Denise Hearn
One agent in a complex and beautiful system.
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Long Now Foundation
Fellow, Berggruen Institute
Co-author Myth of Capitalism 🇺🇸 and The Big Fix 🇨🇦
www.denisehearn.com
- Reposted by Denise HearnCurrently hiring 1-2 postdocs to work on origins of life theory/experiment, assembly theory, life detection, with me and @leecronin.bsky.social, positions are mostly based at ASU but also some time could be spent at U. Glasgow, Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/176391 Please help us spread the word!
- Just learned about Ekow Nimako's work – a Ghanaian Canadian Lego sculpturist and multidisciplinary artist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoZw... Absolutely stunning, thank you @ahmedbest.bsky.social for sharing!
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- I have no recollection of seeing this film as a child, but I must have because its concepts and perspective informed the rest of my life. Still an indelible classic: m.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKB...
- Reposted by Denise HearnGood morning! You woke up on a small, spinning rock, orbiting an ordinary star, one of hundreds of billions in a galaxy that’s been here for a long time. And somehow, in all that vastness, you’re here, making meaning out of a single day. Feels pretty miraculous to me. #sciart
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- Excited to host @indyjohar.bsky.social on Jan 27 @longnow.org. While options for the future feel increasingly narrow geopolitically & climatically, how can we preserve possibilities for future generations of many forms of life – biologic, institutional, synthetic? longnow.org/talks/02026-...
- "The microbial world deep beneath the ground may be far slower than we think – perhaps remaining metabolically active for millions of years." aeon.co/essays/the-d... @karenlloyd.bsky.social
- @thegoodtomchi.bsky.social's book Climate Capital is available for pre-order here! www.tomchi.com/home#preorder Tom is a force of nature. His book offers tangible strategies for investors, policymakers, and activists to build a regenerative economy that sustains, rather than harms, our world.
- So proud of my niece who is working in this lab, just featured in @nytimes.com on monarch butterfly magnetic perceptions / magnetoreception. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/s...
- Reposted by Denise Hearn[Ticket announcement] @indyjohar.bsky.social “Civilizational Optioneering” Jan 27, 02026 In this talk, architect/philosopher Indy Johar proposes that civilization’s longevity depends less on stability or efficiency, and more on optionality.
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- "Superintelligence discourse functions as an apparatus of power, transforming immediate questions about corporate accountability, worker displacement, algorithmic bias & democratic governance into abstract philosophical puzzles." @jamesosullivan.bsky.social www.noemamag.com/the-politics...
- Winooski, and everything its residents and community bring to our state, is one of the best parts of Vermont. This is just horrible. Love to Winooski students and this incredible superintendent. apnews.com/article/verm...
- "From the slow churn of tectonic plates to the self-organizing intelligence of microbial colonies and the feedback loops of climate-modifying technologies. The planet is not inert. It acts and shapes the conditions under which political life unfolds. Every day." mothrights.org/article/plan...
- Absolutely fascinating conversation, with many parallels from the development of genomics to today's AI investment and philosophical developments.
- Reposted by Denise Hearnwhen someone tells me not to use em dashes because AI uses em dashes
- Beautiful piece by @amitav.bsky.social “climate solutions that do not make adequate provision for the inherent uncertainties of modelling, or for the wishes, hopes and aspirations of people on the ground, will always run the risk of causing anticipatory ruination.” www.equator.org/articles/bey...
- Excited to chat with the prolific @davidmoscrop.com at @theglobeandmail.com's Economic Outlook on Dec. 1st. This free event brings together economic and industry leaders, institutional investors, policy experts & Globe journalists to discuss indicators & tactics for the year ahead. tgam.ca/4oHw9f3
- Reposted by Denise HearnA #Taleof2Canyons & an octopus! 186m, Patagonian red octopus, or Enteroctopus megalocyathus, hovering over a patch of sediment, lighter in color than the surrounding area, the cephalopod opened up like an umbrella to feed, likely on a crustacean. Read more: www.instagram.com/reel/DQnH14c...
- Watching the @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive livestreams does not disappoint! Min: 49 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fov-...
- Very excited to welcome this exceptional group to Long Now’s Council! ✨✨
- “I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.” — John Cage
- "What if the most important thing you do echoes far beyond your own lifetime?" New course on long term thinking from @romankrznaric.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oal...
