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The Foresight Institute Podcast

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Sep 13, 2021 • 1h 25min

Anders Sandberg | Post-Scarcity Civilizations & Cognitive Enhancement

“If we get to a post-scarcity society, with much greater levels of well being and really long lives, settling space, etc., that means we have a lot to look forward to when it comes to the future!”Anders Sandberg is a Foresight Senior Fellow and a Research Associate at the Future of Humanity Institute from the University of Oxford. Sandberg’s research at FHI centers on the management of low-probability high-impact risks, estimating the capabilities of future technologies, and very long-range futures. What is available in the “nearer-term” for life if our immature civilization can make it past the current and upcoming tech/insight/coordination hurdles? In this episode we speak to Anders Sandberg on post-scarcity civilizations, to get a sense of what is possible just past current human horizons in the hope it may inspire us to solve humanity’s current challenges and unlock this next level.Music: I Knew a Guy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0Session Summary: Anders Sandberg | Post-Scarcity Civilizations & Cognitive Enhancement, September 3rd, 11 AM - Online - Foresight InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sep 3, 2021 • 41min

David Baker | De Novo Protein Design

“We use this sort of de novo protein design, to design brand new proteins that block viruses such as the Coronavirus from entering cells.”David Baker is the director of the Institute for Protein Design, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. In this episode, David Baker from the University of Washington presents breakthrough advancements in de novo protein design. Results are easily transferable to the production scale on a rapid timeline of weeks. Applications of this new technology are vast in breadth and depth. Present interest are designing protein assemblies for molecular machines. Another application is targeting cells with a more accurate computational recognition method. A third application is clinical trials that are underway of a novel vaccine that is highly effective against coronavirus. Session Summary: Protein-based Assemblies and Molecular Machines | David Baker, University of Washington - Foresight InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in-person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Aug 26, 2021 • 1h 11min

Alex Zhavoronkov | Longevity as a Service

“Humans are the only species that understand that they are aging and dying. So we try to avoid thinking about aging and we are now starting to think about prevention.”Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., is the founder and Chief Longevity Officer of Deep Longevity, Inc, a global company developing a broad range of artificial intelligence-based biomarkers of aging and longevity. He is also the CEO and Founder of Insilico Medicine.In this episode, he explains the approach Deep Longevity and Young.ai are taking, the various clocks and machine learning methods they are using, the necessity for physician education, and coordinated building of a longevity ecosystem spanning physicians, clinics, insurers, academia, pharma, and more. He also goes into detail about a promising new interesting field of longevity psychology and connected subjective and psychological clocks.Music:Is That You or Are You You by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Session summary: Longevity as a Service: AI & Aging Clocks | Alex Zhavoronkov, Deep Longevity & Insilico Medicine - Foresight InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Aug 23, 2021 • 53min

Nir Barzilai | Targeting Aging with Metformin

“We are here representing the field of the science of aging. And we think that this is a historical day for us, because we're going to offer something that will be paradigm changing.”Dr. Nir Barzilai is the director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research.In this episode, Dr. Nir Barzilai presents the current state of the groundbreaking TAME trial serving as a framework and data springboard for the whole longevity field, as well as the future plans for other TAME-like trials with other drugs with high potential for repurposing for aging. At the end, he also answers questions about the trial itself and why it is designed the way it is, but also some frequently asked questions about Metformin, like its effect on muscle building with exercise, the ideal dosing, and others.Music:Candlepower by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Session summary: TAME Q&A: Lessons for Progress on Aging | Nir Barzilai, Albert Einstein School of Medicine - Foresight InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Aug 12, 2021 • 44min

