🌏 The techno-humanism movement: Are you in?
Never has humanity been so powerful. And so distrustful…
Hello Freethinkers,
We’re back in action with some major upgrades at Freethink, including a total revamp of our newsletter and a suite of new products coming your way this month:
Freethink Research is our new weekly articles series that visualizes the data behind today's biggest stories.
Freethink Interview is our new video series where we sit down for in-depth conversations with the thinkers and builders shaping our future.
Freethink Voices is our new editorial series featuring opinions from today's most insightful visionaries.
We’re thrilled to debut Freethink Voices this week with Jason Crawford, founder of the Roots of Progress Institute. Our first installment is an introduction to The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, which lays out Crawford’s philosophy of “techno-humanism.”
Also on deck this week: the lab that’s building a battery that lasts forever, how AI is rewiring Silicon Valley’s relationship with the Pentagon, and a showdown between SpaceX’s Starship and Boeing’s Starliner.
Onward,
A new vision for the advancement of humanity
Featuring
// @jasoncrawford“The world needs a moral defense of progress based in humanism and agency—that is, one that holds human life as its standard of value, and emphasizes our ability to shape the future,” argues Jason Crawford, founder of the Roots of Progress Institute and a philosopher of technological advancement. “This is what I am calling ‘techno-humanism’: the idea that science, technology and industry are good—because they promote human life, well-being, and agency.”
Crawford’s new book, The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, explains and defends this idea. The entirety of the book will be published exclusively on Freethink over the next few weeks. Read about the philosophy of progress and follow along each week.
This lab is using a particle accelerator to build a battery that lasts forever
Argonne National Laboratory is redesigning the battery from the ground up, using a particle accelerator and AI to hack battery physics — creating entirely new ways to store energy.
Solar keeps smashing expectations
@alecstapp on X
The progress of solar power keeps blowing past expert predictions. To learn more about where we might be headed in the future — and what it’ll take to get us there — check out Future Explored’s recent deep dive on the rise and rise of solar energy in the US.
MORE ON THIS STORY
How AI is rewriting Silicon Valley’s relationship with the Pentagon
The US military is integrating AI throughout its operations. Autonomous drones, tanks, and fighter jets are being designed to enhance US defenses and keep soldiers safe on the battlefield, while (hopefully) leading to fewer civilian casualties and collateral damage. That’s one future, anyway — here are the companies trying to build it.
SpaceX’s Starship vs. Boeing’s Starliner
June 2024 was a momentous month for human space travel. Boeing delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in its Starliner capsule on June 5. The very next day, SpaceX successfully recovered both stages of its massive Starship rocket system after a test flight — a milestone that brings the in-development spacecraft one step closer to transporting people to the moon and Mars. Let’s take a deeper look at these two spacecraft of the future.
RECENT & UPCOMING RELEASES
A list of Freethink exclusive videos coming soon:
Casey Handmer, PhD // @CJHandmer
We sat down with the founder of Terraform Industries to discuss completing the Industrial Revolution. Keep an eye out for our interview with Casey, releasing in August.
Stephen Johnson is the managing editor at Big Think and a writer at Freethink.
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