Freethink

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A collage of scientific and technological images surrounds the text "The Problem-Solving Animal" and the number 7 on a grid-patterned background.
The Techno-Humanist Manifesto
It’s far too early to call “peak ideas”
Economic growth is driven by ideas, not resources — and as history shows, the well of innovation is unlikely to ever run dry.
Jason Crawford
Black and white illustration of two men working in a factory, moving large rectangular blocks with machinery and carts.
History
The war on artificial ice
Louis Anslow
Four children wearing blue headphones use desktop computers in a classroom, focusing on their screens.
The Great Progression
What if you could start civilization over with AI?
Peter Leyden
A person holds a sign reading "OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON SCIENCE" with an image of Earth in the background, at an outdoor gathering.
Misinformation
How consensus can undermine science
The main objective of consensus statements appears to be to reduce doubt, which may stifle scientific inquiry.
Christopher Ferguson
More Stories
The Freethink Interview
In this groundbreaking series, we host intimate conversations with tech and business leaders on the bleeding edge, exploring how technology works and its impact on people and society.
A syringe filled with liquid is suspended in front of a view of Earth from space, with the planet’s surface and atmosphere visible below.
Series| The Freethink Interview
Why the future of pharma is off-planet | A live conversation with Varda founder Will Bruey
“We’ve reached a point where Earth-bound manufacturing limits what biology can do—space unlocks an entirely new frontier.”
Series| The Freethink Interview
40 generations of historians waited to read these scrolls. Now, we can.
A microchip with arrows pointing to it. Text below reads, "This Controls Everything" on a yellow background.
Series| The Freethink Interview
The war over microchips is coming, says Chris Miller | The Freethink Interview
“When we think about technology, we think of social media, search engines, apps on our phone; but undergirding all of this are chips.”
A close-up view of the Sun's surface, showcasing its bright, textured, orange appearance against a black background.
Series| The Freethink Interview
The solar revolution turning sunlight into synthetic fuel
“10 years ago, my colleagues and I looked at the prognosis for Climate Change, and it looked pretty hopeless. There really was no way out.” But something happened – something good.
A curated selection of thought leaders whose voices deserve to be heard now more than ever.
A graphic featuring industrial machinery, a historic portrait, Earth, and the text "The Problem-Solving Animal 7" on a grid background in orange and beige tones.
The Techno-Humanist Manifesto
Predictions of resource scarcity have a fundamental flaw
From where we stand, the true limits to growth are currently unknowable and need not affect any decisions we make today.
A collage featuring a hand using a smartphone, two men speaking into microphones, a vintage desktop computer, and a graph, with the text "The Flywheel" in the center.
The Techno-Humanist Manifesto
If progress has stalled, we need to know why
We need to figure out what drives progress, what might cause it to slow down or stop, and what, if anything, we can do to re-accelerate it.
A crowd of people in formal attire socialize at an indoor event with a large "Substack" sign illuminated on the wall above.
History
Why Substack will be the intellectual engine of the 21st century
The 21st-century version of the Royal Society could be the Substack network that we are just starting to build out today.
The Race to AGI
Cheap AI is causing a power shift in the world’s militaries
The militaries that leverage the low-cost capabilities of AI the most will have a decisive advantage in the future.
A chart titled "Our New Enlightenment Civilizational Timeline" shows green steps marking progress from 1980 to 2100, highlighting key phases of enlightenment and development across the years.
The Great Progression
How AI could usher in The New Enlightenment
AI could trigger a civilization-scale change for humanity the same way the steam engine helped usher in The Enlightenment 250 years ago.
A graphic with the title "The New Potential For Abundance" shows icons for education, wind energy, and healthcare, labeled "Abundant Education," "Abundant Energy," and "Abundant Healthcare.
The Great Progression
The missing tech case for how we create an era of abundance
AI and other new technologies could make things that are costly and scarce today, cheap and abundant for all tomorrow.
Collage with stone tools, a flywheel, a vintage train, and a graph on a grid background; text reads “The Flywheel” with the number 6 in the top right corner.
The Techno-Humanist Manifesto
Why progress was so slow, for so long
Progress was agonizingly slow for most of human history, but the rapid progress of the last few centuries was not a fluke.
A timeline titled "The 80 Year Cycle of American Reinvention" shows portraits of Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and a silhouette with a question mark, marking years 1785, 1865, 1945, and 2025.
The Great Progression
Why America reinvents itself every 80 years — and is doing so again
Three separate theories help explain why America enters a period of great progress every 80 years — and why another is coming soon.
A man in a suit sits in a room with American flags behind him. The image is in high contrast with a yellow tint.
The Great Progression
What a historian in 2100 might say about Trump’s America
President Donald Trump might clear the way for the building of 21st-century systems and open up the political space for a new way forward.
Collage with house roof solar panels, abstract spheres, red planets, forest, and industrial smoke, centered text: "Solutionism," with a checkered background.
The Techno-Humanist Manifesto
“Stopping climate change” is the wrong goal
Anything that matters to humans should be under our control. The climate matters—so we should control the climate.
A person in a blue suit speaks at a podium during an event, with a large display screen in the background featuring Chinese text.
The Race to AGI
How DeepSeek rewrote the rules of the AI race
Chinese startup DeepSeek has proven that vast quantities of capital and cutting-edge chips aren’t prerequisites for world-class AI.
A man with a gray beard and wearing a light blue shirt sits with his hands clasped, in a room with shelves and artwork in the background.
The Great Progression
Kevin Kelly points a new way forward into the Age of AI
One of the most original and optimistic thinkers in America helps build out some big through lines on what’s possible with AI in the next 25 years.
Graph depicting the transition from "The Old World is Dying" to "The New One Struggles to Be Born" during the 1945-1970 post-WWII boom, with "JFK Was Here" marked in the mid-20th century area.
The Great Progression
America is going through its every-80-year reinvention
Futurist Peter Leyden finds parallels between America in 2025 and at three pivotal points in its history, each 80 years before the last.
Peter Leyden, wearing a blue suit and glasses, speaks and gestures on a stage about the Great Progression to a large audience clad in white.
The Great Progression
A dozen reasons to read Peter Leyden at this critical juncture in history
To truly understand our historic moment, you need a comprehensive, big-picture, long-term perspective that deeply understands artificial intelligence and the next wave of transformative technologies.
A vibrant yellow background showcases bold, black geometric text that exclaims "The Great Progression 2025-2050" across a dynamic halftone circle.
The Great Progression
What is The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050?
We have a historic opportunity to harness AI and other transformative technologies in order to make a much better world in the next 25 years.
The Great Progression
Hard Reset
A person rides a bicycle between two modern white buildings under a clear blue sky, with large text reading "RESET THE CITY" above.
Series| Hard Reset
24 hours in an illegal, car-free community
What happens when you ban cars? Step inside the first walkable neighborhood of its kind in the US.
Gold lunar lander model with NASA and flag decals on a blue gradient background.
Series| Hard Reset
Moon landings are back, baby! Feat. Firefly Aerospace
“These investments we make in exploring our universe have always paid dividends. That drive to explore these frontiers is what forces us to be creative and inventive.”
A man with glasses and a beard holds a cylindrical object labeled "Transport Document" outside in front of an industrial backdrop.
Series| Hard Reset
Inside the insane lab making fuel from thin air
Come with us to visit Terraform Industries, the start-up harnessing artificial photosynthesis to make fossil-free fuel.
A man with glasses pours liquid from a plastic bag into a toilet against a blue background.
Series| Hard Reset
Why use pristine drinking water for toilets?
A person wearing a gray shirt is extending their hand with rings on each finger against a dark background with a green glow.
