Create Your Ideal Future Using Science-Based Protocols | Ari Wallach

In this episode, my guest is Ari Wallach, most recently an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and host of a new TV series titled A Brief History of the Future. We discuss the importance of learning to project our understanding of ourselves and our goals into the future, both for our own sake and for future generations. We also explore how this fosters a sense of unity and community within our species. We examine how technology and modern society influence our perception of time and our ability to make decisions in a fast-paced, reward-driven environment that leads to our best possible future. Additionally, we discuss how the dismantling of traditional institutions has altered people's sense of purpose. We outline protocols to cultivate long-term thinking, connect with core values, and define a deep sense of purpose. This episode provides listeners with actionable tools to merge short- and long-term thinking in ways that create a positive, lasting impact on ourselves, society, and the planet. Access the full show notes for this episode: https://go.hubermanlab.com/nxoB8eX Use Ask Huberman Lab, our chat-based tool, for summaries, clips, and insights from this episode: https://go.hubermanlab.com/v7nt4d Pre-order Andrew's book, Protocols: https://go.hubermanlab.com/protocols *Thank you to our sponsors* AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman David Protein: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman *Dr. Ari Wallach* Longpath: https://www.longpath.org/ari-wallach A Brief History of the Future: https://www.pbs.org/show/a-brief-history-of-the-future Longpath (book): https://amzlink.to/az0ySyIHkBkzu TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/ari_wallach_3_ways_to_plan_for_the_very_long_term Newsletter: https://longpath.substack.com Futurific Studios: https://futurificstudios.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariw X: https://x.com/AriW LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariwallach Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longpath.org/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ariw *Timestamps* 00:00:00 Ari Wallach 00:01:58 Sponsors: David, Helix Sleep & ROKA 00:06:13 Mental Time Travel; Technology & Present 00:15:46 Technology; Tools: Transgenerational Empathy; Bettering Today 00:22:00 Tool: Empathy for Others 00:26:09 Empathy for Future Generations, Emotion & Logic 00:31:48 Tool: Emotion to Guide Action 00:36:50 Sponsor: AG1 00:38:02 Tools: Perfect Day Exercise; Cathedral Thinking, Awe & Future Generations 00:43:52 Egoic Legacy, Modeling Behavior 00:51:13 Social Media, Time Capsule, Storytelling 01:00:06 Sponsor: LMNT 01:01:18 Short-Term Thinking; Life Purpose, Science & Religion 01:09:23 Longpath, Telos, Time Perception 01:15:19 Tools: Photo Frames; Behavior & Legacy; Life in Weeks 01:23:02 Tool: Visualizing Future You 01:30:17 Death, Western Society 01:36:20 Tool: Writing Letter to Future Self 01:41:01 Society, Future Harmony 01:47:03 Traditional Institutions, Family, Future Consciousness; “Protopia” 01:58:48 Tool: Behavior & Modeling for the Future 02:08:11 Tool: “Why Tuesdays?”, Examining Self 02:14:58 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter #HubermanLab Disclaimer: https://www.hubermanlab.com/disclaimer

Andrew HubermanhostAri WallachguestGuestguest

Oct 13, 20242h 17mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Designing Protopian Futures: Longpath Thinking For Everyday Decisions Today

Andrew Huberman and futurist Ari Wallach explore how our uniquely human ability for “mental time travel” can be redirected from short-term, stimulus–response behavior toward building long-term, pro-social futures. Wallach introduces his Longpath framework, built on transgenerational empathy, futures thinking, and a clear sense of telos (ultimate purpose), and shows how individual daily choices ripple out across generations. They discuss why modern technology and media compress our time horizon into an anxious present, how fear of death blocks real future-oriented thinking, and why we need new, hopeful narratives—“protopias” instead of dystopias. The conversation is highly practical, offering concrete protocols to relate to your future self, influence descendants you’ll never meet, and make better decisions today that contribute to a wiser civilization.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Train “transgenerational empathy” starting with self-compassion, then backward and forward in time.

Wallach argues that long-term thinking must begin with empathy for self—recognizing you were always doing your best with the tools and maturity you had at the time. From there, build empathy for prior generations (parents, grandparents, ancestors) by understanding their constraints and cultural context. Only then can you authentically extend empathy to future selves and descendants—caring not just about their material conditions but about how they will feel.

Use concrete tools to emotionally connect with your future self and change your behavior now.

Research by Hal Hershfield shows the brain treats “future you” like a stranger; this weak connection undermines saving, health behaviors, and planning. Wallach suggests two protocols: (1) create and regularly look at an age-progressed photo of yourself 10–20 years older, placing it somewhere you see daily (e.g., bathroom mirror), and (2) write a detailed letter to your future self (5–10 years out) describing your hopes, fears, and desired emotional state. Both increase emotional salience of future you and measurably shift choices—like saving more, flossing, and prioritizing long-term wellbeing.

Anchor everyday decisions to being “a great ancestor” instead of chasing short-term metrics.

Huberman and Wallach highlight that likes, clicks, promotions, and status are short-term, egoic rewards that rarely matter beyond a few years. To reorient, Wallach suggests asking in key moments: “Am I being a great ancestor?” and “How will descendants look back on this decision?” This mental prompt widens your time horizon on the spot and changes how you handle conflicts, parenting, work decisions, and consumption—guiding you to act in ways your great-grandchildren would admire, even if they never know your name.

Create physical and symbolic “time capsules” to make your long-term impact tangible.

Because digital content has a short half-life, Wallach emphasizes concrete legacy cues at home: a family photo shelf that includes an intentionally empty frame representing future grandchildren or descendants, reminding you visually that your life is one segment in a chain. He also endorses tools like a “Your Life in Weeks” chart to see your lifespan as a finite arc, and encourages capturing letters, stories, and values that can be passed forward. These analog anchors keep future generations psychologically “in the room” when you make day-to-day choices.

Recognize how presentism and notification culture hijack ancient neural hardware.

Humans evolved mental time travel to plan hunts and migrations using the hippocampus’ recombination of episodic memories. Modern tech exploits those same circuits with constant notifications and intermittent rewards, collapsing our temporal horizon into an anxious now. Social media behaves like a pocket casino, training stimulus–response loops that favor outrage and novelty over depth and long-term planning. Understanding this mismatch helps you deliberately carve out periods of non-reactive time—such as 5–10 minutes of eyes-closed reflection daily—to reconnect with larger goals and values.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

We need to ask, ‘How do we become the great ancestors the future needs us to be?’

— Ari Wallach

Emotions aren’t just about the past. They’re there to help us make better decisions about the future.

— Ari Wallach

Life is not a 100-yard dash. It’s a relay. You’re carrying a baton that was handed to you and that you will hand off.

— Ari Wallach

Most of social media today is a kind of hall of mirrors for our culture—our way of saying, ‘Notice me. My life meant something.’

— Ari Wallach

If you really want the future to be different, you don’t just need more smartness. You need more wisdom.

— Ari Wallach

Mental time travel, hippocampus, and human time perceptionPresentism, social media, and short-term dopamine reward loopsTransgenerational empathy: self, ancestors, and future descendantsLongpath framework: futures thinking and species-level purpose (telos)Practical tools for relating to future self and future generationsDeath, denial of mortality, and its impact on future-oriented behaviorNarratives and culture: from dystopia to protopia and cathedral thinking

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