- Reposted by Denise Hearn[TUNE IN] Tonight (Wed Nov 12, 7PST), @kevinkelly.bsky.social presents @katecrawford.bsky.social: A Long Now Talk to situate AI within civilization’s long arc of governance, empire, and expansion. The show is sold out, but you can join us on the livestream here:
- Don’t miss @katecrawford.bsky.social live in San Francisco on Nov 12. Tickets and livestream info here: longnow.org/talks/02025-...
- "Sustaining openness in an age of industrial-scale extraction may require new economic and governance models." sverhulst.medium.com/the-weaponis...
- AI can now do sophisticated metalinguistic analysis, something previously only attributed to humans. I find it both astounding and disheartening. The next few years are going to get very, very weird. www.quantamagazine.org/in-a-first-a...
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- Reposted by Denise HearnDamn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy: www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
- Tim Wu's new book: "Age of Extraction" is available for pre-order, and his book tour is live! "The Age of Extraction tells the story of what happened to the promise that the Internet would make everyone rich, and how we might recapture its potential as an engine of mass prosperity." timwu.net
- Reposted by Denise HearnAnnouncing finalists for the 2025 #BalsilliePrize for Public Policy — congratulations to: ◢ @vincebeiser.bsky.social ◢ @vassb.bsky.social & @denisehearn.bsky.social ◢ Pamela Cross ◢ Stephen J.A. Ward $70K winner announced Nov 25 at a live event in Toronto bit.ly/4g8wCDv
- The Big Fix is shortlisted for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy! Makes the endless hours of agonizing over every word worth it. Helps to have a great co-author: @vassb.bsky.social ! www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...
- I'm elated to share that I've joined @longnow.org as Director of Strategic Initiatives. While a long / deep time perspective can feel like a luxury in times such as ours, I'm grateful for a community of thinkers & practitioners hopefully creating the conditions for the many potential futures ahead.
- Latest piece coming along. Title: Vortex
- "China’s example marks a new orientation in the way the international community has sought to curb climate change, shifting from idealistic appeals to planetary conscience at endless summits to a more hard-headed green realpolitik." www.noemamag.com/green-giant/
- Latest reading haul 😍😍 @blaiseaguera.bsky.social @nationalgeographic.bsky.social
- Thanks to @writerstrust.bsky.social and Politics and the Pen for having @vassb.bsky.social and me last night in Ottawa & congrats to the five finalists for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and winner, Raymond Blake. www.writerstrust.com
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- “The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.” —Marge Piercy www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/...
- True “vibe coding”: “Deep down, the model appears capable of exhibiting any behavior we may be interested in. AI models seem to align with a certain “vibe” that’s somehow communicated from their users.” www.quantamagazine.org/the-ai-was-f...
- My take on AG subpoenas of SBTi and CDP: "a continuation of the same strategy of intimidation and miring organizations in legal responses, but it is hard to know if there is merit to the allegations, given they have only issued a press release announcing the subpoenas." www.wsj.com/articles/rep...
- Cool new @quantamagazine.bsky.social special issue on understanding how we came to know the earth through climate science: www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...
- Very excited to have joined @berggruen.org as a Fellow with the Planetary Program. My research will focus on governance frameworks for nature-related data technologies, helping to advance the emerging field of planetary-data governance research and policy.
- My biggest vice en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku
- Virality is a product of something changing overtime — being remixed, like an evolutionary process at warp speed. “This new research takes into account the fact that things don’t just spread — they change as they spread, & that change actually helps them spread further… santafe.edu/news-center/...
- Reposted by Denise HearnGovernor announces New Mexico will now provide free universal child care
- When activist investors and trustbusters agree: www.wsj.com/finance/the-...
- New paper analyzing 200+ different alternative proposals for GDP, showing most have strong similarities / consensus indicating that “achieving international consensus on a new indicator to move beyond GDP is both possible and desirable.” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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- Excited that @vassb.bsky.social and I have been chosen as 1 of 10 finalists in @thehubcanada.bsky.social Hunter Prize on ideas to improve Canadian's living standards. We proposed a whole-of-government approach, and industrial policy approach, to competition policy. thehub.ca/2025/09/06/h...
- Reposted by Denise HearnThis is big news. www.ft.com/content/96b5...
- New book hauls from @berggruen.org! Design envy when your book cover unfurls into the most gorgeous poster 😍
- Thanks to @insideclimatenews.org for including my thoughts in this piece on the Texas vs. Blackrock antitrust case: insideclimatenews.org/news/2908202...
