Existential Hope: Facing Our Future When the Signs Look Bad

We live in an era of existential risk, facing multiple threats to the survival of our species. We also face an epidemic of existential anxiety, struggling to find meaning and purpose in a complex and dehumanizing world. In such times, hope can be hard to find. Yet, we are not alone with these problems. They have troubled people for centuries now and, with eight billion fellow human beings to work with, we can and will rise to their challenge. In this wide-ranging exploration of humanity’s existential predicament, SJ Beard, philosopher, futurist, and pioneer of Existential Risk Studies, takes stock of why humanity got into this mess, what we have learned about ourselves, and how we can move forward in our quest for meaning, safety, and flourishing. Ultimately, SJ argues, our future depends on breaking free from a sense of individual powerlessness to discover shared hopes, collective wisdom, and common humanity, then using them to address the many challenges we face. We live in an era of existential risk, facing multiple threats to the survival of our species. We also face an epidemic of existential anxiety, struggling to find meaning and purpose in a complex and dehumanizing world. In such times, hope can be hard to find. Yet, we are not alone with these problems. They have troubled people for centuries now and, with eight billion fellow human beings to work with, we can and will rise to their challenge. In this wide-ranging exploration of humanity’s existential predicament, SJ Beard, philosopher, futurist, and pioneer of Existential Risk Studies, takes stock of why humanity got into this mess, what we have learned about ourselves, and how we can move forward in our quest for meaning, safety, and flourishing. Ultimately, SJ argues, our future depends on breaking free from a sense of individual powerlessness to discover shared hopes, collective wisdom, and common humanity, then using them to address the many challenges we face.

SJ Beard is Academic Programme Manager and Senior Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge.