Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The Anthropocene mode of development is driving civilization toward a "singularity crisis": artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly approaching general intelligence (AGI) with escalating risks of losing control, while unrestrained economic growth generates super-exponential growth of entropy production that pushes the Earth system toward its tipping points. This paper proposes the "Save 2050" initiative: a distributed planetary-scale collective prediction system that aggregates judgments about the future from humans and AI through open registration, crowdsourcing, and incentive mechanisms, and integrates them via large-scale simulation into inspectable "predicted worlds," enabling humanity to systematically \emph{see} the future for the first time. We argue for the initiative's feasibility along four dimensions---the maturation of AI forecasting, human collective intelligence and the institutional environment, supporting progress in related fields, and societal demand. We then identify three key enabling technologies: long-horizon automated resolution, simulation-based prediction aggregation, and reflexivity governance. We analyze potential risks---including reflexivity, cognitive monoculture, narrative capture, and regulatory and ethical concerns---together with mitigation strategies, and we outline a phased roadmap with open problems. The initiative's primary goal is not to intervene in the future, but to make the future visible, discussable, and co-writable.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Zhang, Jiang, Yuan, Bing, Zhang, Qian
Institutions: Beijing Normal University, Swarma Research
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204922501