The Existential Hope Podcast features in-depth conversations with people working on positive, high-tech futures. We explore how the future could be much better than today—if we steer it wisely.
Hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite the scientists, founders, and philosophers shaping tomorrow’s breakthroughs— AI, nanotech, longevity biotech, neurotech, space, smarter governance, and more.
About Foresight Institute: For 40 years the independent nonprofit Foresight Institute has mapped how emerging technologies can serve humanity. Its Existential Hope program is the North Star: mapping the futures worth aiming for and the breakthroughs needed to reach them. This podcast is that exploration in public. Follow along and help tip the century toward success.
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The Existential Hope Podcast features in-depth conversations with people working on positive, high-tech futures. We explore how the future could be much better than today—if we steer it wisely.
Hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite the scientists, founders, and philosophers shaping tomorrow’s breakthroughs— AI, nanotech, longevity biotech, neurotech, space, smarter governance, and more.
About Foresight Institute: For 40 years the independent nonprofit Foresight Institute has mapped how emerging technologies can serve humanity. Its Existential Hope program is the North Star: mapping the futures worth aiming for and the breakthroughs needed to reach them. This podcast is that exploration in public. Follow along and help tip the century toward success.
Explore more:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For years, the conversation about the long-term future has been dominated by a crucial question: how do we avoid extinction? But what if ensuring our survival is only half the battle? In this episode, Beatrice is joined by Fin Moorhouse, a researcher at Forethought and co-author with Will MacAskill of the Better Futures series, to make the case for focusing on the other half: flourishing. Or as we'd like to say in this podcast: Existential Hope!
Fin challenges the idea that a great future will emerge automatically if we just avoid the worst-case scenarios. Using the analogy of a grand sailing expedition, he explores the complexities of navigating towards a truly optimal world, questioning whether our current moral compass is enough to guide us.
The conversation dives into the concept of "moral catastrophes"—profound ethical failings, like industrial animal farming, that could persist even in technologically advanced futures. Fin also tackles the complex challenges posed by digital minds, from the risk of accidental suffering to the creation of "willing servants." He argues for the power of "moral trade" as a tool to build a more pluralistic and prosperous world, and explains why we should aim for a "Viatopia"—a stable and self-sustaining state that makes a great future highly likely.
On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures.
Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
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