Nick Bostrom

Nick Bostrom is a Swedish-born philosopher with a background in theoretical physics, computational neuroscience, logic, and artificial intelligence, along with philosophy. He is known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, whole brain emulation, superintelligence risks, and the reversal test.

Nick was the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University (2005-2024), where he was also a Professor of Philosophy.

Nick is the author of more than 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (2008), Human Enhancement (2009), Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014), which became a New York Times bestseller and sparked a global conversation about the future of AI, andDeep Utopia, Life and Meaning in a Solved World, Ideapress, 2024

He is one of the world's most-cited living philosophers. He is a repeat main-stage TED speaker and he has been interviewed more than 1,000 times by various media. He has been on Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers list twice and was included in Prospect’s World Thinkers list, the youngest person in the top 15.

Nick’s work has pioneered some of the ideas that frame current thinking about humanity’s future: the simulation argument, the vulnerable world hypothesis, the unilateralist’s curse, etc.).

As a graduate student, Nick also tried a stint in stand-up comedy on the London circuit.