“Did the first amendment protect us from the atomic bomb, or the nuclear arms race, or Vietnam or Iraq? No, it didn't. Everybody kept their mouths shut.” 

Daniel Ellsberg is the 90-year-old whistleblower that leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Since the end of the Vietnam War, he has been a lecturer, scholar, writer, and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions, and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing.

In this episode, he joined Foresight’s Intelligent Cooperation group for a 3-hour-long discussion on the ever-present risks of doomsday due to nuclear weapons. 

Session summary: Nuclear Risks: Doomsday (Still) Hiding in Plain Sight | Daniel Ellsberg, Author of Doomsday Machine - Foresight Institute

The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support.

Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy, co-authored Gaming the Future, and co-initiated The Longevity Prize. 

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