View source for Foresight Institute

{{short description|American research non-profit organization}}
{{about|the nanotechnology policy organization|the similar-sounding craniofacial research institute|The Forsyth Institute}}{{Infobox organization
| formation = {{start date and age|1986}}
| logo = Vector-Foresight-Logo-dark-blue.svg
| image = 
| type = [[Nonprofit]] [[research institute]]
| purpose = Research into [[nanotechnology]] and the [[existential risk]]
| key_people = [[Eric Drexler]], [[Christine Peterson]]
| website = {{url|https://foresight.org}}
| footnotes = 
| location = 
}}

The '''Foresight Institute''' (Foresight) is an American research [[nonprofit organization]] that promotes the development of [[nanotechnology]] and other emerging technologies, such as safe [[Artificial general intelligence|AGI]], [[biotech]] and [[longevity]].<ref name="guston">{{cite book|author1-link=David H. Guston|title=Encyclopedia of nanoscience and society|date=2010|publisher=SAGE|location=London|isbn=978-1452266176|page=253|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyp1AwAAQBAJ&q=foresight+institute&pg=PA253|access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Biotech & Health Extension |url=https://foresight.org/biotech-health-extension-program/ |website=Foresight Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Computation: Intelligent Computation |url=https://foresight.org/intelligent-cooperation/ |website=Foresight Institute}}</ref>

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]] for building better materials, [[biotechnology]] for health extension, and [[computer science]] and crypto commerce for intelligent global cooperation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Foresight Institute Podcast |url=https://foresight.org/podcast/ |website=Foresight Institute}}</ref>

==History==
The Foresight Institute was founded in 1986 by [[Christine Peterson]],<ref name="oliver">{{cite book |last1=Oliver |first1=By Richard W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2u0euFAcOcwC&q=unbounding+future |title=The biotech age: the business of biotech and how to profit from it |date=2003 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0071414890 |edition=2nd ed., rev. |location=New York |page=86 |access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref> [[K. Eric Drexler]], and [[James C. Bennett]] to support the development of nanotechnology. Many of the institute's initial members came to it from the [[L5 Society]], who were hoping to form a smaller group more focused on nanotechnology.<ref name="McCray">{{cite book|last1=McCray|first1=W. Patrick|title=The visioneers: how a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future|date=2012|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=Princeton|isbn=978-0691139838|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/visioneershowgro0000mccr}}</ref> In 1991, the Foresight Institute created two suborganizations with funding from tech entrepreneur [[Mitch Kapor]]; the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and the Center for Constitutional Issues in Technology.<ref name="McCray" /> In the 1990s, the Foresight Institute launched several initiatives to provide funding to developers of nanotechnology.<ref name="Berube">{{cite book|last1=Berube|first1=David M.|title=Nano-Hype: The Truth Behind the Nanotechnology Buzz|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|isbn=9781615922369|date=2009-12-04}}</ref> In 1993, it created the [[Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology|Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology]], named after physicist [[Richard Feynman]].<ref name="marcovich">{{cite book|last1=Marcovich|first1=Anne|last2=Shinn|first2=Terry|title=Toward a New Dimension: Exploring the Nanoscale|date=2014|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0198714613}}</ref> In May 2005, the Foresight Institute changed its name to "Foresight Nanotech Institute",<ref name="milburn">{{cite book |last1=Milburn |first1=Colin |title=Nanovision: Engineering the future |date=2008 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0822391487 |location=Durham, N.C.}}</ref> though it reverted to its original name in June 2009.
 
In 2020, following the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the institute moved its programs online.

== Organization ==
Foresight also runs a program on "existential hope",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foresight: Existential Hope Program |url=https://foresight.org/existential-hope/ |website=Foresight Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/Existential-risk-and-existential-hope.pdf |title=Existential Risk and Existential Hope: Definitions |last1=Cotton-Baratt |first1=Owen |last2=Ord |first2=Toby |date=2015 |publisher=Future of Humanity Institute |id=Technical Report #2015-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 May 2018 |title="Existential Hope" is the website the world needs |url=https://qz.com/1289425/existential-hope-is-the-website-the-world-needs/ |website=Quartz}}</ref> pushing forward the concept coined by [[Toby Ord]] and Owen Cotton-Barratt in their 2015 paper "Existential risk and Existential hope: Definitions", in which they wrote
{{blockquote|we want to be able to refer to the chance of an existential eucatastrophe; upside risk on a large scale. We could call such a chance an [[existential hope]].{{nbsp}}... Some people are trying to identify and avert specific threats to our future – reducing existential risk. Others are trying to steer us towards a world where we are robustly well-prepared to face whatever obstacles come – they are seeking to increase existential hope.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/Existential-risk-and-existential-hope.pdf | title=Existential Risk and Existential Hope: Definitions | author1=Owen Cotton-Barratt | author2=Toby Ord | publisher=Foresight Institute | year=2015}}</ref>}}

Foresight's stated strategy is to focus on creating a community that promotes beneficial uses of new technologies and reduce misuse and accidents potentially associated with them.<ref name="foresight-institute.prowly.com">{{cite web |title=Foresight Institute Launches Podcast on Technology and Science for Long Term Flourishing Futures |url=https://foresight-institute.prowly.com/144622-foresight-institute-launches-podcast-on-technology-and-science-for-long-term-flourishing-futures |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715074727/https://foresight-institute.prowly.com/144622-foresight-institute-launches-podcast-on-technology-and-science-for-long-term-flourishing-futures |archive-date=2021-07-15}}</ref>

