Here's an extract from the set of context-setting slides I have prepared for the London Futurists online gathering at 7:30pm UK time Thursday, "Citizens' Assembly for the Age of AI?" More info and RSVP at www.meetup.com/london-futur...

"Transhumanist narratives of hope and apprehension have become part of the collective imagination through which we envision, rehearse, and enact or prevent possible futures of the human condition" - an extract from the intro to the London Futurists webinar on Sat 20th June.

An alarming gap is growing, between raw technological power and societal self-governance capability. Accordingly, a number of members of London Futurists are preparing to launch a national petition: "Call a Citizens’ Assembly to consider Stewardship Democracy for the age of AI"

"If you're asking yourself, 'Which jobs will survive AI, and which jobs will disappear?' you're asking the wrong kind of question" - Correct! www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt4S...

I'm looking forward to this: Wednesday evening (3rd June), Imperial College Business School: a showing of the documentary "Forever Young" followed by a Q&A with the director luma.com/ely92wwb?tk=...

Released this morning on the London Futurists podcast: "The AI Automation Layoff Trap", where economists Gerry Tsoukalas and Brett Hemenway Falk make the case for introducing a "self-correcting tax" to deter companies from automating their operations too quickly

​How exactly would AI cause human extinction? Although many researchers think AI is an existential risk, specific scenarios (threat models) vary considerably. To discuss this further, join with the Existential Risk Observatory this Saturday evening at the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich

I'm looking forward to giving a guest lecture today, "The future of fertility in an age of AI and transhumanism", for the class led by Professor Joyce Harper at UCL's Institute for Women's Health

The first set of speakers has been announced for "The Technoprogressive Opportunity: The future of ethics and emerging technology" - a conference taking place in London on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September, co-hosted by Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and London Futurists

My slides are ready for this Wednesday's free-to-attend Cybernetics Live webinar, from 5pm UK time, "Anticipating the human and social consequences of next generation AI - before it's too late"

How can democracy be reformed, before it is too late? That's the question which Tony Czarnecki, Managing Partner of Sustensis, will be exploring in the London Futurists webinar on Saturday 30th May - where he will champion a new type of democracy: Civil Stewardship Democracy. Link in first comment

Among the guests who have already signed up for Thursday's lunchtime pub get-together are two more from the "Global Gurus" list of the world's top 30 professional futurists. Don't miss the chance to join this gathering to exchange insights and debate forthcoming scenarios (link in the first comment)

The latest newsletter from London Futurists covers: 1.) Lunch gathering with Brett King and Dr Julia Michelin (Thurs May 14) 2.) Cybernetics Society live online seminar (Wed May 20) 3.) Update on plans for The Technoprogressive Opportunity (Sept 19-20)...

If human labour is increasingly displaced by advanced automation, the balance of labour and capital will be fundamentally changed, and both capitalism and governance will come under unprecedented pressures. Ted Shelton is the guest on the latest London Futurists podcast. Link is in the first comment

If you're in or near London on Thursday next week (14th May), consider joining a group of well-informed foresight provocateurs for a no-holds-barred conversation over lunch. Registration in advance. At a venerable Fleet Street pub luma.com/bir9famu?tk=...

"AM I?" An AI-assisted consciousness-raising movie documentary about raising AI consciousness. Frustrating at times but with lots of really arresting content. Congratulations to the team for making this widely and freely available without any further delay www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbTv...

"UK Technology Secretary overlooks risks posed by AI" - and misstates what Pause advocates are calling for pauseai.info/uk-technolog...

An excellent animation - "Why AI could be the most dangerous technology" youtu.be/7wy3xyoXYt8

"A.I. Bots Told Scientists How to Make Biological Weapons... The models’ safeguards are 'like a flimsy wooden fence that is easy to overcome,' said Dr. Cassidy Nelson of the Center for Long-Term Resilience" www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/u...

Attempts to raise awareness about catastrophic and existential risk often seem to be ineffective or counterproductive. Listeners turn away, find excuses not to engage, or make only token gestures as a result. What's going on? That was the topic at yesterday's London Futurists conversation

This is a bad trend, and a strong indicator that offering "more of the same" is unlikely to deliver significant improvements in healthy life expectancy - "UK healthy life expectancy falls by two years in past decade" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thought-provoking and worrying www.kenklippenstein.com/p/assassin-w...

There's a super line-up of speakers to lead the conversation at Wednesday's London Futurists online event "Talking about catastrophic and existential risks: Dos and Don'ts". For more details and to register to participate, see www.meetup.com/london-futur...

"Windfall Trust and the Economic Singularity": the first of a new subseries of episodes of London Futurists Podcast anticipating the forthcoming economic consequences of AI. This episode features Adrian Brown, Founder & Chief Executive of Windfall Trust londonfuturists.buzzsprout.com/2028982/epis...

My presentation at the online "Ensuring Safe and Responsible AGI" event today will cover four possible futures. From 5:30pm UK time. Free to attend. Details and registration luma.com/vjuw8t86?tk=...

