Émile P. Torres

Émile P. Torres (born 2 July 1982), formerly known as Phil Torres, is an American philosopher, intellectual historian, activist, and podcast host. Their research focuses on eschatology, existential risk, and human extinction. Along with computer scientist Timnit Gebru, Torres coined the neologism "TESCREAL" to criticize what they see as a group of related philosophies: transhumanism, extropianism, singularitarianism, cosmism, rationalism, effective altruism, and longtermism.

Early life and education Torres grew up in Maryland. They were raised in a fundamentalist evangelical Christian family, but later left the religion and became an atheist. They attribute their interest in eschatology to their fundamentalist upbringing, which exposed them to substantial discussion of the Rapture.

Torres attended the University of Maryland, College Park and earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in philosophy in 2007. In 2009, they earned a Master of Science in neuroscience from Brandeis University. Simultaneously, from 2008 to 2009, they were a special student at Harvard University in the philosophy department.

In 2016, Torres published a book titled The End: What Science and Religion Tell Us About the Apocalypse, which discusses both religious and secular eschatology, and describes threats from technologies such as nuclear weapons, biological engineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

From 2023 to 2024, Torres was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University's Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence. Also in 2023, Routledge published Torres's Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. While Torres does not in practice "wish to see or promote" human extinction, they contend that it would not be inherently bad if it were to occur without violence, such as through declining birthrates.

Torres has published in popular media including The Washington Post and Current Affairs, and is a contributing writer to Salon and Truthdig.

Torres currently cohosts a podcast with comedian Kate Willett. Transhumanism, longtermism, and effective altruism

For the first decade of their career, Torres identified as a transhumanist, longtermist, and effective altruist. Before 2017, Torres contributed writing to the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit organization focused on technology and existential risk. After turning against the organization and opposing techno-optimism with ideas such as a need for a moratorium on the development of artificial intelligence, Torres says they were ousted and their writing removed from the website.

Torres later left the longtermist, transhumanist, and effective altruist communities, and became a vocal critic. Torres claims that longtermism and related ideologies stem from eugenics, and could be used to justify "dangerous" consequentialist thinking. They first publicized the term in a paper on artificial general intelligence (AGI). Torres argued that a race towards developing AGI would instead produce systems that harm marginalized groups and concentrate power. They have criticized adherents of those philosophies for treating AGI as a technological solution to issues like climate change and access to education, while ignoring other political, social, or economic factors. They have also expressed concern over their belief that longtermism is prominent in the tech industry. Torres has also been described as a critic of techno-optimism.

Torres has also written about artificial intelligence, and has advocated for more focus on AI harms including intellectual property theft, algorithmic bias, and concentration of wealth in technology corporations.

Andrew Anthony, writing in The Observer, has described Torres as longtermism's "most vehement critic". The band released two full-length albums, Baobab (2012) and BAYOHBAHB (Hand Eye Records, 2013).

Selected publications

Books

Papers