I run a venture capital fund called Resilience Reserve, where we back startups that we think can make the world more resilient in some important way. In my spare time, I work on biorisk. I also sometimes write sci-fi for Random House, and post occasional episodes to my podcast, After On. If you’re interested in my thoughts about the biorisk landscape, or my other work, share your email address. You’ll hear from me rarely, and only when it matters.
Featured Appearances, Episodes, and More
My March 2026 appearance on “Making Sense with Sam Harris”
In this episode of Sam Harris’s podcast, we discuss a horrifically misguided USAID program called DEEP VZN. I did my best to blow the whistle on it in 2022, via an interview with MIT’s Kevin Esvelt, which both Sam and I posted to our audiences. DEEP VZN was subsequently shuttered before it could cause any damage. All this carries hugely relevant lessons for us as we approach the emerging biorisk landscape. Sam and I discuss its most dangerous features, and what we can do to mitigate them.
My 2022 Kevin Esvelt interview about the “DEEP VZN” program
This is my original 2022 interview with Kevin Esvelt about the DEEP VZN program, which I just re-posted to my podcast feed with a new introduction. DEEP VZN intended to find thousands of previously undiscovered viruses of unknown deadliness. It would then conduct sophisticated experiments to identify the viruses most likely to cause devastating pandemics – whereupon it would publish their genomes to the world. A world containing roughly 30,000 people capable of immediately making those deadly viruses from scratch. What could possibly go wrong?
My TED Talk about the risk of unnatural pandemics
Several months before COVID broke out, I gave this main-stage TED talk about the risk of unnatural pandemics caused by bioterror or bio-error. A key risk vector is the steady proliferation of synthetic biology tools and techniques, which themselves are rapidly becoming more powerful and easier to use. SynBio has the potential to enable vast human flourishing. But not if dangerous people can meanwhile access bio superweapons.
My Special Edition episode with Sam Harris about “Engineering the Apocolypse”
When COVID struck not long after my TED talk, I dove deep into the topic of pandemic resilience, conducting over 20 scientific interviews and lots of other research. Sam Harris and I then teamed up to present this ambitious special episode. I recorded a 100-minute monologue based on all of my research, which Sam broke into four segments – each of which he and I discussed at length. While my views on biorisk have since evolved, I still stand by practically every word.