I've Been Filling Notebooks for Decades. Here's Why I'm Finally Sharing Them

Since my teens, I’ve kept notebooks about all the things that fascinate me, from human nature to the nature of the universe, from the origins of life to the future of life on our planet.

Over the years I’ve published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers and a peer-reviewed book (with another in production). This is the way we do science, and for the most part it works - it keeps the quality of papers high and provides useful feedback. It’s an important part of how science moves forward. But it’s not perfect. It can be painfully slow - taking months or even years to get papers published. And it is often hard to get papers published that don’t fit within the conventional thinking in a field. When you have a paper that challenges an existing paradigm, or brings other disciplines to bear on a problem, peer review often fails.

I’ve filled my notebooks with ideas like this, many of which have inspired my articles and books. But there are so many ideas that I haven’t published, and, if I’m being honest with myself, I know I will never publish through the traditional peer review system. Even if I spent the rest of my career trying to publish what I’ve written in these notebooks, there’s no way I’d get through all of them.

At the same time, the opportunity cost is high. I want to devote more of my time and energy to applying the science of cooperation to the things that are going on right now in the world: the AI revolution, the changing landscape of risk we are facing, and the challenges that come from breakdowns of communication with increasing divisions. As part of this, I’m starting a new institute, the Cooperative Futures Institute, to move these goals forward. And I have started this Substack, which gives me a way to share my ideas quickly and without friction (and the proceeds from this Substack go to support CFI).

In my Substack, I’ll be opening my notebooks, sharing both old and new ideas, focusing on how the science of cooperation can help us understand who we are, how to live a good life today, and how to build a positive future together.

Here’s what you can expect:

Principle 1: Unfiltered and Unfettered Ideas

I’ll be sharing my ideas without the constraints of the peer-review system. This means I’ll get them to you quickly and without all the caveats that you might get in a peer reviewed paper. I’ll get right to the point, providing a little background and sources you can look at if you want more context, but telling you what I think in plain language.

Principle 2: Cooperation as a Foundation

I’ve studied cooperation all my life, from cells in the body to humans in societies. I’ve seen how principles of cooperation apply across these systems, like for example, every cooperative system has to deal with the possibility of cheaters that might undermine it. Here, I apply these principles of cooperation and conflict to everything from our physical health to the future of AI.

Principle 3: Guarding Against Hijacking

Hijacking can be a threat to all forms of life. Parasites, cheaters, scammers, and algorithms all exploit cooperative systems. Some hijacking is destructive, some neutral, and some even beneficial - like when we become entrained by a collective that we have aligned interests with. How do we sort the good from the bad? That’s part of what I’ll be talking about here.

Principle 4: Creativity at the Edge of Chaos

I’m not your typical professor; I’m all about cooperating and collaborating with artists to better understand our world, communicate about it effectively, and build tools to address the challenges we are facing today. I do this both because I enjoy it and because I believe that it is the edge of chaos where all the interesting things happen. This is where cooperation and innovation flourish.

Principle 5: From Evolutionary Origins to Revolutionary Futures

I’ll be digging deep into our evolutionary origins and applying this epic scope to understanding the challenge we are facing now and are likely to face as we go into the future. I’ll be using evolutionary biology as a tool for helping us understand everything from the origins of life to the future of human-AI cooperation. Using an evolutionary lens shows not just how we got here and where we’re going, but how we can navigate today’s challenges and shape a livable future.

Next post I’ll talk about what cooperation science can tell us about the AI revolution and whether true cooperation between humans and AI is possible.

Looking forward,
Athena Aktipis