History
AI doomerism isn’t new. Meet the original alarmist: Norbert Wiener
Decades before Geoffrey Hinton and Eliezer Yudkowsky raised alarms, the computer scientist warned AI could steal jobs and outsmart humans.
We used to celebrate science and innovation
From the Brooklyn Bridge to the polio vaccine, society once honored signs of progress with parades, fireworks, and festivals.
Ancient Olympians wouldn’t qualify for today’s Games
Across history, the human body has been reshaped by discipline, medicine, and now technology — each era redefining peak performance.
Problem-solving is fundamental to human nature
Believing in the next solution is not blind optimism or even wishful thinking — it is a recognition that humans are problem-solving animals.
A call to innovators in Silicon Valley and beyond to help chart the new way forward
Peter Leyden sums up the key themes and big ideas of his new series at a Freethink Conversation in San Francisco.
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.
The war on artificial ice
Decades before states started banning lab-grown meat, manufactured ice was the "unnatural" alternative under attack.
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.
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.
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.