{"id":"athena-aktipis","title":"Athena Aktipis","content":"**Athena Aktipis** is an American evolutionary biologist, cooperation theorist, and psychologist. She is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University (ASU), with a research focus on the principles of cooperation and conflict across biological and social systems. Her work spans studies of human generosity, microbial communities, and a framework for understanding cancer as a breakdown of multicellular cooperation. Aktipis also leads several interdisciplinary research initiatives, including the Cooperative Futures Institute and the Human Generosity Project. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-3I0CA1XqInmqWrqr) [\\[6\\]](#cite-id-Lc0jr5j7B6aDPHGf) \n\n## Education\n\nAktipis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Reed College in 2002, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She then attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Master of Arts in psychology in 2004 and a Doctor of Philosophy in psychology in 2008. Her doctoral research focused on developing computational models to study the evolution of cooperation. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-3I0CA1XqInmqWrqr)​\n\n## Career\n\nIn 2011, Aktipis moved to the University of California, San Francisco, where she co-founded the Center for Evolution and Cancer and served as director of human and social evolution. During this period, she developed an interdisciplinary research program that examines cancer as a breakdown of intercellular cooperation, integrating evolutionary theory, computational modeling, and clinical collaborations. She was also a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin during the 2013–2014 academic year, participating in a working group on cancer evolution that addressed foundational questions about cancer progression and susceptibility.\n\nIn 2014, Aktipis joined Arizona State University’s Department of Psychology, where she later became an associate professor. At ASU, she established and directs the Cooperation and Conflict Lab and leads the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative, collaborating with researchers across disciplines to study the principles governing cooperation and conflict in biological and social systems. She is also affiliated with the Center for Evolution and Medicine. Alongside anthropologist Lee Cronk, she co-founded and co-directs the Human Generosity Project, which investigates human cooperation and helping behavior using fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and computational models.\n\nAktipis’ research spans cooperation in humans, microbes, and multicellular organisms, including studies of food sharing, resource transfers, the microbiome’s role in behavior, and cancer as a failure of multicellular cooperation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she initiated the Cooperation in the Apocalypse project to examine how crises influence cooperation, risk perception, and social behavior. Her work has been discussed in major media outlets regarding cancer evolution, microchimerism, and microbial influences on behavior.\n\nIn addition to her academic research, Aktipis is the author of *The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer* (2020) and *A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times* (2024). She is also the founder of Zombified Media and hosts the podcast *Zombified*, which explores scientific perspectives on loss of control and vulnerability across biological and social systems. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-3I0CA1XqInmqWrqr) \n\n### Cooperative Futures Institute\n\nAt the Cooperative Futures Institute (CFI), Aktipis leads work focused on applying research from the science of cooperation to contemporary social, technological, and institutional challenges. Drawing on methods from psychology, evolutionary biology, computational modeling, and field research, the institute develops tools, frameworks, and collaborative processes intended to support cooperative behavior in contexts such as risk management, technology design, and community resilience. Under Aktipis’ direction, CFI integrates research with applied initiatives, including evaluating artificial intelligence systems for cooperative capabilities, using simulations and game-based learning to study collective decision-making, and partnering with public agencies, private organizations, and local communities to test cooperative approaches to infrastructure, insurance, and disaster preparedness. [\\[6\\]](#cite-id-Lc0jr5j7B6aDPHGf) \n\n## Interviews\n\n### Fundamental Phenomena\n\nIn a January 2026 interview on the *80,000 Hours* podcast with Rob Wiblin, Aktipis discussed her work on cooperation as a unifying principle across biological and social systems, using cancer as a central case study rather than treating it solely as a biomedical problem. She described cancer as a breakdown of multicellular cooperation, shaped by evolutionary dynamics such as multilevel selection, genetic conflict, and competition among cells, and highlighted comparative cases like elephants, which have many more cells than humans yet lower cancer rates, suggesting evolved cancer-suppression mechanisms. Aktipis emphasized that cells within the body face strong evolutionary pressures, challenging the view of cancer as purely random