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The Existential Hope Podcast

Foresight Institute
Artificial Intelligence
Neurotechnology
Cancer Treatment
Protein Design
Synthetic Biology
AI For Science
Climate Change
Nuclear Energy
Environmental Pollution
Artificial General Intelligence
Healthcare Innovation
Ultrasound Technology
Biotechnology
Deep Tech
Science Fiction
Open Source
Patient Empowerment
Hyperentities
Autonomous Vehicles
Carbon Capture

The Existential Hope Podcast features in-depth conversations with people working on positive, high-tech futures. We explore how the future could be much better than today—if we steer it wisely.

Hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite the scientists, founders, and philosophers shaping tomorrow’s breakthroughs— AI, nanotech, longevity biotech, neurotech, space... more

PublishesTwice monthlyEpisodes36Foundeda year ago
Number of ListenersCategories
ScienceTechnology

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Artwork for The Existential Hope Podcast

Latest Episodes

Political polarization might have a surprisingly simple fix: ask people what they want for their communities in 50 years instead of today, and their answers start to look remarkably similar. But almost no political system is built to plan that long-t... more

Most AI futures give us two options: mass unemployment, or a government handout to soften the blow. But what if there's a third option, one centered on completely new categories of creative work that don't yet exist, where people get paid for contrib... more

AIs could get much better at understanding what we truly value if we gave them access to our brain signals. And doing that is becoming easier than ever before.

In this episode, we talk with Thorsten Zander, professor at Brandenburg University of Tec... more

More and more people want to make a real-world difference with their career. Very few of them do. Why are careers in consultancy or finance still so much more mainstream than careers tackling the world's biggest problems?

In this episode, we talk wi... more

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Recent Guests

Jaron Lanier
Computer scientist, author, and critic of unchecked AI acceleration
Independent researcher/author
Episode: The AI future where humans get paid to be creative
Thorsten Zander
Professor at Brandenburg University; founder of Zander Labs
Brandenburg University; Zander Labs
Episode: Teaching AI empathy using brain signals
Jan-Willem van Putten
Co-founder and executive director of the School for Moral Ambition
School for Moral Ambition
Episode: How to build a career that actually changes the world
Constance Li
Founder/lead of Sentient Futures, focused on AI and animal welfare
Sentient Futures
Episode: How AI could improve the lives of trillions of animals
David Eagleman
Professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, author and commentator on technology's impact on humanity
Stanford University
Episode: How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman
Marc Canal
Director at McKinsey Global Institute and co-author of A Century of Plenty
McKinsey Global Institute
Episode: How the whole world can exceed Swiss living standards by 2100 (backed by data)
SJ Beard
Author of existential hope book; existential risk researcher
Independent researcher
Episode: How your personal moral compass helps you build a better world | SJ Beard
Anastasia Gamick
CEO and co-founder of Convergent Research
Convergent Research
Episode: Raising science ambition: how to identify the highest-impact research for an AI world | Anastasia Gamick
Jason Crawford
Founder of Roots of Progress
Roots of Progress
Episode: Jason Crawford on how technology expands human choice and control

Host

Beatrice Erkers
Host of The Existential Hope Podcast

Reviews

  • Hopeful

    Important conversations about our future

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    LL763
    United States24 days ago
  • The podcast I’ve been looking for

    I’ve had a hard time finding a podcast that can offer an optimistic perspective on the future, rooted in science rather than ungrounded hype. This is exactly what I’ve been seeking. Keep up the good work!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Lisen_
    Sweden24 days ago

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#227
Australia/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#226
Russia/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman
Q: How do you see AI education transforming critical thinking and debate in the classroom?
AI can train students in arguing from multiple perspectives, assess the quality of arguments, and help learners understand opposing viewpoints, which could strengthen critical thinking and reduce polarization.
How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman
Q: What would be the best-case applications of brain simulations or digital minds if we can simulate a human brain in silico?
Best-case applications include immortality in a digital sense, vast intellectual collaboration, and potentially sending minds to new environments like other planets, though practical and ethical challenges remain.
How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman
Q: So we want to explore, like, can AI actually help us become better people and maybe even improve our relationships?
Yes, AI can act as a personal coach and sandbox for relationship skills, providing feedback, empathy, and scenario testing to help people recognize and adjust their behavior before real conflicts occur.
Andrew White on Building an AI Scientist to Automate Discovery
Q: How can early career scientists leverage AI tools in their work?
They should experiment with AI, maintain a critical perspective, and engage with the open-source ecosystem while evaluating their discoveries honestly.
Andrew White on Building an AI Scientist to Automate Discovery
Q: What challenges do you see with current evaluation models for AI in science?
Models like Humanity's Last Exam often have poorly constructed questions that frontier LLMs can get right, leading to invalid conclusions about AI performance.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About The Existential Hope Podcast

What is The Existential Hope Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This program features rigorous conversations with researchers, entrepreneurs, and thinkers pursuing high-impact futures in AI, biotechnology, energy, neurotechnology, and governance. Episodes often center on how emerging technologies could be steered toward beneficial outcomes, exploring ethical considerations, societal impact, and practical pathways for responsible innovation. A standout pattern is the focus on bridging technical possibility with real-world policy, culture, and human-centered design, including how public perception, regulation, and infrastructure shape which futures are achievable. A few guests repeatedly surface as core voices—leaders in AI, life sciences, and foresight—whose work intersects science, ethics, and scalable ... more

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Which podcasts are similar to The Existential Hope Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with The Existential Hope Podcast:

1. Deep Questions with Cal Newport
2. The a16z Show
3. Hard Fork
4. The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
5. Moonshots with Peter Diamandis

How many episodes of The Existential Hope Podcast are there?

The Existential Hope Podcast launched a year ago and published 36 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on The Existential Hope Podcast?

Recent guests on The Existential Hope Podcast include:

1. Jaron Lanier
2. Thorsten Zander
3. Jan-Willem van Putten
4. Constance Li
5. David Eagleman
6. Marc Canal
7. SJ Beard
8. Anastasia Gamick

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