Governing to prevent the worst suffering

By Olin Thakur @ 2026-07-10T11:22 (–1)

From morphine denied to dying patients to autonomous weapons with no off switch, the case for putting suffering prevention at the heart of how we govern

By Jonathan Leighton, Executive Director, Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS)

The questions policymakers tend to avoid are often the most important ones. How do you build governance systems around preventing suffering when bureaucratic inertia and short-term thinking dominate the room? How do you talk about compassion in a security briefing without getting laughed out of the building? And what does any of this have to do with AI? Read more