 years of progress 14:59 - Defining the “empowerment line” vs. the poverty line 18:26 - Projecting 2100: can we make Switzerland the global "floor"? 21:22 - The 5 conditions for achieving a world of plenty 25:10 - Can we grow the economy without sacrificing the environment? 27:19 - Economic growth vs. climate change: mitigation and adaptation 33:01 - What are the biggest challenges to the “progress machine”? 35:26 - The demographic crisis, and solving falling fertility rates 44:16 - Will AI speed up human innovation? 47:17 - Geopolitics: is the world really de-globalizing? 51:26 - The crisis of hope: why are we so pessimistic? 55:22 - How different nations reach the frontier of progress 57:45 - Building a new culture of growth 1:00:05 - Does economic progress actually make us happier? 1:04:35 - How you can help make a century of plenty probable