Barbara Marx Hubbard (was an author, speaker, co-founder and president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, and a pioneering voice in the field of conscious evolution. Hubbard posited that humanity was on the threshold of a quantum leap if newly emergent scientific, social, and spiritual capacities were integrated to address global crises. She was the author of seven books on social and planetary evolution, including Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential (1998) and Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence (2001). In conjunction with the Shift Network, she co-produced the worldwide “Birth 2012” multimedia event. She was the subject of a biography by Neale Donald Walsch, The Mother of Invention. Deepak Chopra called her “the voice for conscious evolution,” and Buckminster Fuller called her “the best informed human now alive regarding futurism.” In the 1970s, she started speaking at futurist conferences and dedicated her life to sharing the potential of achieving a better society, developing the concept of “birthing” humanity. She created numerous organizations, including the Committee for the Future, Women of Vision in Action, and was instrumental in founding the World Future Society and the Association for Global New Thought. In 1984, her name was placed in nomination for vice president of the United States on the Democratic ticket, calling for a “Peace Room.” She graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in 1951 with a B.A. in Political Science.
Why their voice matters: Marx Hubbard pioneered the concept of conscious evolution, reframing humanity’s role in its own development by proposing that we are moving from unconscious evolution to conscious evolution by choice. Her transformative insight that “our crisis is a birth” offered hope during planetary challenges, suggesting current difficulties are natural birth pains of an awakened humanity rather than signs of apocalypse. Her voice matters because she demonstrated that by connecting scientific advancement, spiritual development, and social innovation, we can consciously guide our species toward its highest potential as co-creative participants in universal evolution.