Existential Risks

From Pandemics, to Climate Change, to Artificial Intelligence, to Totalitarianism, to Asteroid Impacts (oh my!)

Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks (E.R./G.C.R.s) are unlike no other threats facing our world today. They’re titled as such because they pose a unique threat to our global society. In the 21st Century we’re facing many threats — both age old and completely novel — that pose unique challenges to our society. Understanding and Ideas are the building blocks of solutions. These problems are complex, and their solutions are even more so. On this blog, I will discuss the newest findings, guiding principles, and new approaches to overcoming some of our species most dire threats.

Good Ideas for the 21st Century

What ideas — new and ancient — and serve modern man in the 21st Century? Given the rapid increase in technology and society structure, there is no other time in human existence quite like the 21st Century.

Does a sense of personal meaning have a place in the 21st Century? Is individualism more powerful than collectivism? What philosophy can help us overcome the anxieties of modern life? How will what it means to be human change given technologies like AI and space travel? What does modern science say about consciousness?

Fundamental questions are asked by every generation and the answer forms the basis of their understanding of the world and its forces. It’s time we revise 20th Century conceptions with new vigor, thoughtfulness, and accessibility to those outside of the academic sphere. Welcome to the 21st-Talks Blog.

Politics, Art, and Culture

Is democracy the best system? What accounts for rising polarization? How great of a threat is authoritarianism in the 21st Century? Does art have any ability anymore to actual make a political difference? Is culture a great unifier of people, or divider? What is the ideal way to organization human society while accounting for our nature?

Politics, art, and culture all share the commonality of each being a set of public-stories. They’re collective stories millions of people tell each other, tell themselves, and act in line with.

Participation in these collective stories have been instrumental in our rise to the status we enjoy (and often abuse) as a species today. Lets retell some of these stories and figure out how to have better discussions about todays biggest political, artistic, and cultural problems?