I’m a cosmologist specializing in the very, very, very early Universe (cosmological inflation), with interests in black holes and gravity, the foundations of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, and other fun-and-bewildering things. My favorite subjects are those that sound somewhat crazy, but arise from following our current best physical theories where they lead. The inflationary “multiverse” is a good example, and my recent research mostly concerns observable signatures of other bubble “universes” crashing into ours. In 2006, Max Tegmark and I created the Foundational Questions Institute to support research worldwide on the foundations of physics and cosmology where the questions are so risky, or “big” that conventional funding is hard to come by. If you enjoy thinking about the stuff on this thread, there’s lots of good material at the FQXi community site. Last year, I joined Max and several others in founding the Future of Life Institute, which seeks to minimize the risk/reward ratio in world-changing emerging technologies such as AI and Genetic engineering. Like other universes and black holes, when you talk a lot about these technologies they can sound crazy. But they’re coming! Most recently, with astrophysicist Greg Laughlin, I started the Metaculus project, an effort to create high-quality crowdsourced predictions about scientific and technological impact and breakthroughs, to help us understand what science and technology we should keep our eyes on. (Looking for more users – if you like to predict or think about the future, check it out!) Edit: 5 PST, periodically checking in to answer a few more