If
you’re
curious
about
emerging
tech,
it’s
harder
to
imagine
a
cooler
job
than
Allison
Duettmann’s.
She’s
the
CEO
of
the
Foresight
Institute,
a
think
tank
founded
in
1986
that’s
devoted
to
advancing
science
and
tech
that’s
arguably
undervalued
—
fields
like
nanotechnology,
space
exploration,
and
harnessing
cryptography
to
build
safer
AI.
Allison
Duettmann
is
speaker
on
the
AI
Stage
at
Consensus
2024,
in
Austin,
Texas,
May
29-31.
Duettmann
lives
in
the
world
of
Big
Future
Ideas.
She’s
the
coauthor
of
“Gaming
the
Future:
Technologies
for
Intelligent
Voluntary
Cooperation”;
she’s
the
founder
of
Existential
Hope
(with
a
mission
of
“Thinking
Big
for
Positive
Futures”);
and
she’ll
be
joining
Consensus
2024
at
the
inaugural
AI
Summit
to
share
insights
on
what’s
legitimately
useful
in
the
world
of
AI+Crypto,
and
what’s
just
hype.
In
a
recent
Zoom
interview,
we
cover
the
staggering
upside
of
nanotechnology,
dig
into
how
crypto
could
help
the
development
of
AI,
and
we
may
have
accidentally
just
birthed
a
billion-dollar
token.
Interview
has
been
condensed
and
lightly
edited
for
clarity.
Let’s
start
with
a
curveball.
With
some
tech
that
seems
important
to
you,
but
doesn’t
get
a
lot
of
press:
Nanotechnology.
If
we
crack
the
code
of
nanotech,
what’s
an
example
of
a
use
case?
How
would
the
world
be
different?
Allison
Duettmann:
Basically,
it
would
revolutionize
the
entire
way
in
which
we
produce
things.
So,
yes,
individual
applications
are
exciting.
But
more
generally,
it’s
almost
like
we’re
still
producing
things
in
this
super
stone-agey
way.
We
take
the
resources
we
have
and
try
and
strap
them
together.
But
if
we
could
get
much
more
precise
[through
nanotech]
about
what
types
of
resources
we
use
in
the
production
process…
Like,
currently,
we’re
operating
at
an
entirely
wrong
level.
We’re
producing
so
much
waste
in
the
process
of
producing.
Imagine
a
3D-printing
method,
for
example,
but
on
a
tiny
molecular
scale.
So
you’d
have
massive
gains
on
that
front.
Nanotech
could
have
really
interesting
implications
on
hardware
for
computing,
and
really
interesting
applications
in
longevity
technology.
For
cryonics,
for
example,
you
need
almost
molecular
nanotechnology
for
the
revival
of
patients
—
such
as
on
the
drug
delivery
level
or
the
nanobots
in
your
bloodstream
perspective.
Then
there’s
also
innovation
from
an
environmental
perspective;
carbon
drawdown
would
be
enabled
through
molecular
nanotechnology,
or
waste
removal
in
the
biosphere.
Given
the
massive
upside,
why
hasn’t
there
been
more
development
in
nanotech?
One
thing
that’s
so
interesting
about
nanotech
is
that
for
any
one
individual
application,
there’s
probably
an
easier
way
to
do
it.
But
if
we
had
this
kind
of
general
purpose,
high
throughput
nanotechnology,
then
you
could
be
using
that
for
many
different
fields.
So
there’s
never
one
incentive
to
develop
it
for
an
individual
actor.
That’s
why
progress
has
been
so
slow.
It’s
almost
like
this
public
good
that
once
it’s
created,
it
can
cause
these
revolutions
across
different
industries.
But
for
any
individual
application,
there’s
never
a
unique
inventive
to
develop
it.
That’s
so
interesting.
I
say
this
only
mostly
in
jest…
it
sounds
like
a
good
candidate
for
a
crypto
project.
Because
it’s
something
that
might
take
a
huge
crowd
to
capitalize,
with
the
benefits
conferred
to
a
larger
community.
Is
there
a
NANO
token?!
If
not,
let’s
start
one,
Allison!
Yes,
now
that
we’ve
said
it,
the
Nano
DAO.
[Both
laugh.]
No,
but
I
think
in
all
seriousness,
it
fits
really
well.
There
are
many
people
in
the
Foresight
community
that
are
also
in
crypto
and
care
a
bunch
about
nano.
A
lot
of
the
early
sci-fi
nano
ideas
fit
really
well
with
the
philosophy
of
crypto.
Okay
let’s
talk
about
crypto
and
AI.
What
do
you
see
as
the
most
promising,
legitimate
ways
that
blockchain
can
help
with
the
development
of
safer
or
better
AI?
I
guess
I
would
say
there
are
three
buckets.
One
would
be
the
security
side
of
things,
where
the
Web3/crypto
space
has
a
lot
of
experience
with
failing
fast
if
you
don’t
have
secure
systems
built.
Because
many
of
the
systems
in
the
permissionless
or
immutable
spaces
—
if
you
don’t
build
them
correctly
—
there
may
be
a
million-dollar
bounty
attached
to
them.
So
I
think
this
spirit
of
building
safety
and
having
an
almost
unintentional
vetting
process
is
an
important
mindset,
as
we
build
up
AI
systems.
And
the
second?
The
second
one
is
on
the
side
of,
how
can
we
leverage
technologies
that
the
crypto
space
is
also
working
on,
to
build
AI
systems
that
we
would
want
from
a
human
perspective?
Can
you
give
an
example?
So,
there
may
be
more
privacy-preserving
applications
that
are
possible
as
we
draw
more
on
the
cryptography
spaces.
They
may
enable
us
to
produce
better
applications,
for
example,
for
human
health
and
in
finance,
leveraging
cryptographic
technologies.
And
we
may
be
able
to
use
cryptographic
technologies
to
help
us
create
better,
very
advanced
AI
systems.
And
what’s
the
third
and
final
bucket?
The
governance
side
of
AI.
So,
you
can
possibly
use
cryptographic
technologies
to
prove
that
you’re
following
certain
safety
benchmarks
or
standards.
Rather
than
having
to
share
all
of
the
information
that
is
possibly
proprietary,
you
can
only
share
information
that
is
needed
to
prove
you’re
hitting
certain
safety
benchmarks.
Great,
and
I
know
we’ll
unpack
all
of
this
more
at
the
AI
Summit.
Speaking
of,
what
are
you
most
looking
forward
to
at
Consensus
this
year?
I’m
really
looking
forward
to
discovering
what
the
state
of
crypto
and
AI
has
really
come
to
at
this
point.
I
come
at
it
from
the
foundational
research
side
of
things
or
more
on
the
kind
of
cryptography
and
security
side
of
things.
But
I
also
know
that
many
people
have
been
really
building
hard
in
the
Web3
and
AI
space.
So,
I’m
really
interested
to
see
which
of
my
hypotheses
—
or
which
of
other
people’s
hypotheses
—
have
come
out.
Who’s
building
what
right
now?
And
where
are
there
possible
synergies
across
different
products?
I’m
excited
to
see
what’s
happening
in
that
space.
You
and
me
both.
See
you
at
Consensus.
