Strategy
The Future, Faster
Astera Institute was created to bring humanity the greatest imaginable good in the most efficient possible way. When your ambitions are boundless, but your resources are finite, leverage is your friend. In the words of Konrad Zuse, “I was too lazy to calculate, so I invented the computer.” Inspired by such extreme examples of “work smarter,” Astera seeks to activate the areas of exponential latent potential within science and technology.
What is Latent Potential?
Latent potential refers to solution ideas positioned at the root of big problems that are hidden or underestimated because of inherent bottlenecks. The bottlenecks may include the opportunity to conduct preliminary experiments to assess the soundness of ideas, access to funders with an appetite for challenging the status quo, or coordination with others to address major infrastructural needs. By targeting these areas of latent potential, we increase our leverage and our potential capacity to help create transformative progress for human civilization.
What Is Our Approach?
Our approach is to identify and work with key partners to co-develop ideas aligned with our central theses. We invest effort into actively collaborating with partners to refine hypotheses that we want to test together. We take this approach to ensure alignment on the working hypotheses and coordination across other efforts we support.
Identifying Opportunities
We are not looking for unsolicited outside projects, untethered to our theses. However, if you think you have a project that may be of interest, please send a paragraph (no more than half a page) about your project to ideas@astera.org. We will reach out if there is a clear opportunity for partnership.
From time to time, we may release calls for specific proposals in our areas of interest.