Join us on July 15th and 16th to explore the DeSci (decentralized science) space together. Built on the Open Science movement, DeSci encompasses a series of projects and communities coming together with a shared purpose— to explore a globally accessible and open alternative to the current scientific system.
We are so excited to team up with the CNRS to host the second edition of DeSci Paris, synchronously and within Funding the Commons Paris 2023, at Sorbonne Université, Campus des Cordeliers.
Day 1: Scientists and technologists assemble in this workshop focused on using Tech Tree and Discourse Graphs to map scientific domains (AI, neurotech, biotech, nanotech) and the field of DeSci.
Day 2: An unconference where the DeSci ecosystem comes together to take stock of the current progress of the field. During the afternoon workshop a first breakout group will build on LabDAO’s PLEX Lab Exchange — scientists are invited to bring their own computational tools and make them more reproducible. Another breakout group will join the workshop conducted by Crunch DeSci.
Spots are going fast so make sure you apply today! We are still accepting sponsorship applications.
Be sure to send in your applications to our upcoming Intelligent Cooperation Workshop in San Francisco ASAP, as spots are running out. This two-day workshop will allow attendees to explore new opportunities, form lasting collaborations, and drive cooperation toward shared long-term goals.
If you or someone you know would like to help sponsor the workshop, please get in touch with [email protected]. Foresight is a 501(c)(3) which means your donation is tax-deductible in the US as permitted by law.
Confirmed presenters include:
The future will be designed from the molecules up! Apply today to join a curated group selected to prototype the possibilities of the molecular futures that could await us, and help ensure the responsible development of molecular technologies.
The Feynman Prizes are named in honor of the physicist Richard Feynman. In 1959, Feynman gave a talk titled “There’s Plenty Of Room At The Bottom,” which is considered by many industry advocates to have inspired the field of nanotechnology itself.
With the Feynman Prizes, Foresight Institute wishes to recognize recent and brilliant achievements that contribute deeply to the field of Nanotechnology.
Nominations are now open for this year’s award. Please nominate yourself or someone you think should be awarded here.
Our Vision Weekends are the annual member festivals of Foresight Institute. Held in two countries, over two weekends, top talent across biotechnology, nanotechnology, neurotechnology, computing, and space are encouraged to burst their tech silos, and plan for flourishing long-term futures together.
Take a look at the weekend agenda here.
Space is limited for these highly engaging weekends. Get your tickets for Vision Weekend France or Vision Weekend USA today!
We are excited to announce the first ever Norm Hardy Prize, administered by the Foresight Institute and sponsored by Agoric and Protocol Labs.
The long term goal of the Norm Hardy Prize is a set of design principles and tools that encourage developers to create interaction designs that make it easy for people to use secure systems securely.
To be eligible for the annual $10k prize, please submit a short essay, no more than 1,500 words, discussing at least one of these four criteria:
Thank you to all who joined us for our Space Workshop at Fifty Years in San Francisco on June 5th and 6th.
This year, we included project development grants in our workshop, awarding a total of $6k to three working groups for their incredible ideas:
1st Place: Technological Progress and Institutes – Robert Zubrin, Creon Levit, Mike McCulloch, Larry Lemke, Geffen Avraham
2nd Place: Space Canvas – Bartu Kaleagasi, Gustavs Zilgalvis, Jay Lewis, Chris, Nhat Nguyen, Ian Brooke, Chris Boshuizen
3rd Place: Launch Location Liberalization – Mike Grace, Tomas Gesino, Brian Turner
Stay tuned to the Foresight Youtube channel for the recordings from speakers!
We are thrilled to announce an exciting new collaboration between Foresight and Foresight Fellow Patrick Finley’s Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge.
The Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge is a collection of 5 key milestone awards ($15k – $50k+) designed to drive elite collegiate rocketry teams to execute on self-landing rockets. Each milestone can be won by 3 teams, meaning a total of 15 awards will be distributed. The challenge is not an annual in-person event – teams will pursue the challenge and judges will be flown to attempts or they will be judged remotely.
Allison Duettmann, Foresight’s CEO, was recently joined Camille Morhardt on Intel’s What That Means Podcast. Check out the episode on molecular manufacturing here.
The Foresight Fellowship is a one-year program committed to giving change-makers the support to accelerate their bold ideas into the future. Our mission is to catalyze collaboration among leading young scientists, engineers, and innovators who work to advance technologies for the benefit of life.
