Carl O. Pabo

I spent several decades doing research on the structure and design of DNA-binding proteins, making fundamental contributions in that area of molecular biophysics. In 2001, I resigned my positions as a tenured Professor at MIT and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to pursue what I recognized as an even more crucial challenge: understanding the power and limits of human thought, and their implications for humanity’s future.

After dedicating years to this research on thought, and on pressing challenges of the Anthropocene, I now focus on the dangers resulting from a mismatch between the capacity of the human mind and the complexity of the world we have built—a gap that widens, and becomes ever more dangerous, with recent advances in artificial intelligence.

I have—in response—developed new “tools for thought” to help society work amidst this complexity. I look forward to collaborating with others who see how complexity confounds the human mind—who understand that standard approaches are failing to meet the challenges of the modern age, and who are ready to explore new strategies needed to create a livable human future.