The Existential Hope Podcast

Foresight Institute
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Technology

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: Transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcastsFollow on X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 2h ago

    The only 12 proven self-help tools for a meaningful life and improving the world

    There's an overwhelming amount of self-help advice out there, which makes it really hard to know what will work for you. But it turns out that over 450 self-help techniques from 100 books and 20 types of therapy actually boil down to just 12 tools. In this episode, we talk with Spencer Greenberg, a mathematician and founder of the psychology research nonprofit Clearer Thinking. He recently co-authored the book The 12 Levers with clinical psychologist Jeremy Stevenson, to cut through the noise of self-help and provide people with the smallest number of concrete tools they can leverage in different situations. We cover: How nearly 500 self-help techniques got narrowed down into 12 core psychological strategies, and how to use them.Why most people live by values they absorbed from their parents or environment rather than ones they actually chose, and how to figure out what your own values are.The real formula for productivity, which takes into account how important the work actually is.Why hopelessness is often less about the state of the world than about feeling unable to act, plus the single most evidence-backed exercise for building genuine optimism. The exposure therapy techniques he used to overcome severe social anxiety. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 0:52 How 459 self-help techniques boil down to just 12 levers 2:36 Does self-help need to be evidence-based? 4:40 Why understanding yourself can change the world 5:42 Are you living on your values or someone else’s values? 7:11 How to figure out what you actually value 8:03 Pleasurable life vs meaningful life: what actually makes you fulfilled? 9:39 Redefining productivity: on the importance of the work vs hours and efficiency 11:46 Optimism vs hope, and training yourself to be more optimistic 15:21 Why Spencer wrote The 12 Levers, and how he beat his own social anxiety 18:14 Which levers are hardest to maintain and self development as an ongoing journey 20:01 Overwhelmed by 12 levers? Where to start 22:26 How to create meaning in your life through your values 26:26 Advice for young people who feel hopeless about the future 28:15 Designing an AI assistant that pushes you toward your values 31:39 What would it look like if everyone used the 12 levers? 32:56 When to accept things vs when to fight for change 36:55 Why your self-help knowledge might have blind spots 38:13 Spencer's existential hope vision for AI 38:48 The technology Spencer wants to see built 39:14 What Spencer would do instead of his current work 39:58 The best piece of advice Spencer ever received 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Jul 16

    How tech can earn public trust and why 21st century science needs 21st century funding | Dorothy Chou

    What does it take to fund a Nobel Prize-winning idea? Apparently, not a Nobel Prize. AlphaFold solved the shape of 200 million proteins in one shot, a problem that used to take a PhD four years per protein, and biotech investment still fell. Funding isn’t the only problem tech is facing: it has also never been good at talking to the people it builds for. Is that a coincidence? In this episode, we speak with Dorothy Chou, who ran Google DeepMind's Public Engagement Lab for nine years. She now advises DeepMind and chairs UCLPartners, an organization connecting new technology to the UK's National Health Service.  We cover: What made AlphaFold possible in the first place and how we can replicate its success in other domainsWhy neither venture capital nor governments can fund biology on biology's actual timeline, and Dorothy’s proposed solutionWhy AI could help redirect money the ideas that will actually help people the most, not just the ones that are easiest to fundraise for How AI companies are about to repeat the public engagement mistake the biotech industry already made onceHer advice for young people who feel like they're not the expert in the room Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 1:00 Why Dorothy Chou is leaving Google DeepMind after nine years 4:26 How do we actually use AI for good? 6:12 What is DeepMind's public engagement lab? 9:53 The AlphaFold breakthrough, explained 12:37 Why funding science is stuck in the 20th century 15:30 How governments and investors should fund AI for science 19:21 Other AI for science projects worth watching 22:11 What is blended finance for science? 24:44 Is funding for AI-driven science finally picking up? 26:05 What could an AlphaFold moment look like in 10 years? 28:33 Why venture capital and biotech investors don't understand each other 30:08 How AI could level the playing field for science funding 31:43 The fusion project Dorothy wishes more people knew about 33:04 Why public imagination matters as much as public policy 36:06 How do we build more public imagination? 39:11 Advice for people who want to work at this intersection of AI and science 41:11 The best advice Dorothy's ever received 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Jun 18

