Robin Hanson

01Hanson's 1998 paper listed nine developmental steps from dead matter to star-colonizing civilization; each step is a candidate filter.
02Finding microbial life on Mars, Hanson argues, would be the worst possible news — it suggests the filter lies ahead, not in abiogenesis.
03Hanson also developed 'futarchy,' a governance system where policy is decided by prediction markets rather than elected officials.

Poster symbolizing the Ele Não Movement.

Robin Hanson coined 'Great Filter' in 1998 — the barrier that prevents civilizations from spreading across the galaxy. His most unsettling conclusion: the filter is probably still ahead of us, not behind.