David Wood
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David Wood
@dw-2.bsky.social
Chair, London Futurists. Executive Director of LEV Foundation. Author or Lead Editor of 12 books about the future. PDA/smartphone pioneer. Symbian co-founder
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Hello Bluesky!
Anyone looking for mind-expanding future-focused content should find plenty to savour in londonfuturists.buzzsprout.com
"Beyond Human: How AI is rewriting what it means to be alive" - I enjoyed this two-part recording with a couple of high-spirited interviewees. At one point they summarised our conversation as "a vast discussion about the future". I take that as a compliment :-)
November 28, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Nearly ten years after I wrote these words on the plausibility of abolishing aging by 2040, some details of my analysis would need to be updated, but the general framework still holds good in my view theabolitionofaging.com/contents/for...
Foreword
Foreword (This content is part of the introductory material of the book “The Abolition of Aging”.) Within our collective grasp dwells the remarkable possibility of the abolition of biol…
theabolitionofaging.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Anyone talking about the future now, at the close of 2025, in basically the same way that they talked about the future 3 years ago, hasn't been paying attention to the remarkable new opportunities and risks that are accelerating toward us. We need to go beyond foresight-as-usual
November 22, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Decentralized governance is a hard, hard problem! Solutions need to go a long way beyond the adoption of tokenomics and a declaration of beneficient intent medium.com/@miulieru/go...
medium.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
"MAHA says 'reverse aging.' Their budget says otherwise... What I see so far is an administration that says one thing and does another" - a clear-eyed analysis of MAHA hypocrisy reachlevity.com/p/maha-says-...
MAHA says “reverse aging.” Their budget says otherwise
The Trump administration's longevity paradox
reachlevity.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Even though I call myself a transhumanist, I have a lot of sympathy with the content of this article: "Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts" www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts
Fascination of investors such as Elon Musk with uploading their brains to computers is hindering progress in curing disease, say scientists
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
In or near Glasgow on Sunday 30th November? Interested to join a conversation about the different types of risks posed by AI, and the options for responsible AI development? Then sign up for the first Pause AI event taking place in Scotland: luma.com/5bmd6rx8
November 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by David Wood
Remember: If we allow ourselves to fall into fatalism, or wallow in disappointment, or become resigned to what is rather than what should be, we will lose the long game.

The greatest enemy of positive social change is cynicism about what can be changed.
November 8, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by David Wood
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
An audacious singularity analogy - a new blogpost from me dw2blog.com/2025/11/06/a...
November 6, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Shocking, but not surprising - "Google this weekend withdrew one of its latest AIs, Gemma, after it made up unfounded allegations about a US senator having a non-consensual sexual relationship with a state trooper including fake links to news stories" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Experts find flaws in hundreds of tests that check AI safety and effectiveness
Scientists say almost all have weaknesses in at least one area that can ‘undermine validity of resulting claims’
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Infertility isn't a medical condition, people said. It's nature's way of limiting overpopulation. Any egotistical "Dr Frankenstein" scientists claiming to help infertile women via IVF should be viewed as diabolical: they cause women needless physical and psychological harm.
November 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
The exosome plot twist - this is quite a video www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMR...
Scientists Just REVERSED AGING by 7 Years in Monkeys! (This Changes Everything)
YouTube video by FutureSketchLab
www.youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:09 AM
EA Connect 25, a free-to-attend virtual conference, is taking place 5-7 December: "features talks, workshops, discussions, and numerous opportunities to learn from and connect with people interested in effective altruism". I've signed up to attend. More info at eaconnect.effectivealtruism.org
EA Connect | 5–7 December | Virtual Conference
EA Connect brings together talented people from 75+ countries asking: Which problems matter most? Which solutions actually work? How can I contribute?
eaconnect.effectivealtruism.org
November 1, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Q: What do the following have in common? George Harrison, Christopher Nolan's film Tenet, Gödel Escher Bach, Sam Bankman-Fried, the Hubble tension, and Brexit
October 31, 2025 at 7:12 AM
U.S. democracy is dangling over the edge - that was already clear to me before I started reading "The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink" by Thom Hartmann. But the book showed me that the situation is even starker than I had assumed.
October 31, 2025 at 12:17 AM
The UK Longevity Week, 10-14 November, features 11 different events - in London, Oxford, Manchester, and online. I wish there was more on youngevity as opposed to longevity, but several of the events show potential thelongevityforum.com/longevityweek
LongevityWeek
thelongevityforum.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:37 AM
"BGI 2025 involved a number of bold experiments. Some of these experiments paid off handsomely" - my latest Mindplex_AI article is a personal, selective, opinionated review of some of what made BGI 2025 sometimes so wonderful, and sometimes pretty frustrating magazine.mindplex.ai/post/five-of...
October 28, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Looks interesting, tomorrow evening in King's College London: "Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail – with Peter Hain, 29 October 2025 18:30 to 19:45" www.kcl.ac.uk/events/liber...
Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail – with Peter Hain | King's College London
Join us for the launch of Peter Hain's new book at King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by David Wood
Farage: epic grifter
October 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Here's a surprisingly interesting article, with implications for how memory is stored and accessed - on the subject of "terminal lucidity", when people suffering from dementia sometimes seem to briefly recover shortly before they die: preservinghope.substack.com/p/is-termina...
Is terminal lucidity real?
Or are we just desperate to say one last goodbye?
preservinghope.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:29 PM
No real surprise here - “Tesla has wasted critical engineering time developing this juvenile and reckless software mode instead of using that time to fix the litany of critical safety defects that remain present in its defective Full Self-Driving software” www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Tesla's New 'Mad Max' Self-Driving Mode Keeps Blowing Speed Limits
Tesla unveiled an aggressive 'Mad Max' setting for its Full Self-Driving system even as it stared down wrongful death lawsuits and regulatory probes.
www.rollingstone.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Cleverly made. Thought-provoking. With a wise choice as to ambiguity and uncertainty. A powerful reminder of the vital need for people of good judgement and temperament in the highest office. "A House of Dynamite", now streaming on Netflix. Recommended! www.netflix.com/gb/title/817...
Watch A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | Netflix Official Site
When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
www.netflix.com
October 25, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Miserabilist or activist? Which attitude do you wish to spread? In the face of challenges posed by increasingly powerful AI, can humanity rise to new heights, with a new calibre of global coordination? Or will we be crushed by a woeful pessimism about our collective inadequacies?
October 25, 2025 at 12:16 PM
From a friendly email I received from Audible, summarising my listening in 2025 so far: "26 titles down with more to come. Keep it up David"
October 24, 2025 at 9:31 AM