Isaac Albert Arthur (born September 20, 1980) is a science educator,

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

and president of the American

National Space Society The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the Co ...

(NSS). He is best known as producer of his YouTube channel, ''Science & Futurism With Isaac Arthur'' (''SFIA''), where he discusses a broad variety of topics on futurism and

space colonization Space colonization (or extraterrestrial colonization) is the human settlement, settlement or colonization of outer space and astronomical bodies. The concept in its broad sense has been applied to any permanent human presence in space, such ...

Early life and education

Arthur was raised by his mother and his grandfather, Alan Arthur, along with an older sister. He was

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

from the age of ten, and dropped out of

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

at age twelve. He received his

GED Ged or GED may refer to: Places * Ged, Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * Ged, a village in Bichiwara Tehsil, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan, India * Delaware Coastal Airport, in Delaware, US, callsign GED People * Ged B ...

at the age of sixteen. In 2001, he graduated at the top of his class with a degree in physics from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

and began to pursue a graduate degree in

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

. Arthur became involved in local politics and now serves as chairman of the

Ashtabula County Ashtabula County ( ) is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,574. The county seat is Jefferson, while its largest city is Ashtabula. The county was created in 1808 and later organ ...

board of elections. His wife, Sarah Fowler Arthur has represented Ohio's 99th district in the Ohio state legislature since 2021. Arthur enlisted in the US Army in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2005 to 2007. He left the military in 2010, returning to his home in

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the ...

''Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur''

Arthur joined the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

space policy course as a visiting lecturer, contributed to the academy's simultaneous transition to

remote education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the launch of the graduation of USAFA cadets into the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

. Arthur serves on his hometown

board of elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

by day, spending the majority of his personal time working on production of his videos. He collaborates with other science communicators, including Paul Sutter and

Fraser Cain Universe Today (U.T.) is a North American-based non-commercial space and astronomy news website founded by Fraser Cain. The domain was registered on December 30, 1998, and the website went live in March 1999. ''Universe Today'' assumed its curre ...

, and acts as an analyst and consultant for science fiction novels and games, such as ''HADES 9''. His channel is dedicated to topics including

in the

near NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a form ...

and

far future Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization i ...

futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, and

transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

, among others, especially in the context of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

, the

Fermi paradox The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence. Those affirming the paradox generally conclude that if the conditions required ...

, and the Dyson dilemma. The channel's main focus is to speculate on how humanity or other hypothetical advanced civilizations may behave logistically, technologically, and socially, in the near and distant future under the laws of known science. The channel releases new episodes every Thursday, which tend to be around thirty minutes in length and are roughly organized into series: * ''Advanced Civilizations'' * ''Alien Civilizations'' * ''Post Scarcity Civilizations'' * ''Civilizations at the End of Time'' * ''Cyborgs, Androids, Transhumanism & AI'' * ''Fermi Paradox'' * ''Interstellar Warfare'' * ''Megastructures'' * ''Upward Bound'' * ''Outward Bound'' Outward Bound's main protagonist is the traveler, featured across the series. Arthur collaborates with other YouTubers and science communicators.

National Space Society

In 2020, Arthur was named the recipient of the

Space Pioneer Award for Education via Mass Media for his YouTube channel. On March 1, 2023, Arthur was elected president of the National Space Society (NSS).

References

External links

Official website

YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, Isaac 1980 births Living people American transhumanists YouTubers from California Kent State University alumni American science communicators People from Sebastopol, California