We have come to believe—implicitly, often unconsciously—that if societies cannot reach consensus on the risks and benefits of a technology, then governance has failed. That disagreement itself is evidence of irresponsibility. That the absence of unanimity delegitimizes action.

Every serious disagreement about emerging technology eventually collapses into a fight over zone placement. Not because people are irrational, but because zone assignment encodes values, incentives, and risk tolerance—often implicitly. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-57-who-...

The central principle is simple: governance intensity should scale with risk, not with rhetoric. Secondary is that, zones are not static, and we need to continue to update our thinking. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-56-zone...

Much of the public debate about emerging technologies focuses on intent. Were developers careful? Were safeguards included? Were ethical principles articulated? These questions matter—but they are insufficient. Governance latency is the common thread.

Guest post on Paired Ends from my friend, collaborator, confidant, and mentor, @alexandertitus.com. There's something in this one for you. You're going to want to read this one 👉 Synthetic Eden: The Tools That Save Elephants, and Reshape Us blog.stephenturner.us/p/synthetic-...

Synthetic Eden made #1 in Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi on Amazon! We’re now top 1,000 in the Free Kindle store overall! Huge thank you to everyone who has read it, left a review, and shared it with your community! 🙏 This is just the start of the momentum. www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNY6N914

Synthetic Eden is currently top 20 on Amazon's Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi list! 🙏 We decided to run a $0.00 deal for a limited time to keep the momentum. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/sci-fi-fri...

I'm pretty sure enterprise software is dead, and apparently so do investors. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

In the absence of proportionality governance becomes symbolic. Ethics reviews devolve into box-checking or veto power. Real risks—like poorly secured synthesis pipelines, model sharing, or fragile oversight capacity in under-resourced labs—receive less attention than hypothetical doomsday scenarios.

2026 might be the wildest year for biotech yet. www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/16/1...

Paradigms of life are fascinating 🧐

I would rephrase - technology should change the world for good (outcomes)... www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1...

I’ve been thinking a lot about why so many of our technology debates feel…stuck. It’s not just polarization. It’s not just incentives. And it’s not a lack of intelligence or good intent. It’s that we’ve lost our sense of proportionality. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-53-the-...

If 2026 is going to be another AI infrastructure frenzy year, shouldn't biology be a major part of that conversation? Scale, data, compute demands, oh my! centuryofbio.com/p/infra

If you ever want honest feedback, ask your science community for feedback on hard science fiction. I can’t tell you how many times one person said they loved an aspect and another told me it was the worst part. 😂 We have another treat in store for everyone this spring!

I have had the privilege of building frontier tech for over a decade. Since the pandemic, Ive been building frontier organizations. 2025 truly was an inflection point that changed how institutions will be built forever. People are the critical link in the system. Empower them to build the frontier.

The first full calendar year has passed since Situational Awareness was published. The forecasting accuracy of these pieces is astounding. Highly recommend to anyone who is interested. It’s a long, and worth it, read.

Huh, go figure. 01: LLMs are not everything "...it is the hype around large language models, not AI as a whole, that needs correcting." www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/15/1...

We're going to see the age of autonomous science truly emerge this year. When science does science, what does it mean to be a scientist?! openai.com/index/accele...

If we're going to accelerate up the exponential technology curve indefinitely, we need a science of responsible innovation. This is a TCIP focus in 2026. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-52-the-...

The big secret of imposter syndrome is most people don’t “know what they’re doing,” but a lot of people “fake it till ya make it” better than others. www.science.org/content/arti...

As far as I’m concerned, 2026 starts tomorrow and today is the last day of 2025 since the holidays end today 🥳

2026 is going to be a wild year for #biotech! Harnessing the power of light to direct the synthesis of DNA and RNA directly within living cells. Very sci-fi 😎

I just published a reflection on Genesis Undone, the final novel in the Echoes of Tomorrow series. What began as an experiment with Synthetic Eden turned into a four-book exploration of creation, power, belief, and what comes after our blueprints fail www.connectedideasproject.com/p/genesis-un...

