The Existential Hope Podcast
The Existential Hope Podcast features in-depth conversations with scientists, technologists, and thinkers about the ideas that could shape a better future. Rather than dwelling on doom or hype, it explores which positive futures are possible through scientific and technological progress, and how the decisions we make today affect them. The show is produced by Existential Hope, an initiative of the Foresight Institute, an independent nonprofit that has worked to advance technology for the benefit of life since 1986. Episodes are accompanied by show notes, transcripts, and additional resources on the project's website.
Episodes
The safest AI might be one that doesn't know what we want | Stuart Russell
For 50,000 of generations, humans have passed civilization down to their children. We could be the first generation to hand its future to AIs instead. Should we? Or could the best AI be the kind that chooses to step back and leave some things to us? In this episode we sit down with Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at UC Berkeley and co-author of the world's standard textbook on AI
How a board game helps Google DeepMind plan for AI in science
Google DeepMind has a 7-hour-long roleplaying game that helps real scientists and policy makers understand how AI will transform science by 2030. And those who played it have found it more informative than any policy brief.In this episode, Zoë Brammer and Ankur Vora, who lead strategic foresight at Google DeepMind, walk us through why they developed the game and the surprising learnings from it.We
Civic tech in action: how 447 random citizens fixed an AI deepfake crisis | Audrey Tang
In 2024, Taiwan was flooded with deepfake scam ads. Instead of a crackdown, the government texted 200,000 random citizens: what should we do? People’s proposals became law within months, and by 2025 deepfake ads were down 94%.In this episode, we speak with Audrey Tang, Taiwan's former digital minister. A self-taught programmer who dropped out at 14, she first helped occupy Taiwan's parliament duri
What happens when you let an AI run a science lab
There are AIs running labs with little human intervention right now. And they’re doing experiments that human experts would never try. Is this changing what and how science gets done? In this episode, we speak with Antony “Ant” Rowstron, who has worked with ARIA (the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency) on their biggest bet to date. We cover:How ARIA funded twelve teams to build
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-autho
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 s
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
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 Austral
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
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 me
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 th
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 t
How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman
Having an AI boyfriend or girlfriend might seem creepy, but what if it helped you get better at human relationships? In this episode, we talk with David Eagleman, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford, bestselling author, and science communicator. We discuss how AI and other technologies can help us become better humans – wiser, kinder and more empathetic, not just more productive. We get a
How the whole world can exceed Swiss living standards by 2100 (backed by data)
What would the world look like if the poorest country was as rich as Switzerland is today? It turns out we could actually see it happen by 2100, and with an economic growth that is similar to the one we have been experiencing for the past 20 years.In this episode, we talk with Marc Canal, Senior Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, and co-author of the book A Century of Plenty. We unpack what
How your personal moral compass helps you build a better world | SJ Beard
To make the future go well, we might not need a perfect model for its end state, or an abstract philosophical theory to guide us. Can your own sense of “the right thing to do” actually help make the world better?In this episode we talk with SJ Beard, researcher at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, and author of the book “Existential Hope”.Some of the topics we discuss:How to shift our
Raising science ambition: how to identify the highest-impact research for an AI world | Anastasia Gamick
Most scientists do “safe” research to secure their next grant. But what if more of them worked on the most important problems instead?In this episode, we talk with Anastasia Gamick, co-founder of Convergent Research, about how to raise our level of ambition for what science can actually achieve.Convergence Research incubates Focused Research Organizations: small, startup-style teams that build cri
Jason Crawford on how technology expands human choice and control
Being pessimistic about progress will make you sound smart. You'll look rational by not assuming any breakthroughs, just extrapolating current trends until every technology plateaus. You'll probably also be wrong, for exactly the same reason: throughout history, people keep delivering solutions that almost no one anticipated. Jason Crawford, founder of the Roots of Progress Institute, joins t
Elle Griffin on researching the ideal society, from utopian books to real-world examples
While dystopian fiction dominates our screens and bookshelves, Elle Griffin is busy researching how things might actually go right. She wanted to write a utopian novel and realized she needed a better understanding of what an ideal society could look like. In our conversation, we discuss how her favorite utopian literature influenced her views on a well-designed society. But we also explore p