Foresight runs a one-year Fellowship program aimed at giving researchers and innovators the support and mentorship to accelerate their projects while they continue to work in their existing career.<ref>{{cite web |title=Senior Research Fellows |url=https://foresight.org/about-us/senior-research-fellows/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708122831/https://foresight.org/about-us/senior-research-fellows/ |archive-date=2019-07-08 |website=Foresight Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Foresight Institute is Accelerating High Risk High Rewards Projects to Heal the Planet |url=https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/20/12/n18663072/foresight-institute-is-accelerating-high-risk-high-rewards-projects-to-heal-the-planet}}</ref>

Since 2021, Foresight has hosted a podcast about grand futures called "The Foresight Institute Podcast" and shares all their material as open source via YouTube with lectures from scientists and other relevant actors within their fields of interest.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Foresight Institute Podcast |url=https://theforesightinstitutepodcast.buzzsprout.com}}</ref>

In addition, Foresight hosts Vision Weekend, an annual conferences focused on envisioning positive, long-term futures enabled by science and technology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 October 2005 |title=At the Foresight Vision Weekend – Soft Machines |url=http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=171}}</ref> The institute holds conferences on [[molecular nanotechnology]] and awards yearly prizes for developments in the field.<ref name="oliver" /><ref name="milburn" />

==Prizes==
{{main|Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology}}

The [[Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology]] is an award given by the Foresight Institute for significant advances in [[nanotechnology]]. Between 1993 and 1997, one prize was given biennially. Since 1997, two prizes have been given each year, divided into the categories of theory and experimentation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Marcovich|first1=Anne|last2=Shinn|first2=Terry|date=December 1, 2010|title=Socio/intellectual patterns in nanoscale research: Feynman Nanotechnology Prize laureates, 1993–2007|journal=Social Science Information|volume=49|issue=4|pages=615–638|doi=10.1177/0539018410377581|s2cid=145573876}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Citation|title=Feynman Prize: Dr Amanda Barnard|date=2015-04-30|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/feynman-prize3a-dr-amanda-barnard/6432694|publisher=ABC (Australia)|language=en-AU|access-date=2018-05-12}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/a-quantum-leap|title=Michelle Simmons: a quantum queen|last=Finkel|first=Elizabeth|date=2016-09-26|website=Cosmos Magazine|language=en|access-date=2018-05-08|archive-date=2018-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508121740/https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/a-quantum-leap|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heinze|first1=Thomas|last2=Shapira|first2=Philip|last3=Senker|first3=Jacqueline|last4=Kuhlmann|first4=Stefan|date=2007-01-01|title=Identifying creative research accomplishments: Methodology and results for nanotechnology and human genetics|journal=Scientometrics|language=en|volume=70|issue=1|pages=125–152|doi=10.1007/s11192-007-0108-6|issn=0138-9130|hdl=10419/28525|s2cid=10150814|url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/28525/1/522399991.pdf|hdl-access=free}}</ref> The prize is named in honor of physicist [[Richard Feynman]], whose 1959 talk "[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]" is considered to have inspired and informed the start of the field of nanotechnology.<ref name=":3" />  Author Colin Milburn refers to the prize as an example of "fetishizing" its namesake Feynman, due to his "prestige as a scientist and his fame among the broader public."<ref name="milburn" />

The Foresight Institute also offers the Feynman Grand Prize, a $250,000 award to the first persons to create both a nanoscale robotic arm capable of precise positional control and a nanoscale 8-bit [[Adder (electronics)|adder]], with both conditions conforming to given specifications. The Feynman Grand Prize is intended to emulate historical prizes such as the [[Longitude prize]], [[Orteig Prize]], [[Kremer prize]], [[Ansari X Prize]], and [[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom#Challenges|two prizes]] that were offered by Richard Feynman personally as challenges during his 1959 "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" talk.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://electroiq.com/blog/2004/10/diamandis-to-chair-feynman-grand-prize-committee/|title=Diamandis to chair Feynman Grand Prize committee {{!}} Solid State Technology|website=electroiq.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-01|archive-date=2018-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501093353/http://electroiq.com/blog/2004/10/diamandis-to-chair-feynman-grand-prize-committee/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nicolau|first1=D.E.|last2=Phillimore|first2=J.|last3=Cross|first3=R.|last4=Nicolau|first4=D.V|date=July 2000|title=Nanotechnology at the crossroads: the hard or the soft way?|journal=Microelectronics Journal|volume=31|issue=7|pages=611–616|doi=10.1016/s0026-2692(00)00036-7|issn=0026-2692}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Davidian|first=Ken|date=2005|title=Prize Competitions and NASA's Centennial Challenges Program|url=http://sci.esa.int/Conferences/ILC2005/Manuscripts/DavidianK-01-DOC.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312034617/http://sci.esa.int/Conferences/ILC2005/Manuscripts/DavidianK-01-DOC.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-12 |url-status=live|journal=International Lunar Conference|access-date=2018-05-18}}</ref> In 2004, [[X-Prize Foundation]] founder [[Peter Diamandis]] was selected to chair the Feynman Grand Prize committee.<ref name=":4" />

== See also ==
* [[Nanomedicine]]
* [[Transhumanism]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Smith, Richard Hewlett. "A Policy Framework for Developing a National Nanotechnology Program", Master of Science thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,  1998, available at [http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35410 VTechWorks]

== External links ==
* {{official|https://www.foresight.org}}

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[[Category:Scientific organizations established in 1986]]
[[Category:Nanotechnology institutions]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in California]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Transhumanist organizations]]