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Writes The Convivial Society, on technology and the moral life — what our tools do to attention, memory and how we treat each other.

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  AI as it is currently deployed bends towards demoralisation rather than towards flourishing.

  Their words

  My working thesis about the generalized impact of “AI” as it is currently deployed can be summed up in the observation that the arc of AI bends toward demoralization.

  Do Not Resign From Lifetheconvivialsociety.substack.com

American social psychologist at NYU Stern School of Business; author of The Happiness Hypothesis, The Righteous Mind and The Anxious Generation.

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  Spirituality is a real part of human nature and central to flourishing, whether or not God exists.

  Their words

  I approach spirituality as a social scientist who believes that whether or not God exists, spirituality is a deep part of human nature, shaped by natural selection and cultural evolution, and central to human flourishing and self-transcendence.

  The Devil's Plan to Ruin the Next Generationafterbabel.com

Demographer; writes on fertility, marriage and population, and directs the Pro-Family Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies.

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  The harm done by low fertility is that people end up with fewer children than they wanted, not that a society runs short of workers.

  Their words

  I don’t see population collapse or lack of workers as the central policy problem: the central policy problem is human happiness, human flourishing, and the freedom to live life well.

  Falling Fertility Is Not About Opportunity Costlymanstone.substack.com

Philosopher at Oxford; co-founded effective altruism and 80,000 Hours, wrote Doing Good Better and What We Owe the Future, and now works on what a good future would actually contain.

From one piece Introducing Better Futures 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

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  Whether anyone can actually do anything about how good the future is, rather than whether it matters, is the strongest objection to prioritising it.

  Their words

  I see this as the strongest argument against the better futures perspective, and the reason why I don’t feel confident that work on Flourishing is higher-priority than work on Surviving, rather than merely in the same ballpark.

  Introducing Better Futuresforethought.org

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  Improving how good the future turns out to be, given that humanity survives, is roughly as high a priority as preventing extinction.

  Their words

  This essay series will argue that work on Flourishing is in the same ballpark of priority as work on Surviving.

  Introducing Better Futuresforethought.org

Runs global health R&D at Open Philanthropy; writes about the science and medicine that could exist and does not.

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  Rapid AI progress does not automatically produce rapid medical progress; without complementary investment, people still get cancer and Alzheimer's.

  Their words

  Rapid AI progress does not automatically mean rapid medical progress. If the point of AI progress is human flourishing, we must make other complementary investments too.

  What does AI progress mean for medical progress?blog.jacobtrefethen.com

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  Going all in on AI is not the highest-return strategy for human flourishing, even if AI does produce rapid scientific advances.

  Their words

  Going all in on AI is not the highest return-on-investment strategy if you care about human flourishing, even if AI might lead to rapid scientific advances.

  AI will not suddenly lead to an Alzheimer's cureblog.jacobtrefethen.com

Writer and former McKinsey/BCG strategy consultant; author of The Pathless Path and Good Work, about leaving the default career track. Publishes the Boundless newsletter and podcast.

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  Leisure: The Basis of Culture

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  A short but powerful reflection from post-WWII Germany on 'true leisure' not mere relaxation or entertainment—is fundamental to human flourishing and the foundation of a meaningful life and culture.

  pathlesspath.com

Psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University. Writes Psychiatry at the Margins on the philosophical and scientific arguments inside psychiatry and the psy-sciences.

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  Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance

  Their words

  (publication date March 18, 2025, Viking) by Laura Delano is a compelling and troubling memoir of psychiatric patienthood, iatrogenic harm, and finding a meaningful and flourishing life outside of the mental healthcare system.

  psychiatrymargins.com