Morgan Levine & Jamie Justice | On Biomarker Standardization

“For me being able to quantify aging is one of the most important endeavours in the field. There is a lot of emphasis on intervening in aging, to either reverse or slow it, but I would argue that there’s no way to test if you did that if you can’t directly measure the thing that you’re trying to intervene in.”In this session, Morgan Levine, Assistant Professor at Yale, gave a sneak peek into the new epigenetic clock they are developing that is able to probe into multiple organ systems, as well as a new approach how to calculate clocks that is much more reliable, enabling to generate insights from methylation clocks with much smaller samples required. The second talk was given by Jamie Justice, Assistant Professor at Wake Forest, that covered the current ways and strides the longevity field is making towards validating biomarkers of aging through clinical trials, showing on examples of a few senolytic trials they made. In the end, she also explained how exactly the TAME trial, which she is a coordinator of, should serve as a vehicle for the field to move further and have a flagship trial to validate new aging biomarkers against in the future.Session summary: Biomarker Standardization | Morgan Levine, Yale, Jamie Justice, Wake Forest School of Medicine - Foresight InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in-person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Aug 3, 2021 • 2h 40min

Daniel Ellsberg | Nuclear Risks: Doomsday (Still) Hiding in Plain Sight

“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 InstituteThe 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in-person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 28, 2021 • 1h 23min

Chiara Marletto| On Quantum Computing and the Science of Can and Can’t

“Is it possible to take the principles of what is possible and impossible that already exist in physics, and formulate the whole of physics in terms of these statements in a way that gives us a new theory of computation?”Chiara Marletto is a physicist at Oxford University, and the author of the book “The Science of Can and Can’t”.This is a new and different approach to physics where the idea is that the physics most of us are familiar with is mirrored in a way that is very limited. Full transcript, list of resources, and art piece: Chiara Marletto | The Science of Can & Can’tExistential Hope was created to collect positive and possible scenarios for the future so that we can have more people commit to the creation of a brighter future, and start mapping out the main developments and challenges that need to be navigated to reach it. Find all previous podcast episodes here.The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 with 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. Beatrice Erkers is Chief of Operations at Foresight Institute and program manager of the Existential Hope group. She has a background in publishing and has several years of experience working with communication at Foresight and at a publishing house. We are funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do, please consider donating through our donation page.Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in-person workshops here!Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 23, 2021 • 1h 22min

Robin Hanson | The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives and Social Agendas

“Humans play with social rules - that way we can test the boundaries without actually violating the rules”Robin Hanson is a pioneer in rigorous futurism, an Economics professor at George Mason University, a Future of Humanity Institute Research Associate, and the founder of OvercomingBias.In this podcast episode, Hanson discusses his book “The Elephant In The Brain”. Hanson argues that our brains are designed to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus we don't like to talk about how selfish we might really be. This is "the elephant in the brain." Session Summary: (425) Robin Hanson: Enlightening Hidden Motives & Social Agendas @Foresight Institute - YouTube Music:Comfortable Mystery 4 - Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/I Knew a Guy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 16, 2021 • 1h 2min

Tyler Cowen | Civilization as Crusonia Plant, Stubborn Attachments and Future Discounting

“If your view is that the future per se matters as much as the present, then you are led to maximizing sustainable economic growth.”In this episode, we are joined by Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University. Cowen writes the "Economic Scene" column for The New York Times and since 2016 has been a regular opinion columnist at Bloomberg Opinion.Here Cowen speaks about his book Stubborn attachments and argues that our reason and common sense can help free us of the faulty ideas that hold us back as people and as a society and makes the contemporary moral case for economic growth as well as provide inspiration and optimism about our future possibilities.Session Summary: Tyler Cowen, George Mason University | Stubborn Attachments - Foresight Institute Music:Intractable by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/I Knew a Guy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 9, 2021 • 38min

Tom Chi | Understanding Investment and Fundraising

“Whenever you take venture capital it immediately creates the expectation of this being worth 10 times more within 3 years.” Tom Chi is a business leader and innovator who started out doing astrophysical research when he was only 15 years old. His CV includes executive roles at Yahoo, being a key influencer in the design of Microsoft Outlook, and shaping Google X and Google Glass.In this episode of the podcast Chi talks about how to think around investment and fundraising for start-ups. He speaks on the different emerging phases of start-ups and their funding, how to think about allocation and valuation, as well as the different investor types there are out there. Session Summary: (425) Tom Chi | Understanding Investment and Fundraising [Part 1: Presentation] - YouTube Music:Dances and Dames by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/I Knew a Guy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 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. Apply to Foresight’s virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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