What potential positive futures could be created if we think not only of existential risks, but also of hopeful scenarios? What can we do to increase our chances of reaching a really good outcome for the future, rather than just survival?

Science and Technology are rapidly unlocking unfathomable opportunities for our future. Much of our attention is focused on the threats to human existence. Little is focused on ideas about what to aim for instead.

The goal of the event is to map out both the risks and possibilities, and to bring together individuals and organizations that are working towards future-positive outcomes.

Speakers:

• Toby Ord, University of Oxford: Existential Hope Fireside Chat
• Robin Hanson: Post Dreamtime Futures
• Christine Peterson, Foresight Institute: Historic Perspectives on Long-term Futurism
• Creon Levit, Planet Labs: Existential Hope Across Physics, Biology, and Space
• Tamara Winter, Stripe Press: Progress Media
• Allison Duettmann, Foresight Institute: Gaming the Future: Intelligent Voluntary Cooperation
• Jessy Kate Schingler, OpenLunar: Outer Space & Coordination
• Riva Tez, investor: Flourishing Futures

About Foresight Institute and our relation to EA/longtermism:

Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that has supported the development of technologies that can have a positive impact on the world since 1986.

We believe that ideas from the effective altruism and longtermist communities have not yet been embraced in the mainstream science and technology fields, despite their potential to lead to important differential technological progress.

To address this, we want to invite more people from the EA community to attend our workshops. By doing so, we hope to introduce these ideas into scientific discussions and also provide the effective altruism and longtermist communities with new scientific facts and perspectives. Our hope is that this can help increase long-term coordination between science and policy/risk researchers.