2026 Predictions
For a world where technology is outpacing societal progress.
Let’s have a little fun, shall we? I spent this year speaking to founders working on the frontier. I’ve collected and organized all the insights into a brief list of some of what I expect to be the inflection points for tech and society in the coming year.
Physical AI Companions Flood the Market
A proliferation of AI companions come to market: children’s toys, homework helpers, digital “friends” (as well as lovers and other adult-only product offerings) changing how we form social ties with non-human intelligence.
Longevity goes mainstream
The lines between wellness, healthcare, and radical life extension start to blur. Longevity interventions supplant cosmetic surgery. Clinics, sauna/meditation spots Othership threaten traditional gyms. The Enhanced Games normalizes the radical.
“Agency” is the Merriam-Webster word of the year
It’s a double entendre alluding to the juxtaposition between Agentic Machines and Human Agency (humanity’s most sought after quality in a post-scarcity world)
Applied neuroscience for LLMs
Uptick in demand for applied neuroscientists to study LLMs as we try to better understand the unknown inner-workings of silicon-based intelligence.
Liquid Citizenship is the new Digital Nomad
Tax, weather and talent arbitrage dominate migration flows of the upwardly mobile and tech elite. Trial runs for encrypted on chain visas with large nation states will take place.
Capital flight & New “Suburbs”
Gridlocked city politics and the looming threat of wealth taxes will be a boon to mid-tier cities and an outcropping of net-new “Freedom Cities” where wealthy donors (citizens) contribute to public works projects in their name.
Birth-rate panic → biotech fast-tracking
Heightened awareness of declining birth rates in developed countries will lead to fast-track regulation for extraordinary science — artificial wombs, human cloning, synthetic organs and blood, experimental cell and gene therapies.
First in-human gene editing (US)
It won’t be for IQ or hair color, likely a fertility treatment to remove a heritable trait for deadly disease. A less conventional HHS/FDA will signal support for popular yet radical scientific ideas.
Prediction market scandal
Onchain sleuths will uncover market manipulation that reveals a small cabal of inside traders (prison time).
A prediction market launches a political outsider into national office.
Likely a primary challenger in the US Mid-Terms orchestrated by a small but powerful group of supporters from tech’s upper echelon.
Trade-school renaissance
The west comes to terms with decades of deindustrialization and outsourcing, shifting focus from elite overproduction to “building things again.” A new Ivy League will emerge with a focus on craftsmanship and bringing dignity back to blue collar work.
On-chain national election
A small nation’s government will hold a free and fair election onchain thanks to privacy enhancing technology (like ZK or FHE).
Space property lawsuit
The first “private property in space” lawsuit takes place. Confusion over jurisdiction leads to the formation of an independent, global governing body: the Committee for Lower Earth Atmosphere (CLEO).
Humanoid robot’s “me too” moment
There will be a “me too” moment for humanoid robots that escalates to a Supreme Court case on robots x AI civil rights.
Quantum Breakthrough Brings Hope and Despair
A quantum breakthrough will lead to the discovery a new material that accelerates timelines for fusion reactors to come online; it will also break basic encryption techniques sending RSA’s stock plummeting and wreaking havoc on BTC
Moon becomes 51st state
America plants a Trump-branded flag next to the original American flag from Apollo missions.
If you’re curious about what the future holds, you may want to subscribe. If you’re building it, let’s talk.
In 2025, we hosted:
Arthaud — AI & Identity
Emil — Human Cryopreservation & the Prospect of Immortality
Cathy — Eradicating Heritable Disease via Germline Gene Editing
Santi [coming soon] — Liquid Democracies and Digital Governance
Barbara [coming soon] — Space Agriculture and going Interplanetary
Who should we shortlist for ‘26?