Émile P. Torres (born 2 July 1982), formerly known as Phil Torres, is an American philosopher,

intellectual historian Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

, and activist. Their research focuses on

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...

existential risk A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, endangering or even destroying Modernity, modern civilization. Existential risk is a related term limited to even ...

, and

human extinction Human extinction or omnicide is the hypothetical end of the human species, either by population decline due to extraneous natural causes, such as an asteroid impact or large-scale volcanism, or via anthropogenic destruction (self-extinction ...

. Along with computer scientist

Timnit Gebru Timnit Gebru (Amharic and ; 1982/1983) is an Eritrean Ethiopian-born computer scientist who works in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic bias and data mining. She is a co-founder of Black in AI, an advocacy group that has pu ...

, Torres coined the term "

TESCREAL TESCREAL is an acronym neologism proposed by computer scientist Timnit Gebru and philosopher Émile P. Torres that stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, (modern) Cosmism, Rationalist ideology, Effective Altruism, and Long ...

" to criticize what they see as a group of related philosophies:

transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

extropianism Extropianism, also referred to as the philosophy of extropy, is an "evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition". Extropians believe that advances in science and technology will some day let people li ...

singularitarianism Singularitarianism is a Social movement, movement defined by the belief that a technological singularity—the creation of superintelligence—will likely happen in the medium future, and that deliberate action ought to be taken to ensure that t ...

cosmism Cosmism may refer to: * A religious philosophical position from the writings of Hugo de Garis * Russian cosmism, a philosophical and cultural movement in Russia in the early 20th century See also * Cosmicism, a literary philosophy by H. P. Love ...

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

effective altruism Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to b ...

, and

longtermism Longtermism is the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. It is an important concept in effective altruism and a primary motivation for efforts that aim to reduce existential risks to h ...

Early life and education

Torres grew up in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. They were raised in a

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

family, but later left the religion and became an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. They attribute their interest in

to their fundamentalist upbringing, which exposed them to substantial discussion of the

Rapture The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...

. Torres attended the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

and earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

with honors in philosophy in 2007. In 2009, they earned a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. Simultaneously, from 2008–2009, they were a special student at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in the philosophy department. In 2020, Torres began a philosophy Ph.D. program at the

Leibniz University Hannover Leibniz University Hannover (), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public university, public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational School, the university has undergone six period ...

Career

Much of Torres's work focused on existential risk, the study of potential catastrophic events that could result in human extinction. More recently, they have focused on "existential ethics", which they define as "questions about whether our extinction would be right or wrong to bring about if it happened". In 2016, Torres published a book titled ''The End: What Science and Religion Tell Us About the Apocalypse'', which discusses both religious and secular eschatology, and describes threats from technologies such as

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

biological engineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number ...

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

, and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. In 2017 they published another book, titled ''Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing: An Introduction to Existential Risks''. Like their first book, it discusses a range of existential threats, but also delves into what they term "agential risk": the roles of outside agents in existential risk. ''Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing'' was positively reviewed in ''

Futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded *''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures' ...

'' as a "current and timely" introduction to existential risk. From 2023 to 2024, Torres was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University's Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence. Also in 2023,

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

published Torres's ''Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation.'' The book posits that the rise of Christianity, along with Christianity's focus on salvation, removed the topic of human extinction from public discourse.They argue that concerns around human extinction have re-emerged amid increasing secularism. While Torres does not in practice "wish to see or promote" human extinction, they contend that it would not be inherently bad if it were to occur without violence, such as through declining birthrates. Torres has published articles in popular media including ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and '' Current Affairs'', and is a contributing writer to ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'' and ''

Truthdig Truthdig is an American alternative news website that provides a mix of long-form articles, blog items, curated links, interviews, arts criticism, and commentary on current events that is delivered from a politically progressive, left-leaning ...

''.

Transhumanism, longtermism, and effective altruism

For the first decade of their career, Torres identified as a

transhumanist Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

, longtermist, and effective altruist. Before 2017, Torres contributed writing to the

Future of Life Institute The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a nonprofit organization which aims to steer wikt:transformative, transformative technology towards benefiting life and away from large-scale risks, with a focus on existential risk from artificial general ...

, a non-profit organization focused on technology and existential risk. After turning against the organization and opposing

techno-optimism Technological utopianism (often called techno-utopianism or technoutopianism) is any ideology based on the premise that advances in science and technology could and should bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian ...

with ideas such as a need for a moratorium on the development of artificial intelligence, Torres says they were ousted and their writing removed from the website. Torres later left the longtermist, transhumanist, and effective altruist communities, and became a vocal critic. Torres claims that longtermism and related ideologies stem from

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

, and could be used to justify "dangerous"

consequentialist In moral philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgement about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from ...

thinking. Along with Timnit Gebru, Torres coined the acronym neologism "

" to refer to what they see as a group of related philosophies: transhumanism, extropianism, singularitarianism, cosmism, rationalism, effective altruism, and longtermism. They first publicized the term in a paper on

artificial general intelligence Artificial general intelligence (AGI)—sometimes called human‑level intelligence AI—is a type of artificial intelligence that would match or surpass human capabilities across virtually all cognitive tasks. Some researchers argue that sta ...

(AGI). Torres argued that a race towards developing AGI would instead produce systems that harm marginalized groups and concentrate power. Torres continued to write extensively about the philosophies, and about how they intersect with respect to artificial intelligence. They have criticized adherents of those philosophies for treating AGI as a technological solution to issues like

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and access to education, while ignoring other political, social, or economic factors. They have also expressed concern over their belief that longtermism is prominent in the tech industry. Torres has also been described as a critic of techno-optimism. Torres has also written about artificial intelligence, and has advocated for more focus on AI harms including

intellectual property theft An intellectual property (IP) infringement is the infringement or violation of an intellectual property right. There are several types of intellectual property rights, such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, plant breeders rig ...

algorithmic bias Algorithmic bias describes systematic and repeatable harmful tendency in a computerized sociotechnical system to create " unfair" outcomes, such as "privileging" one category over another in ways different from the intended function of the a ...

, and concentration of wealth in technology corporations. Although effective altruism and a newer philosophy known as

effective accelerationism Effective accelerationism (e/acc) is a 21st-century philosophical movement that advocates for an explicitly pro-technology stance. Its proponents believe that unrestricted technological progress (especially driven by artificial intelligence) is ...

have been described by most observers, including members of both groups, as opposing sides of the argument on how to approach developing artificial intelligence, Torres has opined that the two groups are in fact very similar, and characterized the conflict as a "family dispute". "What's missing is all of the questions that AI ethicists are asking about algorithmic bias, discrimination, the environmental impact of I systems and so on," Torres told ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

.''

Andrew Anthony Andrew Anthony is a journalist who has written for ''The Guardian'' since 1990, and ''The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1 ...

, writing in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

,'' has described Torres as longtermism's "most vehement critic".

Personal life

Torres is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and uses ''they/them'' pronouns.

Selected publications

Books

* * *

Papers

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Émile P. 1982 births Living people 21st-century American academics 21st-century American historians 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century American writers Academics from Maryland Artificial intelligence ethicists Brandeis University alumni Eschatology writers Existential risk from artificial intelligence Former evangelicals Historians from Maryland Non-binary scholars and academics American non-binary writers People associated with effective altruism Philosophers from Maryland American philosophers of technology Leibniz University Hannover alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni Writers from Maryland Year of birth missing (living people)