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The Future Perfect 50

The scientists, thinkers, scholars, writers, and activists building a more perfect future.

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Introducing the Future Perfect 50

By Bryan Walsh

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The Future Perfect 50

The scientists, thinkers, scholars, writers, and activists building a more perfect future.

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Pollution poisons millions. Richard Fuller and Pure Earth are doing something about it.

By Bryan Walsh

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Jennifer Doleac is helping us find nuanced, effective ways to fight crime

By Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

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Zeynep Tufekci has been consistently ahead of the curve on Covid-19

By Siobhan McDonough

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DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis is AI’s grandmaster

By Bryan Walsh

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How Ted Nordhaus brought realpolitik to climate politics

By Bryan Walsh

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The novelist Kim Stanley Robinson’s vision roves from the deep past to the distant future

By Bryan Walsh

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Max Roser doesn’t want us to lose sight of progress

By Muizz Akhtar

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Kevin Esvelt wants to make the world safe from — and for — biotechnology

By Bryan Walsh

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Setsuko Thurlow is a living reminder of the horrors of nuclear war

By Bryan Walsh

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How can we make the world progress faster? Jason Crawford wants to know.

By Bryan Walsh

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Development programs don’t always work. Rachel Glennerster figures out how and why.

By Siobhan McDonough

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Economics is more than just theory for Seema Jayachandran — it’s a way to help people

By Siobhan McDonough

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The physicist Max Tegmark works to ensure that life has a future

By Bryan Walsh

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DARPA changed technology. Now Renee Wegrzyn wants to bring the same innovation to medicine.

By Bryan Walsh

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Liu Hongqiao is holding China accountable for its role in the climate crisis

By Muizz Akhtar

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Kanika Bahl is finding the unicorns of international development

By Siobhan McDonough

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Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak wants to find out what makes antipoverty programs effective

By Siobhan McDonough

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Our health care data infrastructure is broken. Caitlin Rivers hopes to fix it.

By Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

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Julia Galef thinks we should be more like scouts instead of soldiers

By Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

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Jason Matheny is helping humanity prepare for the existential threats of the future

By Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

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Josh Morrison took risks for science, and he thinks you can, too

By Muizz Akhtar

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Scientific progress is at risk of slowing down. Saloni Dattani is making sure it doesn’t.

By Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

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Economist Chris Blattman has reshaped our understanding of violence and poverty

By Sigal Samuel

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Carolina Galvani wants to make factory farming in the Global South more humane

By Kenny Torrella

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We didn’t know fish feel pain. Then the zoologist Lynne Sneddon came along.

By Kenny Torrella

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The future of meat requires new intellectual infrastructure. That’s what Isha Datar is building.

By Kenny Torrella

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Olga Kikou has helped make Europe the leading edge of an animal welfare revolution

By Kenny Torrella

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Ryan Xue is cultivating a better meat industry in China

By Kenny Torrella

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Liz Specht is shaping the next generation of meat alternatives

By Kenny Torrella

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Leah Boustan is illuminating how and where people migrate — and why it matters

By Dylan Matthews

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Lucia Coulter and Jack Rafferty want to strip the world of lead-based paint

By Dylan Matthews

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Leah Utyasheva and Michael Eddleston are saving lives from suicide in the Global South

By Dylan Matthews

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Will MacAskill made effective altruism a household term in 2022

By Dylan Matthews

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Hilary Greaves is the world’s leading philosopher of the long-term future

By Dylan Matthews

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Jennifer Doudna helped rewrite life with CRISPR

By Bryan Walsh

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Is “free money” a good idea? Michael Tubbs gave his two cents — and it paid off.

By Sigal Samuel

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Future generations don’t have a voice in politics. Sophie Howe is changing that.

By Sigal Samuel

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Leah Garcés proved animal rights activism can make room for everyone — even the farmers

By Muizz Akhtar