The Existential Hope Podcast
The Existential Hope Podcast
Podcast Description
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, smarter governance, and more.About Foresight Institute: For 40 years the independent nonprofit Foresight Institute has mapped how emerging technologies can serve humanity. Its Existential Hope program is the North Star: mapping the futures worth aiming for and the breakthroughs needed to reach them. This podcast is that exploration in public. Follow along and help tip the century toward success.Explore more: Transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcastsFollow on X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into themes including the potential of AI, nanotechnology, longevity biotech, neurotechnology, and smarter governance. For instance, episodes with David Deutsch focus on the principles of knowledge and progress, while discussions with David Pearce examine philosophical approaches to eliminating suffering and enhancing human potential.
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, smarter governance, and more.
About Foresight Institute: For 40 years the independent nonprofit Foresight Institute has mapped how emerging technologies can serve humanity. Its Existential Hope program is the North Star: mapping the futures worth aiming for and the breakthroughs needed to reach them. This podcast is that exploration in public. Follow along and help tip the century toward success.
Explore more:
- Transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
- Follow on X
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 with Jan-Willem van Putten, co-founder of the School for Moral Ambition, an organization that is building clear pathways for people who want to do work that actually changes the world.
We discuss:
- The three main bottlenecks stopping talented people from doing high-impact work
- How to find important yet neglected causes to work on, and the School for Moral Ambition top picks
- Why movements that want to change the world often fail, and what effective advocates do differently
- How to figure out which problems your specific background and skills are best placed to solve
- The real struggles of leaving a prestigious career behind, from lifestyle creep to peer support, and what makes people say it was worth it
Timestamps:
0:00 Cold open
2:12 From thesis on talent waste to joining consultancy: Jan-Willem’s journey
4:29 Why did you step away from management consulting?
6:35 Focusing on impact vs. status: can you persuade people?
8:40 What is the School for Moral Ambition?
11:58 Is there now a real field for impact-driven careers?
12:58 Cause areas: food transition and tobacco control
17:10 How to prioritize problems to work on: the Triple-S framework
21:11 Next cause areas: tax fairness and democracy
23:00 What does the fellowship journey look like?
25:06 The profile of an ambitious idealist: startup drive meets activist values
27:43 Noble losers: why social movements fail
30:56 Is moral ambition only for the privileged?
36:04 How to cultivate a higher level of ambition in society
40:31 Feeling hopeless about big problems? New tools change the game
42:19 What holds people back from making the leap to meaningful work
46:12 What do fellows find most rewarding?
47:32 What does success look like in 10 years?
51:25 Where to start if you want to shift to a career that makes a difference
55:28 Best advice ever received: the case for taking action
On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures.
Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
Follow on X.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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