About us
This group is for people who are interested in the future and maybe want to help shape it.
The acceleration of technology means that the near future may bring radical changes to all of us. Major developments in technologies like anti-aging, nanotech, genetics, computing, robotics, and geo-engineering are going to make the next few years very exciting - and possibly also very dangerous. We could gain god-like powers - but we might also lose sight of our humanity, and destroy everything that we used to hold dear.
What's your view? Are things improving? Too slowly or too quickly? Are we are entering a new golden age? Or is the potential "Technological Singularity" something to fear? What does it mean to talk about "Human 2.0" and "Humanity+"? Or perhaps you view such talk as techno-hype? Maybe you just like the practical side of technology and want to find out more about possible paradigm shifts?
Anybody is welcome to this group - you don't have to be a Techno Geek or work for some futuristic company to be in our group. The future applies to us all!
Come join in the debate - have your opinions voiced and maybe make some interesting new friends.
All we ask is that members treat each other with the respect they would want for themselves. Our group has members of many ages and backrounds. We have many different perspectives on what the future may bring and like to share different ideas with each other. We approach the future with a open mind and sense of humility. Our group mission is to introduce you to some of the ideas, advancements and people who are making our future happen today.
If you have a subject you would like us to discuss at a meetup just drop us a line.
Note: Videos of some of the previous meetings are available on our YouTube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/user/LondonFuturists/ and here: (Older Archive).
Upcoming events
2
Civil Stewardship Democracy
·OnlineOnlineHow can democracy be reformed, before it is too late?
Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and brain-computer interfaces are accelerating too fast for conventional political evolution. With the imminent arrival of Superintelligence, the current default trajectory for politics and geopolitics is a descent into chaos. Humanity urgently needs to create a faster, globally trusted decision-making body. That requires a deep reform of democracy, happening much more quickly than the pace of present reform initiatives. The task is therefore not just to improve democracy but to create a fast, legitimate mechanism through which humanity can define its values, coordinate survival, and enter coexistence with benevolent Superintelligence.
That's the thesis which Tony Czarnecki, Managing Partner of Sustensis, will be exploring in this London Futurists webinar.
Tony's one-sentence summary of the way forward is for humanity to create a new type of democracy - Civil Stewardship Democracy - as an emergency bridge: democratic enough to be legitimate, filtered enough to be competent, and temporary enough to serve the transition from human self-government to safe coexistence with benevolent Superintelligence.
Questions the presentation will try to answer include:
- What if the United Nations cannot speak for humanity?
- What if individual powers align Superintelligence mainly with their own national interests?
- What if party democracies are too polarised and short-termist to select humanity’s trustees?
- What if the decisive act is not another election, but a Testament of Humanity?
- What if AI prepares most complex decisions faster than human governments can frame them?
- What if democracy has one final task: to give humanity a legitimate voice before the handover?
The webinar will also include time for audience questions, feedback, and extended conversation.
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This event will be hosted on Zoom. To register, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_InGe_LAnQQG-P-8VdImEMg
There will be no charge to attend the webinar.
The webinar will start broadcasting at 4pm UK time on Sat 30th May. To find this time in other timezones, you can use this conversion page.
Please log into Zoom up to 10 minutes ahead of the start time of the event, so you won't miss the start of the live broadcast.
As the discussion proceeds, attendees will be welcome to raise questions and vote to prioritise questions raised by others.
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About the speaker:
Tony Czarnecki is a futurist who spent most of his life working world-wide as a consultant for large global companies.
In 1996, he founded SUSTENSIS, a Management Consultancy focusing on Business Sustainability, which tried to answer the question: “How can companies survive for ever?”, obviously not literally. During that time, Sustensis included over 50 partners.
In 2018 Sustensis was converted into a Think Tank on Humanity’s transition to coexistence with Superintelligence, when Tony realised that perhaps it is time to ask: “How can human species be preserved for ever?” No wonder then, that Tony is a long-time member of the London Futurists.
Tony has lectured on postgraduate courses at Universities in Central Europe and the University of London. He has also been a mentor for postgraduate students at University College London and Regent’s University.
Tony is the author of many articles and six books on the subject of AI, Civilisational Transition, and Transhumanism:
Who could save Humanity from Superintelligence? covers one of the top existential threats – developing a malicious Superintelligence.
That book was followed by the Posthumans series, consisting of three books:
- The first of these books, Federate to Survive! proposes that the most urgent task for humans to survive beyond this century is for all nations to federate.
- Democracy for a Human Federation suggests that the federalization of the world should be simultaneously accompanied by a deep reform of democracy.
- Becoming a Butterfly is the final book in the series, focusing on the future of a human species after 2050. The author suggests that our future depends on a new system of values, which a superintelligent being may inherit from us.
Towards the Big Consensus…or the Loss of Control Over Our Future posits that the only way to rebuild the trust in politics is to set up a new Social Contract between the governing and the governed and build a Big Consensus fast.
Prevail or Fail – a Civilisational Shift to the World of Transhumans, is the most recent book. It argues that the magnitude of the changes required in our lives and global governance is so substantial that we must acknowledge it as a momentous Civilisational Shift in the history of our species.
In this webinar, Tony brings all his thinking up to date, recognising that risks of catastrophe are accelerating more quickly than he used to assume, invalidating any hopes that gradual democratic reform would be a sufficient solution.
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To register on Zoom for this event, click here.
8 attendees
The Technoprogressive Opportunity
LSBU Hub, 116, 100 London Rd, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6NJ, London, GBThe Technoprogressive Opportunity is a two-day in-person conference in Central London (SE1), organised by the IEET and London Futurists, on the subject of "The future of ethics and emerging technologies".
As planning for the conference proceeds, members and friends of London Futurists are invited to RSVP 'Yes' if they expect to attend on one or both days - Saturday 19th September and Sunday 20th September.
Formal registration will become available nearer the time. There will be no charge to attend, or for morning and afternoon refreshments.
Brief description
We live in a time of dramatic changes in the capabilities of technologies. Political and social norms are being disrupted as never before. The future is deeply uncertain. Humanity faces a bewildering mix of risks of catastrophe. But we also have the potential to transition to a new state of civilisation – a new relationship with technology and the environment – featuring unparalleled increases in all-round flourishing.In this state of confusion and turmoil, how can society reach the wisest decisions about which technologies to encourage and which to constrain? How can society ensure that these decisions are followed in practice, rather than being ignored or subverted by powerful self-interested forces? How can a technoprogressive coalition grow in strength, as a decisive counter to existing worldviews which are more likely to leave humanity diminished, fragmented, or even extinct?
These are the questions at the heart of the technoprogressive opportunity.
Themes
Speakers are being invited to address themes such as:- Politics and human enhancement
- Technologies for collaboration
- Democracy in the wake of AI
- Abundance: Creating it, sustaining it, and sharing it
- The techlash as a catalyst for profound change
- The Technoprogressive Declaration, 12 years later
- Beyond the Green New Deal: global health and technological justice
- Society as a Service – assessing the Network State
- The impending Economic Singularity: myth or reality?
- AI misalignment: how bad could things get?
- Regulation in the era of augmented capabilities
- PostCapitalism and PostSocialism
- Progressive politics if there’s no working class
- Escaping from Molloch: avoiding the race to the bottom
- The Longevity Dividend: making it real
- Alternative banners: transhumanism, vitalism, ecomodernism, or what?
- From Cold War 2.0 to a new world order?
- Ethics: by whom and for whom?
- Lobbying for better policies: dos and don’ts
- Concrete next steps in building the technoprogressive coalition
Venue
The conference will take place in the LSBU Hub, part of London South Bank University, which is a short distance from London Waterloo, London Bridge Station, and London Borough Market.Address: 100-116 London Road, SE1 6LN.
We’ll be in the Southwark Lecture Theatre.
Note that this is an in-person event. All speakers are expected to give their presentation in person, at the LSBU Hub venue.
Speakers
Speakers will start to be announced shortly.Schedule
The schedule will be announced nearer the time. It will include networking time as well as presentations and dialogues.The conference is likely to run from 9:30am to 5pm on the Saturday and from 10am to 4:30pm on the Sunday.
Look out for options to obtain tickets to join speakers for dinner gatherings.
More information
Information about this forthcoming conference is also being shared at https://londonfuturists.com/forthcoming-meetings/the-technoprogressive-opportunity/.31 attendees
Past events
348
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