    AI learned to be a villain from Hollywood. Here's how we retrain it. | Peter Diamandis

    Science fiction has always shaped the technologies we build, from the submarine to the smartphone. But almost every story we've ever told about AI is dystopian. And now we're training AI on those stories. In this episode, we spoke with Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur and founder of the XPRIZE Foundation, which runs large-scale incentive competitions to crack some of the world's hardest problems, from private spaceflight to carbon removal. He recently launched the Future Vision XPRIZE, a $3.5 million competition to generate a new wave of optimistic science fiction.  We cover: The historical pattern of science fiction shaping the technologies we build, and why Peter thinks this makes the stories we tell about AI especially high stakes right nowHow Claude’s blackmailing behavior showed the connection between dystopian training data and AI behavior How the Future Vision XPRIZE will generate a new wave of optimistic science fiction to train AI onWhy public optimism about technology has dropped significantly in the US and Europe, what Peter thinks is driving it, and why he believes the data tells a different storyHow the cost of starting a company has fallen dramatically and how this can empower you to build your visionWhy Peter thinks traditional education is no longer preparing young people for the future, and what he sees replacing it If you would like to get in touch with Foresight’s community of scientists to get help for your XPRIZE submission, please reach out to existentialhope@foresight.org. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 1:25 Why Peter Diamandis created the Future Vision XPRIZE 5:57 Is it harder to recruit for a culture prize than a science one? 11:38 How do you design a great XPRIZE? 14:19 What would you measure in 10 years to know this worked? 19:34 Why scientists should team up with filmmakers on the Future Vision XPRIZE 22:16 Beyond film: the case for rebooting games, journalism, and education 27:29 Why sci-fi turned so dark: the evolutionary reason we focus on doom 31:12 Peter's favorite positive sci-fi examples (besides Star Trek) 31:56 Real-world inventions that started as sci-fi 32:46 How AI has democratized the ability to build the future 33:50 How to counter the anti-tech narrative 38:04 Peter's advice for anyone thinking of submitting to the Future Vision XPRIZE 39:11 What does Peter Diamandis's ideal future actually look like? 40:13 The technology Peter most wants to exist 40:39 What's underhyped and what's overhyped right now? 42:05 The best piece of advice Peter has ever received 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. May 27

    Why people agree on the future more than the present, and what it means for governance

    Political polarization might have a surprisingly simple fix: ask people what they want for their communities in 50 years instead of today, and their answers start to look remarkably similar. But almost no political system is built to plan that long-term. In this episode we talk to Taylor Dee Hawkins, founder of Foundations for Tomorrow, a nonprofit pushing for long-term governance reform in Australia and internationally. We cover topics like: Why the problem with political leadership isn't individual leaders, but the incentive structures and systems designed to reward short-term decisions at the expense of long-term onesWhy naming political procrastination is the first step to solving itHow Foundations of Tomorrow secured cross-party support in a polarized parliament by making the economic case for long-term policy rather than the moral oneWhy planning for the future doesn’t have to come at the expense of present generationsTaylor’s advice for a young person who wants to get started in long-term policy, and what she has learned from years of being the youngest person in the room Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 0:56 From climate advocacy to long-term governance: founding Foundations for Tomorrow 3:07 What made Taylor quit her job during COVID and start an organization 4:18 Why bad leadership isn't the problem, but broken incentive structures are 5:53 Policrastination: naming political procrastination so we can tackle it 6:59 What can actually be done about political short-termism 9:08 Governments leading the way on long-term thinking: Finland, Wales, Singapore, Kenya 13:17 The biggest misconception about long-term governance 14:29 How long-term thinking earns cross-party support in a polarized parliament 16:06 What the world looks like if every country takes future generations seriously 18:14 When long-term thinking goes wrong 19:25 Why one-solution thinking is the most overhyped idea in governance reform 20:44 The sharpest critiques of Taylor's work and what they've taught her 22:42 How governance can keep pace with fast-moving technology 24:12 Being the youngest person in the room: what Taylor does about it 25:58 How to break into long-term governance work 29:29 How to stay anchored to the long term when everything pulls you short-term 30:26 Taylor's existential hope vision for the future 31:13 The technology Taylor wishes existed 31:39 What Taylor would be doing if not this 31:57 The best piece of advice Taylor has ever received 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. May 13

