Exastential

EEveryone’s talking to AI agents, but not enough of us are talking about how these agents have set off the most existential time in human history.

The world is in a seismic transition. Kids are automating homework with LLMs, graduates are questioning whether jobs will even exist, creatives are wondering what remains for work shaped by human attention.

We’re creating Exastential to talk about the big questions this moment has raised. The more our technology advances, the more precious our humanity feels. What do we do all day if labor gets automated? What should our kids dream of becoming? How do we live a good life in a superintelligent world?

At their root these are not new questions, but ancient questions in a changing world. The philosophers contemplated the cosmos, the nature of love, and what makes a meaningful life. Questions like these take a universe’s lifetime to unravel, and never before have they felt so important.

For the first issue of Exastential, we are seeking fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, and film that explore what matters in a superintelligent world. Some ideas we’d be excited to commission: A manifesto on originality. An imagination of a child’s afternoon in 2050. A romance orchestrated by a superintelligent being. These are just starting points. Most of all, we’re looking forward to the range of opinion and creativity from you.

We invite you to submit your work. Submissions are open and close September 30, 2026. Accepted contributors will be paid based on the scope of the work. Exastential will be published in print, with all media also available online.

The coming world will be rich in FLOPs. Whether it is also rich in discernment, morality, and beauty depends on us.