Saving Humanity from Homo Sapiens (SHfHS)

Saving Humanity from Homo Sapiens (SHfHS) is a small philanthropic foundation focused on preventing human-created existential risks that could lead to the extinction of humanity or all life on Earth. The organization operates as a funding intermediary, using its endowment to identify and support individuals, researchers, and organizations doing the most impactful work on existential risk reduction. The organization was co-founded by Rick Schwall, a retired Silicon Valley professional with a B.S. from Caltech and an M.S. in Philosophy from Northwestern University, and Thomas Eliot, a recent mathematics graduate who shifted from academia to the nonprofit sector after attending the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence's Rationality Boot Camp in the summer of 2011. Rick Schwall serves as Chief Financier and Joy Livingwell serves as Lead Researcher, focusing on global priorities research and long-term sustainability. SHfHS defines existential risks (X-Risks) as events that could potentially cause the extinction of all humanity or all life on Earth, with a particular emphasis on human-caused risks. Their priority focus areas include: artificial intelligence safety (particularly preventing an unaligned intelligence explosion or Singularity), nuclear war prevention, catastrophic climate change, and emerging technology risks such as self-replicating nanobots. The organization's approach is to act as a philanthropic catalyst — finding the researchers and organizations doing the best work to prevent human-created X-Risk and supporting them financially. SHfHS operates with a $1.5 million endowment and is largely volunteer-driven, with a small team of dedicated individuals.