Andrew Critch on what AGI might look like in practice
When people think about AGI, most of them ask “When is it going to arrive?” or “What kind of AGI will we get?”. Andrew Critch, AI safety researcher and mathematician, argues that the most important question is actually “What will we do with it?”In our conversation, we explore the importance of our choices in the quest to make AGI a force for good. Andrew explains what AGI might look like in practi
Anna Gát on creating communities that connect, even when people disagree
Anna Gát, founder of the Interintellect community, joins us to explore the essential role of hopeful action and diverse communities in shaping the future. Anna shares why she started Interintellect as a space for intellectual inquiry free from political polarization and traditional gatekeeping, driven by the hope that constructive social collaboration is possible. She details the specific rules of
Isabelle Boemeke on what everyone gets wrong about nuclear energy
You’d need 200 Chernobyls a year to kill as many people as fossil fuels. And yet most of us are far more scared of nuclear than of any other energy source, despite the overwhelming data telling a different story. Where does this fear come from?We find out with Isabelle Boemeke, the world’s first nuclear energy influencer, and author of Rad Future, a book that makes the case for nuclear in language
Sam Bowman on what’s holding back progress (and how to fix it)
Young people across the Western world are struggling to start their lives. In most cases, it's not for lack of ambition, but because they can't find a place to live. The consequences show up anywhere from sluggish economies to low birth rates. But there's a way to fix it.In this episode, we talk with Sam Bowman, editor of Works in Progress, a magazine focused on high-leverage ideas to improve the
Jacques Carolan on the future of brain health
What if we could treat depression, anxiety, or chronic pain by tuning the brain, just as precisely as a pacemaker regulates the heart?Jacques Carolan, Program Director at the UK’s ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), joins us to talk about the next wave of precision neurotechnology; new tools that let us see and influence brain activity with far greater accuracy. We explore how ultrasoun
Amy Proal on rethinking chronic disease
What if chronic diseases, from Alzheimer’s to autoimmune conditions, share a hidden cause: lingering infections deep within our tissues?Microbiologist Amy Proal, co-founder of the PolyBio Research Foundation, joins host Allison Duettmann to discuss how persistent pathogens could drive inflammation, aging, and many chronic illnesses, and why our current “autoimmunity” model might be missing the roo
Ken Liu on What AI Reveals About Humanity
In this episode, Ken Liu joins the podcast to explore how science fiction serves as our modern mythology. We discuss his new techno-thriller "All That We See or Seem", the concept of egolets (AI capturing facets of our identity), the noematograph (AI as a camera for thought), and the role of collective dreaming in making us more human. Ken also reflects on Frankenstein, Philip K. Dick, the challen
David Duvenaud on the Cruxes and Possibilities of Post AGI Futures
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Beatrice Erkers is joined by David Duvenaud, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and former researcher at Anthropic.We discuss David’s work on post-AGI civilizational equilibria and the widely discussed paper Gradual Disempowerment. David reflects on why liberalism may not hold up in a world where humans are no longer needed, how UBI co
Nathan Labenz on What the Best-Case Scenarios for AI are
What does a genuinely positive future with AI look like? While dystopian visions are common, the most valuable—and scarcest—resource we have is a concrete, hopeful vision for where we're headed.In this episode, we're joined by Nathan Labenz, host of the popular Cognitive Revolution podcast, to explore the tangible possibilities of a beneficial AI-driven world. Nathan shares his insights on everyth
Fin Moorhouse on Why We Need to Aim Higher Than Survival
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
Sam Arbesman on Vibe Coding, AI, and the Magic of Code
Is code just a technical skill for engineers, or is it a deeply humanistic art form capable of expanding our minds? In this episode, host Beatrice Erkers is joined by scientist, author, and Coder-in-Residence at Lux Capital, Sam Arbsman, to explore the profound ideas in his new book, The Magic of Code.Sam reframes our relationship with computing, arguing that code is one of history's most powerful
Pablos Holman on Creating Technology That Actually Matters
The tech industry we read about every day accounts for only 2% of the global economy. So what about the other 98%? In this episode, host Beatrice Erkers talks to hacker, inventor, and author Pablos Holman about his new book, Deep Future, and why it’s time to look beyond software to solve the world’s biggest problems.Pablos argues that for decades, our brightest minds have been focused on apps and
Andrew White on Building an AI Scientist to Automate Discovery
What if we could build an AI that doesn't just answer questions, but makes fundamental scientific discoveries on its own? That's the mission of Future House, and in this episode, host Allison Duettmann sits down with its co-founder, Andrew White.Andrew shares the incredible journey that led him from chemical engineering to the forefront of the AI for Science revolution. He gives us a look under th
Tools or Agents? Choosing Our AI Future | Anthony Aguirre
