David Brin Named 2020 Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award Winner

The 2020 Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award has been given to David Brin in recognition of his long-term interest in existential risks including his ongoing support of the Lifeboat Foundation.
 
David Brin is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell, and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
 
As a scientist, tech-consultant, and world-known author, David speaks, advises, and writes widely on topics from national defense and homeland security to astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction, creativity, and philanthropy. Urban Developer Magazine named him one of four World’s Best Futurists, and he was appraised as the “#1 influencer” in Onalytica’s Top 100 report of Artificial Intelligence influencers, brands, and publications. His insights have been sought by groups such as Northrup-Grumman, Johns Hopkins, the MIT Media Lab, Google, Microsoft, South by Southwest, IBM, and more.
 

David has helped with our Lifeboat Foundation website design and wrote the special reports Want to Live Forever?, SHOUTING AT THE COSMOS…Or How SETI has Taken a Worrisome Turn Into Dangerous Territory, and Singularities and Nightmares: Extremes of Optimism and Pessimism About the Human Future, which became our most Digged article ever. He also worked to improve one of our programs.
 
The End of the World: Are We Doomed?
David also worked on our timeline, provided the video The End of the World: Are We Doomed? for our educational videos, and provided both a story and afterword for our Visions of the Future which reached #1 on Amazon in the “Hot New Releases in Science Fiction Anthologies” category.
 
He mentioned our many programs in his book Existence. This novel is set about thirty years ahead, in a near future when human survival seems to teeter along not just on one tightrope, but dozens, with as many hopeful trends and breakthroughs as dangers… a world we already see ahead.
 
David also wrote Earth, a novel that is a profound testament about our responsibility to our planet — a message so stirring, it reaches out from the pages to embrace and inspire us all.
 
David’s nonfiction book The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? is directly relevant to our SecurityPreserver program which promotes sousveillance. His chief argument, that openness is more effective than secrecy at fostering freedom, sparked controversy and garnered the prestigious Obeler Freedom of Speech Prize from the American Library Association.
 
David has participated in many discussions in our forums including our old Yahoo mailing list/forum and our new Facebook group.
 
David provided a paper for our conference GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC RISKS: Building a Resilient Civilization. David also provided financial support for our U.S. Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group (SSG) meeting where we discussed future societal risks and needed capabilities to mitigate those risks. Admiral James R. Hogg said “The discussions were very insightful and thought provoking.”
 
Read David Brin’s interview about Artificial Intelligence and ways to get a “soft” singularity. Read 13 Best Quotes About The Future Of Artificial Intelligence. Read The Profession of IT: An Interview with David Brin on Resiliency.
 
Listen to David Brin, Kevin J. Anderson, and Ramez Naam speak about how the Covid-19 crisis might affect humanity on a long term basis, looking out short-term and then 50 years from now. Visit David’s website!