If you’d like to nominate anyone or apply for the 2024 Foresight Fellowship, please do so here.
David Manheim, founder of the Association for Long Term Existence and Resilience (ALTER), recently published in collaboration with Christoph Winter, Nicholas Hollman, and David Manheim “Value alignment for advanced artificial judicial intelligence.” American Philosophical Quarterly 60.2 (2023): 187-203.
See also: How Agnostic Is Your “Threat Agnostic” Biosurveillance System?
Stacy Marla Copp, UC Irvine, was recently published Chloride Ligands on DNA-Stabilized Silver Nanoclusters in Journal of American Chemical Society outlining her group’s work on development of DNA-based metal nanoclusters for biomedical applications.
Barry Bentley, Cardiff Metropolitan University, published a review of Space Motion Sickness, a condition that affects over 70% of astronauts, in his recent paper Pharmacological and non-pharmacological countermeasures to Space Motion Sickness: a systematic review in volume 17 of Frontiers in Neural Circuits.
Jamie Joyce, Society Library, will be hosting AI Knowledge Mapping hackathons at the Internet Archive every Tuesday over the summer! Calling all alignment researchers to RSVP here.
Cosmo Mielke recently published a piece recounting details from our Longevity Frontiers Workshop in April. He also wrote a longer blog post describing some new ideas that came out of the conference.
In partnership with OpenAI and the Internet Archive, Allison Duettmann and Joshua Tan co-curated an AI + decentralization track at DWeb Camp 2023. Allison also moderated panels “Democratizing Access to AI with Open Models – Risks and Benefits” and “Ownership in a Digital World.” She joined Rosie Campbell of OpenAI to discuss Safety & Legal Labryths in the Age of AI.
Here is a highlight reel of some of the fantastic presentations we had in our monthly seminar groups during June. Visit our seminar page to dive deeper.
Puja Ohlhaver | Decentralization in the age of AI: Communication, Consensus, and Power
As artificial intelligence systems become more capable and ubiquitous, there are concerns about how to ensure these systems are aligned with human values and priorities. Centralized control of advanced AI risks consolidating power and amplifying algorithmic biases. Decentralized governance models provide an alternative, distributing decision making across diverse stakeholders.
Jonah Sinick | Activating Mitochondrial Heat Production to Reverse Obesity
In this talk, Jonah Sinick explores the potential of mitochondrial heat production as a novel approach to combating obesity. Obesity, a global health crisis affecting millions of people, has been linked to various health complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers. Traditional weight loss interventions, such as dietary changes and exercise, have limited long-term success rates, highlighting the need for alternative strategies.
Access to space has historically been expensive, complex and risky. Recently, there have been many new commercial space launch companies working on innovative technologies to dramatically lower the cost of getting payloads into orbit. Randa Milliron, CEO and founder of Interorbital Systems, is developing a revolutionary space launch system to provide dedicated, ultra-low-cost access to space.
Kevin Esvelt | Securing Global DNA Synthesis and LLMs Against Risky Hazards
SecureDNA is an automated cryptographic platform designed to screen global DNA synthesis for hazards without learning anything about harmless orders or disclosing what is considered hazardous.
Jacob Robinson | Minimally Invasive Neurotech for Mental Health
Serious mental illness strikes one in ten Americans and about a third of those do not adequately respond to drug therapies. In this talk, I will describe how Motif Neurotech is building the first minimally invasive brain pacemaker to help people who suffer from mental health disorders get well and stay well with smarter, more personalized therapies based on their own brain data.
Sara Walker | Unraveling Life’s Beginnings with the Cosmic Perspective
In this Hope Drop renowned physicist Sara Walker shares her thoughts on the topics of life’s origin, artificial intelligence, and our cosmic future.
OpenAI cybersecurity grant program
OpenAI is offering a grant to facilitate the development of AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities for defenders through grants and other support. Apply today!
Biomarkers of Aging Consortium
The Biomarkers of Aging Consortium unites scientists, clinicians, and experts to advance biomarkers of aging for clinical use. With diverse expertise, they forge a foundation for future endeavors and unlock the potential of longevity research. Explore their initiatives, events, and updates on their website, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Foresight Job Opening
Foresight is looking for an Executive Assistant to join our wonderful team! If you or someone you know might be interested, please reach out to [email protected]. More info on the position here.
As an active part of our community of talented scientists and technologists who expand the limit of our civilization’s capabilities, you will be at the forefront of our research, and our intriguing network.
