America's 250th anniversary is here. How do we secure the next chapter of the American Dream? We sat down with four leaders to discuss national renewal — from protecting human flourishing and ensuring technology serves rather than diminishes our humanity, to the peaceful transfer of power and fighting government union overreach. These visionaries share their reasons for hope and the vital role of philanthropy in preserving our founding principles.
Our Mission
We’re trying to advance science and technology that work for but not on human beings. The “for” is that we’re trying to advance technologies that help us in our condition, that contribute to human flourishing and that allow us to stay essentially human. And we’re trying to fight back against technologies that want to degrade our humanity.
On how The New Atlantis reflects our nation’s founding principles
I think we’re very consonant with the tradition of the founding. . . The general project that we’re taking up involves questions of how you balance dynamism and change—the kinds of dynamism and change that come out of the market—against stability and the need for preservation and tradition. And a lot of our answer is that you have to cultivate and keep in a dynamic tension different elements of American society.
On the challenges we face and reason for hope
We’re living amid some very anti-human trends. Human beings can live contrary to their nature for a long time, but I don’t think they can do it forever. And we may be at a point where we’re reaching a limit with our ability to sustain living in a way that is that contrary to our own nature. And that creates a sort of a space for opportunity where people can try to act in a way that revives and breathes confidence again into local life, into their families, their schools, their civic institutions. . . You may have more freedom to act within the sphere of your life than it seems like on the surface.
On the role of philanthropy
I think donors are uniquely situated to address gaps in the intellectual marketplace. . .The best piece of advice I can offer . . . is to think on a longer time frame about the nature of these problems. A question that I often find myself being asked is: now that our side has power again, now that we control branches of government, who should we be putting into key administrative offices? And I often hear frustration that there isn’t enough of a talent pool to put into key science and tech policy positions.