Policies

About these policies

Future Surge emphasises proposals that are both radical and real-world:

  • Not just “more of the same”
  • Avoid going beyond the comprehension of the general public
  • Identify step-by-step roadmaps in support of each of the policy initiatives

(The remainder of this page contains “headlines” for policies. More details will be supplied in due course.)

Education for a dramatically better future

Education fit for the new future: STEM and beyond

  • Free access for all to the “Vital Syllabus”
    • Engaging, credible, clear explanations of the most important skills and principles for our age of multiple pressures, dizzying opportunities, daunting risks, and accelerating disruption
    • Multiple forms of intelligence and wisdom
    • The remarkable capabilities of technology, now and in the near future, and the huge opportunities and risks arising
    • The factors that influence how society develops and uses technologies
    • Options for changes in our lives, cultures, and environment

Urgently raise awareness of the enormous possibilities of the Singularity

  • Exponential technology, unexpected combinations, cataclysmic disruptions
  • Futures that could be dramatically better – and those that could be dramatically worse
  • Technology is almost out-of-control already – a negative Singularity is near
  • Click here for more about the Singularity

But avoid the distortions and confusions of “the Singularity Shadow”

  • Unwarranted fixed views on timescales
  • Unwarranted fixed views on outcomes
  • Unwarranted complacency regarding risks
  • A preoccupation with the Singularity over the developments taking place beforehand
  • Click here for more about the Singularity Shadow

Measurements for a dramatically better future

Measure and monitor the growth in capability of technology

  • Beyond speculation to reliable data
  • How close to superintelligence has AI reached?
  • Design the tests that will supersede the Turing test

Measure and monitor human and social wellbeing

  • A metric to supersede GDP: long overdue!
  • Many measurements have been proposed: it’s time to draw the best ideas together

Wise use of technology for a dramatically better future

Healthcare for open-ended youthful lifespans

  • Embrace the longevity dividend
  • Public investment into the areas not covered by private investments

Accelerate access to neurotechnologies and psychoactive substances

  • Assistance on the paths to health, discipline, wisdom, and enlightenment

Accelerate improvements in cryopreservation

  • Enable and support wider adoption of cryopreservation: “an ambulance to the future”

Selectively embrace genetic editing

  • Don’t be held back by ideologically-motivated blanket bans

Incentivise meat from non-sentient sources

  • Good for the planet, good for our diets, good for animals
  • Will allow significant land reuse, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • Other innovations in food production should be prioritised too
  • (e.g. salt-water agriculture, better soil management)

From the Green New Deal to the Future Surge New Deal

  • “Bright Green” – and with an even bigger impact

Social changes for a dramatically better future

From “everyone online” to “everyone empowered”

  • Being online is only the start of modern citizenship
  • Enabling everyone to take well-informed decisions, freed from manipulation by platform owners and online disinformation

From “smart city” to “trusted city”

  • Technology that is on the side of the population

Automation that uplifts rather than deprives

  • Prepare for a post-work society

A social contract that copes with radical disruption

  • Beyond a “Universal Basic Income”
  • Transitioning toward elements of a “Star Trek” abundance economy

Political changes for a dramatically better future

Improved democracy and citizens’ assemblies

  • Better ways of reaching better decisions and deeper agreement
  • Not one-time “first past the post” decisions, but iterative deliberations
  • Decisions aided and augmented by AI

Legal backing for the Singularity Principles

  • Stage-by-stage adoption and enforcement

International changes for a dramatically better future

Revitalise the universal declaration of human rights

  • Revisit and extend the global project that took place just after WW2
  • Take account of transhumanist and singularitarian possibilities
  • Value diversity, but clarify the limits of acceptable diversity
    • Societies must uphold the rights of individuals, especially children and minorities
    • Societies must avoid the destruction of our shared environment

Deepen human links despite conflicting governments

  • Forge connections at multiple levels of organisation
    • Both formal and informal
  • Strengthen understanding and agreements on future surge possibilities
    • An urgent appreciation of the risks of catastrophe
    • A profound wonder at the possibilities of human transcendence

Becoming involved

If the above policies resonate with you, consider joining Future Surge

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