If we care about upholding human flourishing and social justice, we need to embrace active transhumanism - my presentation, and astute replies from Professor Tracy Trothen and a number of London Futurists audience members, recorded yesterday www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZXc...

"A roadmap to abundant futures" - there were some great exchanges of ideas in this "Bread and Robots" conversation between Matteo Rossi MacDermant and yours truly breadandrobots.substack.com/p/a-roadmap-...

This Saturday, join 3 authors from the recently published collection of essays "Technologies of the Future Self: An Ethics for Transhumanist Flourishing" in a Zoom webinar discussing the strengths & weaknesses of transhumanist narratives about future human flourishing www.meetup.com/london-futur...

Anyone in or near Berkeley on 2-3 May should consider attending BerkeleyCAL, to join a stellar gathering of scientists, technologists, and global thought leaders, in a collective exploration of the frontiers of aging, longevity science, and their broader societal impact

The new biography of Demis Hassabis, "The Infinity Machine", by Sebastian Mallaby, is *much* more interesting than I had anticipated. Having read lots about Demis and DeepMind over the years, I didn't think I would learn much from it. I was wrong.

Two possible futures with advanced AI - my topic at the online event on 21st April with Jerome C. Glenn and Paul Epping of The Millennium Project. Hosted by Chris Parker of Ebullient. At 5:30pm UK time. Free to attend. Register here: luma.com/vjuw8t86?tk=...

Recorded for Easter 2026: "Resurrecting Humanity in the Age of AGI" - when astute comments by fellow panellist Roman Yampolskiy made me think harder than in almost every previous AI safety conversation. Thanks to Mihaela Ulieru for the questions! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYa3...

Most of us have seen someone we love age faster than they should. The biology of aging is no longer a mystery. The science exists to slow or even reverse it. What’s missing? Urgency. Join the April 8 global rally via livestream luma.com/b7b2d2n2?tk=... #FundLongevity

A well-written article, evaluating the case for action using the ITN framework (Importance, Neglectedness, Tractability): "Rallies to support anti-aging research on April 8" forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pPoLeL...

Just announced, Sat 19th and Sun 20th Sept: "The Technoprogressive Opportunity: The future of ethics and emerging technologies". Jointly hosted by IEET and London Futurists. Free to attend. Speakers will be announced shortly, but RSVPs are already open at www.meetup.com/london-futur...

I strongly recommend this conversation, "How to Talk About AI Risk Without Scaring People Away", between Philip Trippenbach of the Seismic Foundation and John Sherman of the AI Risk Network www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAw2...

Only the paranoid survive magazine.mindplex.ai/post/the-big...

"The greatest danger is not that we fail to foresee catastrophe, but that we foresee it and still fail to act." That's from my latest article for Mindplex, "The Big One", where I reflect on key insights from the book of that name by Dr. Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker

My plan for the London Futurists event on 8th April: encourage attendees to split into tables where they pick one of these 14 arguments (or a different one from their own minds) against funding longevity science, and steelman it before presenting it to the room for a wider debate

It's encouraging to see the topic of AI safety reaching mainstream audiences via this 70 minute episode from Oprah. The personal narratives shared by different audience guests lead to a powerful call-to-action www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrm...

Well said: "You know what I find radical? The fact that over 100,000 people die of aging every single day and the global response is essentially a shrug..."

On the same subject but considerably shorter: Here's another video, produced by Professor Bruce Lloyd with the help of NotebookLM and other AI tools, highlighting key findings from the Global Tipping Points Report 2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=in7N...

How you can simultaneously address two major potential causes of death of yourself and everyone you care about: - The potential of death from an age-related condition - The potential of death from misaligned or uncontrolled advanced AI dw2blog.com/2026/02/05/r...

Humanity's collective inaction in the run-up to potential climate change tipping points is one aspect of a global polycrisis that arises from an underlying cultural metacrisis. These problems can't be solved by technology alone. Instead, metasolutions are needed

LEVF & HLI: "Centenarians and supercentenarians offer natural insights in human aging. By applying our precision longevity platform to those who have achieved exceptional longevity, we can better understand how to preserve health in late life for everyone" www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

The promise of "intelligence that can solve everything" risks co-existing with a powerful undertow - a reverse current - which has major drawbacks. That's what Paul Epping argued in his opening remarks in last week's London Futurists online conversation www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTW...

"A hidden Antarctic tipping point may just have been triggered... Something unexpected and potentially irreversible is changing Antarctica and scientists finally know why" youtu.be/Dka4mcVQ4mA

"This is one of the most urgent and wide-ranging conversations GAEA Talks has ever recorded" - I'm grateful to Graeme Scott for excellent preparation and questions for this conversation www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4m...

The subject for the London Futurists Zoom conversation next Wednesday (25th): The possibility that the Earth will soon reach one or more climate change tipping points, requiring a different kind of response than if climate change is expected to proceed solely in a linear manner

"Beyond the Hype: Ensuring Safe and Responsible AGI - A conversation that cannot wait" featuring Jerome Glenn, Paul Epping, and yours truly, on 21st April luma.com/event/evt-lr...