When seen from the perspective of something that we can imagine, aspire to, and begin to design, the future reveals what exquisite and astonishing creatures we are. The fact that we can break away from the constraints of time’s arrow and create a tomorrow that is different from today is quite astounding.
Add to this our sense of justice and responsibility, our capacity to empathize with others, and our growing ability to map a course between what we know and what we imagine could be, and it becomes clear that we have the means to build a future that far exceeds the limitations of the present.
What hangs in the balance is whether we have the will to embrace this path forward.
From Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow
Andrew Maynard is a scientist, author, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions at Arizona State University. He studies the future and how our actions influence it.
Latest book
Future Rising: A Journey from the Past, to the Edge of Tomorrow
This is is possibly the most personal and important book I’ve written
— Andrew Maynard
Future Rising takes readers on a journey that explores the nature of our relationship with the future, and our responsibility to it. It’s an admittedly eclectic journey, touching on everything from the physics of the universe to the nature of art, and ultimately to what it means to be human. But as we face an increasingly uncertain future, it’s an incredibly important one.
What’s New
Future of Being Human Substack
What will it mean to be human a hundred years from now, and how can this catalyze our thoughts and actions in the present? A wide-ranging newsletter on technology, society, and the future.
Making sense of the risks and benefits of AI
Risk Bites looks at ten potential consequences of AI we should be paying attention to if we want to develop the technology responsibly and beneficially.
The Future of Being Human
A unique community of bold, audacious and visionary thinkers who are inspired by what it might mean to be human in a technologically transformed futureand who are passionate about exploring how this influences our thinking and actions in the present.
The Future of Food
A talk on Soylent Green, complex systems, and the future of food, given at Geography 2050 in New York City, November 2022
AI and the Art of Manipulation
With growing interest in the potential risks and benefits of AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) I thought it worth posting a link to chapter 8 from the book Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci Fi Movies.
Five Robot Movies That Will Make You Cry
A lineup of films that remind us that intelligent machines don’t aways have to be bad for the future of being human
Exploring responsible innovation
An extremely wide ranging conversation with Xiao Han Drummond on responsible innovation and the future
Season 3 of Mission: Interplanetary
Andrew once again joins former astronaut Cady Coleman for season three of this ground-breaking podcast about the future of humans in space.
Neuralink’s Technology Is Impressive. Is It Ethical?
Elon Musk’s audacious vision of a smartphone-controlled brain-machine interface comes with potential risks
56 Stunning AI Art Images
Images generated from the prompt “Will we be able to design and create synthetic consciousness in the future?”
AI Friend or Foe?
Is artificial intelligence an asset or a risk as we strive to build a better future?
What if we think of the future as an object?
A extended podcast episode based on a TEDx talk that was nixed by COVID
Jurassic World and Responsible Innovation
Jurassic World: Dominion may fall short on the science, but it’s social commentary is worth heeding.
Top Ten Technologies
Scientific American and the World Economic Forum recently published their tenth annual list of the Top Ten Emerging Technologies. I’ve been privileged to be an advisor and contributor to the list from the get-go.
Humanoid Robots?
Elon Musk’s newly-announced Tesla Bot raises serious concerns – but probably not the ones you think. FastCompany
Why Soylent Green Got 2022 So Wrong
I should like the 1973 film Soylent Green — but as we reach the year it’s set in, I have some issues with it! Writing for Slate.
Enter the Metaverse
As Facebook and other companies embrace the metaverse, it’s time t explore what it is and wehat it means for the future. A conversation with PBS Horizon’s Ted Simons
Alexa at the Super Bowl
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost poke fun at an Alexa mind-reading future in this year’s Amazon Super-Bowl ad, but is the company hiding worrying longer-term aspirations in plain sight?
How to Make the World a Better Place
How do you create value that’s meaningful to you? And what happens when you hit roadblocks despite your best intentions? From the 2020 KEEN National Conference
Relationship Building with the Future
Ten ways we can build a better relationship with the future, from reveling in our cerativity to designing with humility (World Economic Forum)
Thinking Differently about the Future
The first part of the book Future Rising, available as a podcast.