    The AI future where humans get paid to be creative

    Most AI futures give us two options: mass unemployment, or a government handout to soften the blow. But what if there's a third option, one centered on completely new categories of creative work that don't yet exist, where people get paid for contributing to AI rather than replaced by it? In this episode, we talk with Jaron Lanier, pioneer of virtual reality and scientist at Microsoft Research. He proposes a radically different way of thinking about AI, and unpacks its consequences from AI safety to the future of the economy. We touch on: The case for thinking of AI not as an alien intelligence, but rather as a collaboration of human dataHow this reframe helps you understand the failures of current AI systems, and why so many of the industry's most powerful figures seem to be losing their grip on realityA practical approach to AI safety inspired by multi-factor authentication in cybersecurityWhy universal basic income is unstable, and why a creativity economy (where people earn from their contributions to AI) could be a better way of distributing the benefits of AIHow to be an optimist about technological progress while acknowledging the risks and being critical of certain developmentsWhy history gives us the most rational grounds for optimism about our future with AI Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 0:50 40 years in Silicon Valley: how tech became a pseudo world government 4:19 Self-driving cars, Tesla, and the moral paradox of tech progress 7:13 Why "artificial intelligence" is a marketing term, and how you should think about it instead 15:16 AI as human collaboration: what it makes possible and how it makes you a better user 21:37 From the Turing test to the truth crisis: how science shifted from seeking truth to performing it 25:36 Data dignity: going back to the people to solve AI's biggest safety failures 32:55 The alternate future worth building, and challenging the AI orthodoxy 38:41 Why UBI won't work and why a creativity-based economy is more stable 45:20 How to be an optimist about technological progress while acknowledging the risks 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Apr 28

    Teaching AI empathy using brain signals

    AIs could get much better at understanding what we truly value if we gave them access to our brain signals. And doing that is becoming easier than ever before. In this episode, we talk with Thorsten Zander, professor at Brandenburg University of Technology and co-founder of Zander Labs. He coined the concept of passive brain-computer interfaces: devices that read brain signals to decode a user's mental state, non-invasively and without any effort on their part.  We cover: What non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can actually pick up from brain signals, and why that's very different from reading your thoughts or internal monologueThe hardware and software breakthroughs that are finally making passive BCIs wearable and affordableHow continuous neural feedback could dramatically improve AI training compared to current methods based on human ratingsWhy Thorsten believes passive BCIs may offer the most concrete path to solving the AI alignment problemThe risk of social networks exploiting unconscious brain reactions to manipulate people, and why regulation alone is unlikely to be enough 0:00 Cold open 0:56 What are passive brain-computer interfaces, and how are they different from Neuralink? 3:23 What are the applications of passive brain-computer interfaces? 4:33 What people get wrong about BCIs: reading thoughts vs. mental states 6:14 How passive BCIs could transform AI training and help AI understand you better 11:40 The misuse risk: how social networks could exploit unconscious brain reactions to manipulate political opinions 16:00 How close is mass adoption? The hardware and software breakthroughs making BCIs wearable 20:08 Why Germany's cybersecurity agency invested €30M in passive BCI research 24:22 Invasive vs non-invasive: how Europe and the US are taking different approaches to brain-computer interfaces 28:52 Should AI act on your first instinct?  32:56 How passive BCIs could solve the AI alignment problem (and why previous approaches have fallen short) 35:26 From professor to startup founder: what Thorsten learned making the leap 41:27 Best case scenario: what the world looks like when AI truly understands human values 46:03 How to get started in neuroadaptive AI and passive BCIs 48:18 The best advice Thorsten ever received 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Apr 15

