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  • What single thing can any individual do to maximally increase the probability that humans thrive beyond what we can imagine?

  • There are three main ideas.

  • Number one, blueprint.

  • Blueprint is an algorithm that takes better care of me than I can care for myself.

  • We humans struggle to act in our best interests.

  • We will look both ways before crossing the street to avoid getting hit by a car, but we will do so while smoking a cigarette.

  • Every day, we do things that accelerate aging.

  • And while we may think we can stop those things anytime we want, we are powerless to stop them all.

  • Don't believe me?

  • Try stopping all of your self-destructive behaviors.

  • These include eating too much food or junk food, not exercising, smoking, excessive drinking, drugs, staying up past our bedtimes, pornography, excessive social media, and dozens more.

  • All of these things shorten our lives.

  • All of them make life less enjoyable in the long run.

  • They are payday loans, and the interest is taken from the well-being, happiness, and health of future you.

  • To protect ourselves from the raw reality that we are powerless to stop these behaviors, we create pretty stories to justify them.

  • Live a little.

  • We're all going to die anyway.

  • We are masters at hiding the truth we don't want to see.

  • Blueprint plays a new game called Don't Die.

  • We, in fact, play it every day right now.

  • We wear seatbelts, we change the batteries in our smoke alarms, and throw out moldy food.

  • This is how I personally play the game Don't Die.

  • My team and I gather hundreds of biomarkers from my body.

  • This allows my heart, lungs, liver, and 70 other organs to speak for themselves.

  • After evaluating hundreds of scientific papers, we then create a health protocol.

  • This algorithm determines what and when I eat, when I go to bed, and so forth.

  • My mind does not have the authority to order from a menu, eat a gallon of ice cream because it's nighttime, or peruse the pantry because I'm bored.

  • My body's organs and biological processes oversee the whole thing, not my mind.

  • Sounds dystopic, right?

  • This isn't the future you imagined?

  • Just wait, it gets worse.

  • The goal of Blueprint is the autonomous self, where each of us improves at the speed of science and technology.

  • Every year, we get new versions of almost everything.

  • Meanwhile, every day, we humans reliably get one day closer to death.

  • Your autonomous self reverses this trend by building upon the foundation of Blueprint to interconnect your well-being and personal growth with the progress of science and technology.

  • You can think of zeroism as a version of future literacy, a mindset and toolkit to navigate a rapidly changing and completely unknown future.

  • Let's put future literacy in context.

  • In 1820, only 12% of the world's population could read and write.

  • Imagine what our daily lives would look like right now if we hadn't achieved an 86% basic literacy over the past two centuries.

  • We'd probably be significantly less prosperous, healthy, and interesting.

  • Historically, future literacy was not imminently needed.

  • Things changed slowly over the course of generations.

  • Knowing seasonal weather patterns was good enough for most people.

  • Today, there are tectonic, technological, and cultural shifts that happen on the timescales of weeks, months, and years.

  • The pace of change will continue to accelerate.

  • We are accustomed to thinking about human evolution on the timescale of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, not in single lifetimes.

  • But that's where we are now.

  • We need to be alert to the changes in store for individuals and humanity to triage the right path forward.

  • This is a question of survival.

  • Personally, after observing my own thoughts and behavior for 46 years, I do not trust my conscious mind.

  • Not in a pantry full of junk food, not with my best long-term interests, not in explaining away my irrational behaviors.

  • I do not think that humanity, as we are configured today, can cooperate well enough and fast enough to avoid catastrophic outcomes.

  • I think we need to hand over the reins of power.

  • Humanity has reached its cognitive and attentional limits in managing a complex, ultra-interconnected world.

  • Zeroism is a way to understand, think, and behave in a rapidly changing future.

  • A way to anticipate and prepare for the unknown.

  • Throughout history, the number and concept of zero revolutionized math and physics, art, philosophy, and religion.

  • Our modern society depends on the power of zero, enabling computers, gaming, social media, GPS, and medical technology.

  • Some of history's most monumental breakthroughs are, as I like to call them, zero discoveries.

  • In the past, discoveries of zero happened every few decades or centuries.

  • For example, that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

  • A few decades or even a century was enough time for society to reconfigure and update its beliefs, technology, and culture.

  • Zero discoveries are now happening at a much faster pace.

  • That is because AI is a zero manufacturer.

  • Insights generated by AI will introduce reality-bending zeros and demand that we quicken our adaptation.

  • So there you have it.

  • Three ideas.

  • Blueprint.

  • We humans are going to be run by algorithms because they are superior to us.

  • Autonomous self.

  • We will begin improving ourselves at the speed of science and technology because we can.

  • Zeroism.

  • In a rapidly changing future, our best attribute is learning a new form of intelligence, which is not knowing, also known as future literacy.

  • Zeroism is a response to the fact that humanity is facing at least three imminent and existential risks.

  • The risk of an unsustainable biosphere.

  • Misaligned AI.

  • Mass destruction via nukes, biowarfare, societal collapse, etc.

  • Could it be the case that humanity would be better off rethinking how we make decisions going forward?

  • In the same way that I did with my health, empowering science to care for me better than I can care for myself.

  • Imagine empowering Earth's biosphere to manage its own well-being.

  • We humans are currently in charge of deciding how much pollution and toxicity we generate and whether the oceans become more acidic, the planet warms and more life becomes extinct.

  • If our biosphere were in charge, we'd use the same blueprint process to fix its problems.

  • Measuring the biosphere via oceans, atmosphere, land, etc. via millions of data points.

  • Our biosphere sets the standards for pollution, toxins, wildlife, and weather.

  • Humanity deals with it and adapts.

  • In hearing these ideas, many confidently assert that my motivation for Blueprint is a fear of death.

  • I do not fear death.

  • I sat at its doorstep for a decade alongside chronic depression, desperately wishing I didn't exist.

  • Had it not been for my three children, I probably would have taken my own life.

  • I know what it's like to be locked into a staring contest with death.

  • Here, right now, wanting life can be hard for so many reasons.

  • The depths of depression taught me a thing or two about this.

  • I dream of an existence where we all want to keep playing the game of life, even in our darkest moments.

  • For thousands of years, it's been the same story.

  • We're born and then we die in predictable fashion.

  • Don't die is the ultimate game to play.

  • Existence is the highest virtue.

  • Blueprint is not just for me, it is for everyone.

  • Blueprint is a plan to save ourselves.

  • May we have the courage to believe that right now may be the very beginning.

  • BLUEPRINT

What single thing can any individual do to maximally increase the probability that humans thrive beyond what we can imagine?

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