Generating high-impact policy for mitigating systemic risk 

Odysseus, through Athena’s patronage, passed a series of seemingly insurmountable tests over a decade of trials. This corresponds with our civilisational journey, with a decade and thereafter a century of incredibly daunting intellectual, social, political, and economic tests to avoid catastrophe. In contemporary use, Murray Gell-Mann coined the ‘Odyssean’ as the union of natural and social sciences appropriate for wicked problems. We intend to apply these approaches directly to catastrophic risks and the systemic multipliers of those risks.

The Odyssean Institute has been founded to incorporate robust decision making and deliberative mechanisms, both expert and public, with existential risk mitigation. We integrate research, take a transdisciplinary approach to solutions, and combine cutting edge modelling with participatory decision making mechanisms. All of this is to derive more comprehensive, effective, and actionable solutions for civilisational flourishing over the long term. Our combination of these approaches is called the Odyssean Process, designed to enable systemic and whole society involvement to enable policy makers to address the greatest risks legitimately and wisely.