The era of Scientific Superintelligence is here. From the 2012 publication of CRISRP and AlexNet, to the 2022 release of ChatGPT-3, the next decade will reimagine the paradigm of the scientific method. Aligned Accelerated Discovery. #AI #Biotech www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-51-teac...

"EoT hits its stride in Book 2. I found myself caring much more about the next generation of the colony. But most surprisingly, drawn to Lucas...You'll have to read...to find out what I mean...I didn't know I could or would ever care about what happens to an AI." 😍 www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...

Today is the launch of my debut novel! The early feedback for Synthetic Eden has been amazing and humbling. This project was as much a collaboration with my community as it was with my co-author Sean and our editor Bonnie. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-50-mora...

Yesterday marked a milestone: My debut novel, Synthetic Eden, officially went live for pre-order, and within twenty-four hours, it climbed into the top 500 #GeneticEngineering #SciFi books on Amazon! For context, #1 is Brave New World, so we're in good company 😱 www.amazon.com/Synthetic-Ed...

We define "species" with relatively artificial definitions because we don't have a better way to do so, but we keep getting schooled on our own ignorance. It's wild to keep watching :-P What is life? Heck if I know! #genomics #evolution www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-49-mamm...

As someone who started a career in AIxBio with highly specialized models a decade ago, I find it funny that we're now coming back full circle. One model to rule them all is proving wrong, but the impact of this new era of specialization is mindblowing. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-48-the-...

Seven moonshots that define the century of biology. From cracking the code of life to building resilient bio-infrastructure, these challenges aren’t just about #science—they’re about how we thrive forward. #biotech www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-47-seve...

Advance reader copies of Synthetic Eden are going out soon. Join me to help make this launch awesome! #ScienceFiction #Biotechnology #SciFi www.connectedideasproject.com/p/synthetic-...

We no longer have the luxury of academic debates about the ethics of embryo and human genetic engineering. The first company was founded with this explicit mission and launched last week. Where do we go from here? #biotechnology #bioethics #biotech www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-46-manh...

I'm looking for sci-fi nerds interested in being advance readers for my debut novel! All it costs is an honest review on launch day! (9/9) www.connectedideasproject.com/p/synthetic-... #SciFi #Biotech #Fiction

How about a positive vision for FDA in the midst of the chaos? www.connectedideasproject.com/p/invisible-...

I wanted to take a minute to share a more narrative perspective on the importance of biotech in the modern era. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-30-the-...

Thoughts and summary of the recent NASEM report on AI and biosecurity www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-28-the-...

Useful critique of the biosecurity risk assessment process, as applied to mirror life based on our experience with synbio, genome editing, and AI, by @alexandertitus.com The Mirror Life Problem: When Every Threat Looks Like the Next Existential Crisis www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-28-the-...

Sci-Fi Friday! www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ssi-part-7...

In the world of dual-use and dual-hype, the #AI and #biotech debate reigns supreme. But a recent report by Epoch AI shows that the progress is moderating and evolving. I think we're maturing into actual use-cases that are demonstrating impact. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-26-the-...

Sci-Fi Friday: In a world where life is engineered and perfection is manufactured, what does it mean to be human? www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ssi-part-5...

Shout out to NASA GeneLab! www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-24-from...

The Nobel Turing challenge used to sound like sci-fi. Today it sounds inevitable. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-22-nobe...

Sci-Fi Friday: In a world where wars are fought with algorithms and nations bow to machines, the battle for control is silent—but relentless. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ssi-part-1...

We are a little over four months post-launch of The Connected Ideas Project, and the community is amazing. If you're interested in the co-evolution of tech and policy, and how it's impacting our lives, come join us! www.connectedideasproject.com

Sovereign #AI is a growing theme, especially as technology competition heats up between countries. It's an interesting idea, but how do we codify culture in model weights? EO link is dead, 404'ed out of existence, but the premise will withstand time. www.connectedideasproject.com/p/ep-20-a-ne...