Towards a Human Future

Leverage is working towards a future where science and technology empower humanity.

Our vision is of a world where science continues to reveal new and unanticipated aspects of reality, and technology empowers humanity to make the world much better. A world where people make good choices about which science and technology to develop, and individuals, organizations, and the public work together to manage the power those endeavors yield.

This future will not be easy to reach. At present, science is broadly misunderstood, scientific institutions are less functional than people think, and science is becoming a less credible authority in the mind of the public. Technology is a source of great anxiety, is often seen as outside of public control, and in many ways, threatens to make the world much worse rather than better.

Nevertheless, there is still great cause for hope.

Our experience, and almost a decade of research, have taught us that people are fundamentally good and capable of awe-inspiring achievements. Despite the confused and dysfunctional ways in which people often pursue their goals, there are common and reconcilable human ends. And even though reasoning can be corrupted, the natural human thought process is a source of continuing strength. Together, we have eradicated smallpox, dramatically decreased hunger, and put people on the moon. All this tells us that humanity-not markets or machines-can and should be in charge of its own destiny.

We foresee a time when more areas of knowledge-including science, people, and progress-have developed into full-fledged, late stage sciences and where greater knowledge makes it easier to make further advances-something humanity both wants and needs.

We seek to take our share of responsibility for the future, working to improve science and technology and their role in human society. We do this by pursuing high-leverage opportunities arising from the study of people and science.

Understanding People and Science

At Leverage, we study people and science, and how knowing more about one can help us learn about the other. This unique focus allows us to aid responsible scientific advance and contribute to a better future.

People and science are both important, and each without the other is less likely to succeed. By understanding both, it becomes possible to learn more about how researchers make discoveries, identify social distortions and cut through the hype in science, design research programs, and even identify brilliant researchers years before they would have been recognized otherwise.

We use this understanding of science and people to identify misunderstood or overlooked areas of potentially valuable knowledge and help create research efforts to investigate them. At times this calls on us to work in new or undefined areas, utilize commonly neglected approaches, and manage long-term exploration efforts-sometimes rebuilding fields from the ground up.

Our research programs and initiatives take different forms, depending on the opportunities we see and the needs of the area. Currently, we focus on: how people make discoveries in the early stages of fields, introspection as a tool for understanding people, and how social and institutional, not just technical, factors combine to create bottlenecks to progress across various fields. Our initiatives support new projects that contribute to our mission and help the public think about current issues in science and technology.