PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- This year's inaugural Envision Conference sparked a groundbreaking, interdisciplinary conversation on leveraging future technologies for long-term, societal-scale progress. The conference brought over 150 undergraduates, graduate students, and early career professionals together for three days of engaging and inclusive events that included workshops, talks, and breakout sessions at Princeton University.
"Our first Envision Conference brought to Princeton current and future leaders in science and technology, policy, philosophy, and entrepreneurship," said Luca Rade, a second-year student at Princeton University who founded and serves as president of Envision. "From our outstanding speakers, to the extremely positive feedback we've received from participants, this year's conference more than achieved our goals. We hope Envision will continue to provide an opportunity for those dedicated to pioneering a better future to come together and learn, create, and contribute."
The conference—hosted at Princeton University by Envision and the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club from December 2nd to December 4th—was centered on the theme #EnvisionTheFuture: Revolutionary-scale Thinking, Evolutionary-scale Progress. From artificial intelligence and its consequences to building high-impact startups and investigating the prospects of human enhancement, a wide range of issues related to future technologies were covered.
Headlining the conference was Luke Nosek, who spoke about how technology has "usurped" religion and governments as the most powerful force in the world. Nosek went on to discuss his experiences as co-founder of Paypal and founding partner in FoundersFund, a venture capital firm focused on revolutionary technologies, and gave conference attendees advice on selecting successful projects for "both [them]selves and the world." Other speakers included Anders Sandberg, fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford; Andrew Critch, researcher at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute at the University of California Berkeley; and Julia Bossmann, president of the Foresight Institute.
Highlights of the conference's impact include:
The conference's closing ceremony saw more than 1,700 unique views on Facebook Live
The Twitter hashtag #EnvisionTheFuture trended both locally and regionally, and has been retweeted by leaders in government, science, technology, and business
Over 100 attendees have reported sharing ideas gleaned from the conference in their own communities, which span eight countries and over 25 universities
Almost all participants who were interviewed reported that the conference changed their beliefs, interests, and/or understandings
"Just a few hours into the conference, we saw the ignition of an astounding interdisciplinary and cross-institutional conversation on combining future technologies with a focus on long-term sustainability," said Yannis Karakozis, conference director and a second-year student at Princeton University. "The in-person dialogue and engagement over digital and social media we've seen has been truly remarkable. In effect, our participants, speakers, and partner companies have begun an unprecedented and extremely promising collaboration."
The full conference agenda, as well as links to recordings of major sessions, can be found at http://envision-conference.com.
ABOUT ENVISION
Envision is a student-run, not-for-profit organization affiliated with Princeton University. Envision inspires students to pioneer a brighter future through the prudent advancement of rapidly developing disruptive technologies. Opportunities offered by the organization include the Envision conference, talks by renowned guest speakers, discussions, and trips to conferences and companies centered on future technology and society-scale impact. For more information, visit http://www.envisionfuture.org.
Media Contact: Adam Chang, Envision/Princeton University, 973-937-8555, adam.chang@princeton.edu
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SOURCE Envision/Princeton University
