The Foresight Institute Podcast
Foresight Institute
Recent Episodes
Caleb Watney is the co-founder and co-CEO of IFP. He manages the metascience, high-skilled immigration, and emerging technology policy teams at IFP. His research focuses on policy levers the U.S. could use to rebuild state capacity and increase long-term rates of innovation. Previously, Caleb worked as the director of innovation policy at the Progressive Policy Insitute, a technology policy fellow at the R Street Institute, and a graduate research fellow at the Mercatus Center.
Key Highlights
About Foresight Institute
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
The 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 to our virtual technical seminars
- Join our in-person events and workshops
- Donate: Support Our Work – If you enjoy what we do, please consider this, as we are entirely funded by your donations!
Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Note: 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.
Zan Huang is a researcher with a passion for alternative computational models in artificial intelligence, mass social patterns, chaotic and emergent systems, and linguistics. Currently focused on scaling deep neural networks through neurologically inspired modularity, he explores critical questions around reducing parameter space, enhancing interpretability, and developing self-similar task divisions akin to brain functionality.
Key Highlights
- Discussion of the adaptation of neurological structures for AI, proposing that neuroscience is crucial for understanding intelligence.
- Argument that certain principles of physics and mathematics apply to biological systems, like the brain, and that these can inform foundational models for AI.
- Exploration of concepts related to thermodynamics, information theory, and the fractal nature of intelligence. H
- Presentation of a neuro AI framework that emphasizes self-supervision, streamification, and task prioritization inspired by brain functionality to create more robust AI systems.
About Foresight Institute
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
The 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 to our virtual technical seminars
- Join our in-person events and workshops
- Donate: Support Our Work – If you enjoy what we do, please consider this, as we are entirely funded by your donations!
Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Note: 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.
Adam Marblestone is the CEO of Convergent Research. He is working with a large and growing network of collaborators and advisors to develop a strategic roadmap for future FROs. Outside of CR, he serves on the boards of several non-profits pursuing new methods of funding and organizing scientific research including Norn Group and New Science, and as an interviewer for the Hertz Foundation. Previously, he was a Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellow, a Fellow with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a research scientist at Google DeepMind, Chief Strategy Officer of the brain-computer interface company Kernel, a research scientist at MIT, a PhD student in biophysics with George Church and colleagues at Harvard, and a theoretical physics student at Yale. He has also previously helped to start companies like BioBright, and advised foundations such as Open Philanthropy.
Session Summary
In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, our guest is Adam Marblestone, CEO of Convergent Research. Adam shares his journey from working on nanotechnology and neuroscience to pioneering a bold new model for scientific work and funding: Focused Research Organizations (FROs). These nonprofit, deep-tech startups are designed to fill critical gaps in science by building the infrastructure needed to accelerate discovery. Tune in to hear how FROs are unlocking innovation, tackling bottlenecks across fields, and inspiring a new approach to advancing humanity’s understanding of the world.
Full transcript, list of resources, and art piece: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
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 Erkers
Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Existential Hope Instagram
Explore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Michael Levin is an American developmental and synthetic biologist at Tufts University, where he is the Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor. Levin is a director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology.
Key Highlights
- Discussion of diverse intelligence in biological systems and its biomedical potential
- Insights into planarian regeneration and collective problem-solving
- Anatomical plasticity and the role of bioelectric interfaces
- Applying these principles to regenerative medicine and synthetic biology
- How living structures can adapt and solve complex problems – leading to breakthroughs in organ regeneration, cancer treatment, and mental health
About Foresight Institute
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
The 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 to our virtual technical seminars
- Join our in-person events and workshops
- Donate: Support Our Work – If you enjoy what we do, please consider this, as we are entirely funded by your donations!
Follow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Note: 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.