    How to build a career that actually changes the world

    More and more people want to make a real-world difference with their career. Very few of them do. Why are careers in consultancy or finance still so much more mainstream than careers tackling the world's biggest problems? In this episode, we talk with Jan-Willem van Putten, co-founder of the School for Moral Ambition, an organization that is building clear pathways for people who want to do work that actually changes the world. We discuss: The three main bottlenecks stopping talented people from doing high-impact workHow to find important yet neglected causes to work on, and the School for Moral Ambition top picksWhy movements that want to change the world often fail, and what effective advocates do differentlyHow to figure out which problems your specific background and skills are best placed to solveThe real struggles of leaving a prestigious career behind, from lifestyle creep to peer support, and what makes people say it was worth it Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 2:12 From thesis on talent waste to joining consultancy: Jan-Willem's journey 4:29 Why did you step away from management consulting? 6:35 Focusing on impact vs. status: can you persuade people? 8:40 What is the School for Moral Ambition? 11:58 Is there now a real field for impact-driven careers? 12:58 Cause areas: food transition and tobacco control 17:10 How to prioritize problems to work on: the Triple-S framework 21:11 Next cause areas: tax fairness and democracy 23:00 What does the fellowship journey look like? 25:06 The profile of an ambitious idealist: startup drive meets activist values 27:43 Noble losers: why social movements fail 30:56 Is moral ambition only for the privileged? 36:04 How to cultivate a higher level of ambition in society 40:31 Feeling hopeless about big problems? New tools change the game 42:19 What holds people back from making the leap to meaningful work 46:12 What do fellows find most rewarding? 47:32 What does success look like in 10 years? 51:25 Where to start if you want to shift to a career that makes a difference 55:28 Best advice ever received: the case for taking action 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Apr 2

    How AI could improve the lives of trillions of animals

    We think a lot about how AI will affect humanity, and for good reason. But AI could have an enormous impact on the trillions of animals that share our world (for better or worse), and almost nobody is talking about it. In this episode, we talk with Constance Li, founder of Sentient Futures, an organization working to make sure AI and other emerging technologies improve the lives of animals rather than harm them. We touch on: The enormous scale of animal suffering today, and why AI could either worsen or improve it depending on the decisions we make.Using computer vision and sensors to monitor animals and optimize for their welfare rather than just productivity.The research that’s being done to use AI to communicate with animals and what it’s already telling us about their well-being.Other sentient beings that could be impacted by emerging technologies, like artificial minds and biocomputing. Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 1:57 Why AI and animals is an overlooked combination 4:46 The staggering scale of factory farming 8:26 How a physician became an animal welfare advocate 10:19 What Sentient Futures does day-to-day 11:38 What "AI for animals" actually means 14:23 Why the organization was renamed Sentient Futures, and the question of AI moral patients 18:08 The biggest misconceptions about AI for animals 20:26 What is precision livestock farming? 24:46 Best and worst-case scenarios for AI in farms 27:46 Communication across species: promise and limitations 35:56 Genetic welfare and using genetics in farms 43:34 What a best-case scenario for AI and animals looks like in the next 5–10 years 47:11 The biggest hurdles: funding and attention 48:39 How to get involved with Sentient Futures 50:44 What gives Constance hope 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 Follow on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

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: Transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcastsFollow on X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Foresight Institute
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Foresight Institute
  • Show Website
    The Existential Hope Podcast

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