## Notes from 16 May 2025 [[2025-05-15|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2025-05-17|Next note →]] I’ve been looking into the _[Worldbuilding AI Futures](https://www.udemy.com/course/worldbuilding-hopeful-futures-with-ai/)_ course, part of the _[Existential Hope](https://www.existentialhope.com/)_ program by the [[Foresight Institute]], and I really liked the approach. It focuses on developing plausible, positive visions for the future, especially in relation to AI and institutional design. One of the instructors is [[Glen Weyl]], founder of [[RadicalxChange]], whose perspectives I always found incredibly creative. The broader _Existential Hope_ program includes other components like a podcast, where people such as [[Adam Marblestone]], Eli Dourado and [[Jason Crawford]] have shared ideas about long-term futures. I appreciate how the program tries to balance critical thinking about risks with efforts to imagine better outcomes. ___ Professor Sylvia Veit recently shared the free publication of _[The Decline of the Public Service in Democratic Governments](https://idjs.ca/en/media-en/what-happened-the-decline-of-the-public-service-in-democratic-governments)_, which I found very interesting. I plan to read at least the chapters on Germany, France and the United States, but the book also includes case studies on Japan and South Korea, which is great because the focus is not limited to the North Atlantic. The essays examine issues such as accountability, institutional memory and the ethics of public administration under changing political pressures and bureaucratic reforms. The volume was made possible by a grant from the [[Jarislowsky Foundation]], which supports the [Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership](https://www.trustandleadershipnetwork.ca/) and a pan-Canadian network of research chairs dedicated to promoting public administration studies.