In this Hope Drop we are joined by special guest David Leigh, a molecular scientist at the University of Manchester and a pioneer in the field of Nanotechnology. David shares his journey in the field, and his vision of existential hope, given all the possibilities that can come from emerging nanotechnological findings.
Find inspiration and uncover the possibilities of the future in this podcast episode, and through this AI artwork inspired by his hopeful vision of what could be.
David is a molecular scientist at the University of Manchester and a pioneer in the field of Nanotechnology.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from a leading expert and be inspired by the possibilities of the future!
Such a scenario is the vision of a positive future as envisioned by David Leigh, which is the basis for this art piece.
About the art
This piece was created by Aron Mill, using DALL-E, a machine learning model created by OpenAI to produce images from language descriptions. Aron is a researcher at the Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED). Through his work he aims to contribute to civilizational resilience against Global Catastrophic Risks. He is interested in flourishing future scenarios in which we have traversed the precipice of existential risks and recently began exploring these themes through art and hopeful narratives.
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. But we cannot create what we cannot imagine, so let’s map both risks and possibilities which lie before us.
Watch Ellie Hain from Rebuilding Meaning speak on a new vision for the future.
Exit the Void presents a new future vision where hope isn’t achieved merely through technological advancement, but by putting humanity first. It presents a future where meaning, beauty and vitality flourish. A future where we leave behind the world of gloom and doom, bullshit, and boredom and reconnect with our love for life.
Exit the Void is part of Rebuilding Meaning, an ambitious cultural project to align tech, organizations and markets with meaning. Learn more about it at www.rebuildingmeaning.org
Rethink Priorities focuses on finding tractable and neglected opportunities for high impact across different cause areas, such as animal welfare, the longterm future of humanity, global health and development, and the behavior and demographics of the effective altruism community. Their most recent publications include:
Research Manager Linch Zhang published a summary of the General Longtermism team’s work during 2022 and updates going forward.
Ben Cottier’s research fellowship with Rethink Priorities culminated in a nine-part sequence on the diffusion of large language models.
Research Fellow Jam Kraprayoon collaborated with 1Day Sooner on a report exploring how improving air safety could reduce global catastrophic biorisks.
Qualia Research Institute (QRI) works to map out the full space of possible conscious experiences, and to build technologies that improve the lives of sentient beings. Recent progress in their research includes:
