What if our descendants look back at our acceptance of aging the way we look back at medieval medicine? We interviewed them.

Dystopian futures are easy to imagine. Optimistic futures take vision and courage to build.

The Existential Hope Meme Prize brought together creators from across the internet to share inspiring, uplifting, and forward-looking memes and short-form media.

The goal of the prize was to spark hope and excitement about humanity’s future, particularly our ability to overcome existential risks, imagine positive trajectories for civilization, and highlight the innovations and collective actions that could help get us there.

“Voices from 2099” by JellyfishDAO was the 2025 winner, announced on December 22, 2025.

Existential Hope is a nonprofit initiative of the Foresight Institute (Foresight), an American research nonprofit organization that promotes the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, such as safe AGI, biotech and longevity.

Since 1986, Foresight has supported the brightest minds in nanotech, biotech, neurotech, and AI, working to advance science and technology for the benefit of life. We take this 40-year track record of excellence and make it accessible to the public, helping a new generation of “doers” find their place in the future.

Why Existential Hope?

What if the future could actually be good?

Technology is advancing faster than ever, and most news implies the future is something to fear. No wonder it’s hard to feel hopeful.

We think there’s a more productive way to look ahead.

At the frontier of science and technology, experts are working on real, ambitious ideas to solve humanity’s biggest challenges. From scaling carbon removal to tackling diseases at their root and using AI to improve our decision-making, we have the tools to make the future go well. We need to take these possibilities seriously—and act on them.

What is Existential Hope?

It’s the belief that we can build a future where humanity doesn’t just survive, but flourishes. It’s not just wishful thinking, it’s grounded in what science, technology, and human effort can actually achieve.

Great outcomes aren’t guaranteed, but they’re possible if we act intentionally and ambitiously. What each of us chooses to study, work on, or do has a real impact on the trajectory of society.

Existencial Hope

Why this post right now?

Yesterday we had an interesting conversation about the future of infrastructures with an expert on the matter, Manuel Martínez, on Atlas Tecnolgico Premium Hour. When asked about a possible long term future, he chose a very similar scenario to the one described in Voices from 2099.

We must recognize that the human bod itself is perhaps our most sophisticated infrastructure—a self-repairing, adaptive “living” structure that has evolved over millennia to move resources, transmit signals, and maintain resilience against constant disruption. When we envision people remaining perpetually 25 years old by century’s end, we’re essentially envisioning our future transhuman infrastructure…

Given the uncertain times we’re living through, a pinch of ‘existential’ hope now and then wouldn’t go amiss!