Share

Foresight Institute Radio
Anthony Aguirre, FLI | Why Worldbuilding? | Xhope Worldbuilding Course
Speaker
Anthony is the Executive Director & Secretary of the Board at the Future of Life Institute, and the Faggin Presidential Professor for the Physics of Information at UC Santa Cruz. He has done research in an array of topics in theoretical cosmology, gravitation, statistical mechanics, and other fields of physics. He also has strong interest in science outreach, and has appeared in numerous science documentaries. He is a creator of the science and technology prediction platform Metaculus.com, and is founder (with Max Tegmark) of the Foundational Questions Institute.
Worldbuilding Course
This session is a part of THE WORLDBUILDING CHALLENGE: CO-CREATING THE WORLD OF 2045. In this virtual and interactive course, we engage with the most pressing global challenges of our age—climate change, the risks of AI, and the complex ethical questions arising in the wake of new technologies. Our aim is to sharpen participants’ awareness and equip them to apply their skills to these significant and urgent issues.
Existential Hope
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.
More episodes
View all episodes

Law, Liberty and Leviathan: AI and Human Autonomy | Anders Sandberg
01:00:33|This recording with Anders Sandberg is from the Foresight Institute Secure AI seminar series, hosted in February 2026. You can view the recording of the talk on our YouTube.Anders Sandberg is a researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm and a former senior research fellow at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, where he worked for fifteen years on existential risk, brain emulation, and the long-term future of intelligence. In this talk, he examines what AI means for human autonomy and political freedom: what kinds of concentrated power AI systems enable, what political philosophy has to say about state capacity and individual liberty, and whether current legal and governance frameworks are adequate to the challenge.If you want to join future seminars live, the schedule is at foresight.org and in our Luma calendar.
Contrarian Views on the State of AI | Ramez Naam
24:58|This recording with Ramez Naam is from Vision Weekend Puerto Rico 2026, held in February 2026. Ramez Naam is the author of the Nexus trilogy and The Infinite Resource, and has written and spoken extensively on technology, AI, and long-range forecasting. In this talk, he offers a contrarian assessment of where AI actually stands: examining what the data shows, where conventional narratives overshoot or undershoot reality, and what a more evidence-grounded view of AI progress looks like. The full video recording of this talk available at our YouTube channel.If you want to join a future Vision Weekend live, upcoming events are listed at foresight.org and in our Luma calendar.
How to Build a Sustainable Longevity Company | Alex Zhavoronkov
53:55|This recording with Alex Zhavoronkov is from our Longevity Biotechnology seminar series, hosted online on June 18th, 2026. View the talk along with the visual presentation on our Youtube channel.Alex Zhavoronkov is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotech building AI platforms for drug discovery and aging research. In this talk, Alex breaks down what a genuinely scalable AI-first biotech looks like from the inside: how to measure scientific productivity with rigorous benchmarks, how to balance internal program progression with licensing, and how to build an AI platform that compounds value with every drug it runs. Drawing on his experience at Insilico, he makes the case for a new model of biotech that can grow, learn, and sustain itself over time.If you want to join future seminars live, the schedule is at foresight.org and in our Luma calendar.
Viren Jain | Connectomics and AI @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
09:38|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.
Steve Jurvetson | Investing in AI Moonshots @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
16:22|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.
Sonia Arrison | Lobbying for Longevity Progress @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
14:46|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.
Richard Ngo | Identity & Meaning in SciFi Futures @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
12:09|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.
Joshua Elliott | The Hail Mary Phase of Climate Change @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
13:26|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.
John Hallman & Rico Meinl | Accelerating Life Sciences @ Vision Weekend USA 2025
17:09|This talk was recorded live at Vision Weekend USA, held December 5–7, 2025 in the Bay Area. Vision Weekends are our flagship conference series, bringing together leading scientists, entrepreneurs, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science and technology and to imagine paths toward flourishing futures.