Michael Nielsen’s notebook

I work on existential risks, metascience, and tools for thought. Much of my time is spent understanding the relationship between science, art, and religion. In the past I've worked on quantum computing, open science, and artificial intelligence.

I'm a Research Fellow at the Astera Institute. I've recently begun recording in-depth conversations at the Good Conversation Project (YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts).

To hear about my projects as they're released, please join my projects mailing list. Here is a projects timeline, a list of projects, and of selected projects.

Selected recent work

The Unimagined GoodJuly 31, 2026 Notes on Tanya M. Luhrmann's book 'How God Becomes Real'May 7, 2026 Developing creative identityMarch 25, 2026 Which Future?February 17, 2026 The Sacrifices We Choose to MakeJuly 13, 2025 ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goalApril 18, 2025 How to be a wise optimist about science and technology?December 1, 2024 A Vision of Metascience: An Engine of Improvement for the Social Processes of ScienceMichael Nielsen and Kanjun QiuOctober 18, 2022

Books