Dr. Sean A. Hays is the new Future Tense Researcher at the New America Foundation. He will be working to coordinate the activities of the New America Foundation and Arizona State University in preparing the next three Future Tense events, assisting more senior NAF personnel with the planning and logistics of those events, and adding to and updating the information on the Future Tense initiative home page on the NAF’s website.

Previously, Dr. Hays was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. His research has focused on the topic of the impact of emergent technologies on social competition in American political culture. His dissertation was a preliminary analysis of the implications of cognitive enhancement technologies for social competition within American political culture. He is currently working with Drs. Clark Miller and Jason Robert to complete an edited volume on nanotechnology and cognitive enhancement, as well as on creating a system for modeling non-linear dynamic technological histories. In addition, his long-term research program continues to involve integrating the insights of the canonical political theorists into STS and science policy, developing new tools for dynamic non-linear historical modeling, and working with CNS at ASU to further develop anticipatory governance, a model for reforming societal institutions so they are better prepared to mitigate any potential negative externalities that attend new technologies.

Dr. Hays earned a PhD in political theory, science policy, and international relations theory from Arizona State University.