Series| Hard Reset
Can reality be expanded? This tech says yes.
A close-up of a person's fingers holding a small, transparent electronic component with a green background.
Series| Hard Reset
This tiny pill spies on your stomach
Future Explored
Freethink's premier newsletter exploring the incredible technologies moving the world forward.
A collage of images of satellites and spacecraft.
Collection
Future Explored
This is Future Explored, your guide to world-changing technology. Each month, we explore the past, present, and future of innovation.
a sleek Cover unit with a patio and flowers in the foreground
Construction
Fire-resilient prefabs are helping LA build back better
Victims of LA’s wildfires are opting for tech company Cover’s prefab homes over traditional new builds. Here’s why.
Kristin Houser
Sequences of DNA base pairs are displayed in black text on alternating green and blue horizontal backgrounds, showcasing the innovation of generative biology.
Biology
Arc Institute’s new AI can read and write the code of life
Training on the DNA of nearly 130,000 species taught Evo 2 how to generate DNA sequences the same way other AIs do text or images.
Kristin Houser
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Aerial view of a rural settlement with huts on the left, and a heat map of African croplands on the right, highlighting agricultural regions.
How local innovators are transforming the world 
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
These changemakers show that social innovation thrives when it draws on the knowledge and lived experience of the people impacted.
Alasdair Lane
Two women in patterned clothing stand in a forest. Aerial and crowd images are overlaid.
Why we need social innovation now more than ever
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
Social innovation is proving that when we work together across sectors, lasting change is possible.
Why are traditional climate solutions falling short in the American South?
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
Decades of disinvestment left Black communities in the South fighting for clean air and water. Now they’re showing the nation what justice looks like.
Jamie Carson
Three people stand outside a brick building, facing forward. The woman on the left wears a "Black Health Matters" shirt, the man in the center wears a blazer, and the woman on the right wears glasses and a blue blazer.
When pollution poisons a community, what does justice look like?
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
Toxic waste sites surround Black communities in the South, poisoning their air, water, and health. This is how they’re fighting back—and winning.
A police cap is covered with binary code on a bright yellow background.
Police spend 40% of their time on paperwork. Can AI help?
In partnership with Axon
Axon’s AI innovations promise to free officers from desks, but not without questions of ethics. CEO Rick Smith addresses concerns and community trust:
A person sits at a desk looking thoughtfully to the side. Behind them is a bookshelf full of books and a lit hanging lamp. The background has colorful static interference.
Series| In The Arena with Evan Baehr
Adapting education for an ever-changing workforce
In partnership with Arena Hall
At a time where AI is constantly shifting the workforce, how can you ensure your skills are cutting edge?
Individual with blue and red face paint, wearing a yellow headband and a necklace, in an outdoor wooded area.
Indigenous Peoples standing up to corporate greed
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
Indigenous Peoples’ lands are key to combating climate change, but corporate greed puts them at risk. Meet the land and environmental defenders fighting to hold them accountable.
A person wearing a headscarf and carrying a basket picks tea leaves in a green hilly landscape with a waterfall in the background.
Meet the guardians of Earth’s last untouched lands
In partnership with Skoll Foundation
This group makes up just 6% of the global population, but protects up to 80% of our remaining biodiversity. Meet the most committed keepers of planet Earth.
Industrial facility emitting smoke from multiple smokestacks under an overcast sky.
The hidden crisis of environmental racism – and the fight against it
In partnership with McNulty Foundation
Those on the frontlines of environmental degradation have the best solutions. This is their fight.
Two women and a young boy stand in front of a house while five individuals stand on the roof in the background.
The unsung heroes restoring America after disaster
In partnership with McNulty Foundation
When disaster strikes, the workers helping us rebuild are often exploited. Here’s a solution to protect and scale this urgently-needed labor force.
Original Series

This is a show about rebuilding the world from scratch and reimagining everything from first principles.

Watch the Series