Foresight Institute - Wikipedia

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Wikipedia·en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute

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The Foresight Institute is a pioneering nonprofit founded in 1986 that promotes safe development of nanotechnology and emerging technologies including AGI, relevant to AI safety through its focus on existential risk reduction and 'existential hope' frameworks.

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Summary

The Foresight Institute is an American nonprofit research organization founded in 1986 by Christine Peterson, K. Eric Drexler, and James C. Bennett to promote beneficial development of nanotechnology and emerging technologies. It runs programs on molecular machines, biotech, and AI safety, and advances the concept of 'existential hope' alongside existential risk reduction. The institute hosts fellowships, conferences, and open-source educational content.

Key Points

•Founded in 1986, Foresight Institute promotes safe development of nanotechnology, AGI, biotech, and longevity research.
•Runs an 'existential hope' program based on Toby Ord and Owen Cotton-Barratt's 2015 framework for positive large-scale futures.
•Hosts fellowship programs, annual Vision Weekend conferences, and an open-source podcast on grand futures.
•Created the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology in 1993 to fund and recognize nanotechnology developers.
•Strategy focuses on building communities that promote beneficial technology use while reducing misuse and accidents.

1 FactBase fact citing this source

Entity	Property	Value	As Of
Foresight Institute	Founded Date	1986	—

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# Foresight Institute

Foresight Institute

American research non-profit organization

This article is about the nanotechnology policy organization. For the similar-sounding craniofacial research institute, see [The Forsyth Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forsyth_Institute "The Forsyth Institute").

| [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Vector-Foresight-Logo-dark-blue.svg/500px-Vector-Foresight-Logo-dark-blue.svg.png)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vector-Foresight-Logo-dark-blue.svg) |
| Formation | 1986;40years ago(1986) |
| Type | [Nonprofit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonprofit "Nonprofit") [research institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_institute "Research institute") |
| Purpose | Research into [nanotechnology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology "Nanotechnology") and the [existential risk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk "Existential risk") |
| Key people | [Eric Drexler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Drexler "Eric Drexler"), [Christine Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Peterson "Christine Peterson") |
| Website | [foresight.org/our-history/](https://foresight.org/our-history/) |

Foresight Institute

The **Foresight Institute** (Foresight) is an American research [nonprofit organization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonprofit_organization "Nonprofit organization") that promotes the development of [nanotechnology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology "Nanotechnology") and other emerging technologies, such as safe [AGI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence "Artificial general intelligence"), [biotech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotech "Biotech") and [longevity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity "Longevity").[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute#cite_note-guston-1)[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute#cite_note-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute#cite_note-3)

Foresight runs four cross-disciplinary program tracks to research, advance, and govern maturing technologies for the long-term benefit of life and the biosphere: Molecular machines [nanotechnology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology "Nanotechnology") for building better materials, [biotechnology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnology "Biotechnology") for health extension, and [computer science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science "Computer science") and crypto commerce for intelligent global cooperation.[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute#cite_note-4)

## History

The Foresight Institute was founded in 1986 by [Christine Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Peterson "Christine Peterson"),[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foresight_Institute#cite_note-oliver-5) [K. Eric Drexler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Eric_Drexler "K. Eric Drexler"), and [James C. Bennett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Bennett 

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