As AI systems become more capable and autonomous, staying in control of what they do is increasingly difficult. But the AI we need to solve problems like cancer doesn't have to be one we can no longer steer.In this episode, we talk with Anthony Aguirre, cosmologist and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, about how we can design AI to amplify human capability rather than substitute for it.W
Autonomous Vehicles Special: Andrew Miller on Self-Driving Futures
Self-driving cars aren’t science fiction, they’re already here. But what kind of future are they steering us toward?In this episode, Beatrice speaks with Andrew Miller, mobility expert and author of The End of Driving, about the transformational promise, and very real risks, of autonomous vehicles. They explore why driverless tech isn’t just about hardware or software, but about regulation, land u
Jim O'Shaughnessy on Investing in Infinite Human Potential
How do we shape a future worth rooting for? In this episode, Beatrice Erkers talks with Jim O'Shaughnessy, founder of O'Shaughnessy Ventures and author of What Works on Wall Street, about his third act: backing creators, thinkers, and innovators across publishing, film, AI, and investment. They dive into the cultural power of storytelling, what it means to be “AI-first,” and why cognitive diversit
Michael Nielsen on Hyper-entities, Tools for Thought, and Wise Optimism
If you think people who worry about AI are being pessimistic, you might have it backwards.In this episode, we talk with Michael Nielsen, scientist and writer known for his work on open science, quantum computing, and how our language shapes the way we think. Michael explores what he calls "wise optimism": the idea that genuinely believing in a technology's potential means taking its risks seriousl
A Handheld Device to Defeat Cancer | Mary Lou Jepsen
What if the bulky, expensive machines that fill hospital radiology departments could be replaced by a wearable? In this episode, we speak with Mary Lou Jepsen — founder of Openwater and pioneering inventor — about how breakthroughs in light-based imaging could democratize access to brain and body scans.From her work at Google X and Facebook’s moonshot labs to her current mission at Openwater, Jeps
How Science Fiction Can Inspire Real-World Innovation with Ed Finn
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Ed Finn, founding director of ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, explores the impact of storytelling on our ability to envision and create better futures—and why we urgently need more hopeful narratives.Ed shares his journey from a generalist interested in how technology shapes culture to co-creating initiatives like "Project Hieroglyph"
How AI Can Accelerate Science & Its Own Adoption with Niklas Lundblad
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Niklas Berild Lundblad, a philosopher, researcher, and former policy lead at Google DeepMind, Google, and Stripe, explores the interplay between progress, complexity, and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.Niklas discusses why asking the right questions is crucial for navigating our future, especially as AI challenges our self-p
Nobel Laureate David Baker on Using AI for Science to Solve Humanity's Biggest Problems
We can now design proteins that eat plastic. Twenty years ago, that sounded like science fiction. Today, a Nobel laureate is doing exactly that. His career path to get here started in philosophy and was anything but linear. His work now aims at tackling some of humanity's biggest problems, from cancer to climate change. In this episode, we speak with David Baker, 2024 Nobel laureate in Chemis
David Deutsch on Knowledge, Progress, and the Future of Everything
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, physicist and author David Deutsch joins us to explore the deeper principles behind knowledge, progress, and the future of humanity.David is known for founding the field of quantum computation and, alongside Richard Jozsa, creating the first quantum algorithm that solves problems exponentially faster than classical methods. He’s also the originator
David Pearce on Ending Suffering and Reimagining Humanity
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, philosopher and transhumanist David Pearce joins us to explore a bold vision of the future—one where suffering is abolished, aging is optional, and human potential is radically expanded.David is best known for The Hedonistic Imperative, a manifesto arguing that biotechnology can—and should—be used to eliminate all forms of suffering in sentient life
Steven Pinker on Why the Future Looks Better Than You Think
Extreme poverty, violence, and life expectancy are all improving, according to the data. So why does the news so often give us the impression that civilization is in decline?In this episode, we speak with Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard and bestselling author of Enlightenment Now, for a data-driven check-in on the state of progress.We discuss:How the big-picture trends in longevi
Introducing the New Existential Hope Podcast
We’re excited to share that the Existential Hope Podcast now has its own dedicated feed—and we’re kicking things off with a wave of new episodes.This podcast is for anyone curious about how powerful technologies—AI, biotech, neurotech, nanotech, and more—can help create futures that are not just survivable, but radically better than today.You’ll hear in-depth, idea-rich conversations with the peop
Recommended
紐約鳥｜New York Aperture
The Swerve Podcast: Obscure Topics | Conspiracy Theories
The Bread and Banter Podcast
The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament
Busted Open
Deadline: White House
Crickets Corner
History of the Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco
Fox news
K-Drama Obsessed Mamas | Beyond “Just One More Episode!”
True Crime Classics
The Healer Revolution
