Kristian Rönn, CEO and co-founder of Normative, is an expert in sustainability with a rich background in mathematics and AI. He discusses the concept of 'Darwinian demons'—evolutionary forces that drive shortsighted behavior harming our society. Rönn shares insights from his new book, highlighting the urgency of cooperation in tackling existential risks and ecological challenges. He also delves into the perils of unchecked AI development and advocates for innovative solutions through collective intelligence to create a hopeful future.

Divya Siddarth, co-founder of the Collective Intelligence Project and a political economist at Microsoft, discusses harnessing collective intelligence for effective governance. She explores the balance between technological progress and public participation, emphasizing polycentric governance. The conversation delves into how smaller nations like Taiwan engage citizens through direct democracy. Siddarth also highlights the importance of advanced collaboration tools in decision-making and envisions a future of decentralized protocols fostering innovative human cooperation.

Siméon Campos, president and founder of SaferAI, has dedicated his career to AI safety and risk management. In this engaging discussion, he reflects on his journey into AI governance and the founding of his organization. Campos highlights the latest advancements in large language models, emphasizing their reasoning abilities. He also tackles the pressing need for a global AI governance framework to mitigate risks, particularly in misuse scenarios. Finally, Campos explores the ethical implications of AI and consciousness, sparking thought-provoking insights into our future relationship with technology.

Speaker Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and author of the Substack Hyperdimensional. His work focuses on artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and the future of governance. Previously, he was Senior Program Manager for the Hoover Institution's State and Local Governance Initiative. Key HighlightsBased on engagement with the neuroscience and machine learning literatures, this talk will focus on how technologies such as virtual reality, large language models, AI agents, neurostimulation, and neuromonitoring may converge in the coming decade into the first widespread consumer neural technology. The talk will focus on technical feasibility, public policy, and broader societal implications.  In terms of the challenge, I think the big one for me is probably building the datasets we’ll need for the foundational AI models undergirding all of this.About Foresight InstituteForesight 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 DuettmannThe President and CEO of Foresight Institute, Allison Duettmann directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, alongside Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees. She has also been pivotal in co-initiating the Longevity Prize, pioneering initiatives like Existentialhope.com, and contributing to notable works like "Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy" and "Gaming the Future".Get Involved with Foresight:Apply: Virtual Salons & in-person WorkshopsDonate: Support Our Work – If you enjoy what we do, please consider this, as we are entirely funded by your donations!Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedInNote: Explore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm, an innovative podcast search engine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dana Watt, an investment associate at Ascension Ventures and co-founder of a personalized medicine startup, dives into the world of venture capital in neuroscience. She shares her journey from academia to VC, explaining the importance of strong teams and large markets in funding innovative companies. Watt highlights the unique challenges within the neuroscience sector, such as the complexities of brain science and hardware. She also discusses the growing role of PhDs in venture capital and offers insights on mastering pitch decks to attract investors.

James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at AEI, discusses his book 'The Conservative Futurist' and the importance of being pro-progress and pro-growth. He explores the spectrum of upwing vs downwing views, technology's role in solving global challenges, and the need for positive storytelling to create a prosperous world.

The Flourishing FoundationIn February 2024, we partnered with the Future of Life Institute on a hackathon to design institutions that can guide and govern the development of AI. The winner of the hackathon was the Flourishing Foundation, who are focused on our relationship with AI and other emerging technologies. They challenge innovators to envision and build life-centered products, services, and systems, specifcially, to enable TAI-enabled consumer technologies to promote human well-being by developing new norms, processes, and community-driven ecosystems.At their core, they explore the question of "Can AI make us happier?"Connect: https://www.flourishing.foundation/Read about the hackathon: https://foresight.org/2024-xhope-hackathon/Existential Hope was created to collect positive and possible scenarios for the future so that we can have more people commit to creating a brighter future, and to begin mapping out the main developments and challenges that need to be navigated to reach it. Existential Hope is a Foresight Institute project.Hosted by Allison Duettmann and Beatrice ErkersFollow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Existential Hope InstagramExplore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Roman Yampolskiy holds a PhD degree from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo. There he was a recipient of a four year National Science Foundation IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) fellowship. His main areas of interest are behavioral biometrics, digital forensics, pattern recognition, genetic algorithms, neural networks, artificial intelligence and games, and he is an author of over 100 publications including multiple journal articles and books.Session SummaryWe discuss everything AI safety with Dr. Roman Yampolskiy. As AI technologies advance at a breakneck pace, the conversation highlights the pressing need to balance innovation with rigorous safety measures. Contrary to many other voices in the safety space, argues for the necessity of maintaining AI as narrow, task-oriented systems: “I'm arguing that it's impossible to indefinitely control superintelligent systems”. Nonetheless, Yampolskiy is optimistic about narrow AI future capabilities, from politics to longevity and health. Full transcript, list of resources, and art piece: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcastsExistential Hope was created to collect positive and possible scenarios for the future so that we can have more people commit to creating a brighter future, and to begin mapping out the main developments and challenges that need to be navigated to reach it. Existential Hope is a Foresight Institute project.Hosted by Allison Duettmann and Beatrice ErkersFollow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Existential Hope InstagramExplore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features an interview with the 1st place winners of our 2045 Worldbuilding challenge! Why Worldbuilding?We consider worldbuilding an essential tool for creating inspiring visions of the future that can help drive real-world change. Worldbuilding helps us explore crucial 'what if' questions for the future, by constructing detailed scenarios that prompt us to ask: What actionable steps can we take now to realize these desirable outcomes?Cities of Orare – our 1st place winnersCities of Orare imagines a future where AI-powered prediction markets called Orare amplify collective intelligence, enhancing liberal democracy, economic distribution, and policy-making. Its adoption across Africa and globally has fostered decentralized governance, democratizing decision-making, and spurring significant health and economic advancements.Read more about the 2045 world of Cities of Orare: https://www.existentialhope.com/worlds/beyond-collective-intelligence-cities-of-orareAccess the Worldbuilding Course: https://www.existentialhope.com/existential-hope-worldbuildingExistential Hope was created to collect positive and possible scenarios for the future so that we can have more people commit to creating a brighter future, and to begin mapping out the main developments and challenges that need to be navigated to reach it. Existential Hope is a Foresight Institute project.Hosted by Allison Duettmann and Beatrice ErkersFollow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Existential Hope InstagramExplore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christian is a researcher in foundational AI, information security, and AI safety, with a current focus on the limits of undetectability. He is a pioneer in the field of Multi-Agent Security (masec.ai), which aims to overcome the safety and security issues inherent in contemporary approaches to multi-agent AI. His recent works include a breakthrough result on the 25+ year old problem of perfectly secure steganography (jointly with Sam Sokota), which was featured by Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, and Bruce Schneier’s Security Blog. Key Highlights How do we design autonomous systems and environments in which undetectable actions cannot cause unacceptable damages? He argues that the ability of advanced AI agents to use perfect stealth will soon be AI Safety’s biggest concern. In this talk, he focuses on the matter of steganographic collusion among generative AI agents.About Foresight InstituteForesight Institute is a 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 DuettmannThe President and CEO of Foresight Institute, Allison Duettmann directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, alongside Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees. She has also been pivotal in co-initiating the Longevity Prize, pioneering initiatives like Existentialhope.com, and contributing to notable works like "Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy" and "Gaming the Future".Get Involved with Foresight:Apply: Virtual Salons & in-person WorkshopsDonate: Support Our Work – If you enjoy what we do, please consider this, as we are entirely funded by your donations!Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedInNote: Explore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm, an innovative podcast search engine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.