mutation, and explained why contagious cancers remain rare because of immune system defenses. She also addressed trade-offs between longevity, body maintenance, and cancer risk, and discussed adaptive therapy approaches that aim to manage tumors by steering cancer cell behavior rather than eliminating them outright. The conversation concluded by extending these ideas to human societies, arguing that understanding cooperation, risk management, and crisis preparation is essential for navigating uncertainty at the collective scale. [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-RHN9hokGRUxt2JXp) \n\n[YOUTUBE@VID](https://youtube.com/watch?v=n5sJPASpXeg)\n\n### A Better Future\n\nIn a January 2026 interview at an Interintellect salon, Aktipis discussed her interdisciplinary work as a cooperation scientist at Arizona State University, focusing on cooperation across scales ranging from cellular systems to human societies. She described her long-running Human Generosity Project, which examines patterns of cooperation, conflict, and competition across diverse cultures, and situated this research alongside her books *The Cheating Cell* and *A Field Guide to the Apocalypse*. Aktipis also outlined her involvement with the Cooperative Futures Institute, which applies insights from cooperation science to contemporary challenges, including the design of AI systems. The discussion explored theoretical frameworks for cooperation, contrasting coordination-focused models such as the Stag Hunt with conflict-centered models like the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and emphasized the central role of communication and shared goals in enabling cooperative outcomes. Broader themes included how social and institutional structures shape cooperative behavior, the relative effectiveness of smaller, interconnected communities, and considerations around gender and cooperation. Aktipis concluded by arguing that cooperation is not a fragile exception but a robust capacity that can be strengthened through intentional social design. [\\[2\\]](#cite-id-fDYNUn6Tipo2rAcQ) \n\n[YOUTUBE@VID](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qP3W2XkNKKs)\n\n### Humanity and AI\n\nIn a November 2025 livestream on the Human Energy YouTube channel titled *“Alignment for a Major Evolutionary Transition,”* Aktipis participated in a panel alongside Dr. Terrence Deacon, Nichol Bradford, and Peter Fenton, moderated by Sheila Hassel Hughes of Human Energy. The discussion centered on the concept of a major evolutionary transition driven by the interaction between human societies and advanced technologies, particularly AI. Panelists examined ideas such as the noosphere—the collective sphere of human knowledge—and the “technosocial dilemma,” describing tensions between rapid technological development and slower-moving social and institutional structures. Drawing on perspectives from evolutionary biology, cooperation science, and technology, the conversation emphasized that past evolutionary transitions were enabled by increased cooperation, shared goals, and new forms of collective organization. Aktipis contributed a cooperation-science perspective, highlighting the importance of aligning technological systems with human values and social dynamics rather than treating alignment as a purely technical problem. The panel also addressed implications for education, arguing that AI is likely to accelerate a shift toward more collaborative and experiential learning models, as well as ethical questions around AI capabilities, agency, and the design of human-centered tools that support collective intelligence rather than displacing human interaction. [\\[5\\]](#cite-id-S02Z0rowYm3gYJCI) \n\n[YOUTUBE@VID](https://youtube.com/watch?v=73om6PwBZG8)\n\n### Writing to Influence\n\nIn April 2025, Aktipis delivered a presentation for GradFUTURES at Princeton University focused on communicating research on cooperation to broad audiences. Introduced as a psychologist and evolutionary biologist from Arizona State University, she outlined her work on cooperation across multiple levels, from human behavior during crises to cellular cooperation, including projects such as the Cooperation Science Network and the Human Generosity Project. Aktipis used the metaphor of a zombie apocalypse—drawn from her writing and public scholarship—to make complex scientific and policy questions more accessible. Through interactive writing exercises, she prompted participants to reflect on trust, interdependence, and cooperation by asking who they would rely on in extreme scenarios, and used these discussions to illustrate how narrative framing can surface core social dynamics. She emphasized strategies for effective communication, including simplifying complex ideas without losing rigor, employing humor and concrete examples, and adopting a “classic style” of writing to make academic work clearer and more engaging. The session concluded with an exercise on defining key disciplinary terms more precisely, reinforcing the importance of clarity and accessibility in scholarly and professional communication. [\\[3\\]](#cite-id-K5B8AKUJiE6u9f2I) \n\n[YOUTUBE@VID](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_SCvUZyG4)","summary":"Athena Aktipis is an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University. 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