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Archive for the ‘existential risks’ category: Page 20

Jan 19, 2019

Scott Aaronson — The Winding Road to Quantum Supremacy

Posted by in categories: computing, existential risks, neuroscience, quantum physics

This was the first part in an interview series with Scott Aaronson — this one is on quantum computing — other segments are on Existential Risk, consciousness (including Scott’s thoughts on IIT) and thoughts on whether the universe is discrete or continuous.


First part in an interview series with Scott Aaronson — this one is on quantum computing — future segments will be on Existential Risk, consciousness (including Scott’s thoughts on IIT) and thoughts on whether the universe is discrete or continuous.

Continue reading “Scott Aaronson — The Winding Road to Quantum Supremacy” »

Dec 27, 2018

The Wooly Mammoth Lumbers Back into View

Posted by in category: existential risks

The optimism of de-extinction science in a warming world.

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Dec 24, 2018

Http://immortality

Posted by in categories: existential risks, life extension

Ok, the new version of my global risk prevention map is up (pdf link is in comments) and now it is accompanied by recently the published article “Approaches to the Prevention of Global Catastrophic Risks.”


Abstract: Many global catastrophic and existential risks (X-risks) threaten the existence of humankind. There are also many ideas for their prevention, but the meta-problem is that these ideas are not structured. This lack of structure means it is not easy to choose the right plan(s) or to implement them in the correct order. I suggest using a “Plan A, Plan B” model, which has shown its effectiveness in planning actions in unpredictable environments. In this approach, Plan B is a backup option, implemented if Plan A fails. In the case of global risks, Plan A is intended to prevent a catastrophe and Plan B to survive it, if it is not avoided. Each plan has similar stages: analysis, planning, funding, low-level realization and high-level realization. Two variables—plans and stages—provide an effective basis for classification of all possible X-risks prevention methods in the form of a two-dimensional map, allowing the choice of optimal paths for human survival. I have created a framework for estimating the utility of various prevention methods based on their probability of success, the chances that they will be realized in time, their opportunity cost, and their risk. I also distinguish between top-down and bottom-up approaches.

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Dec 22, 2018

How The 1% Will Live After The End Of The World | VICE on HBO (Bonus)

Posted by in category: existential risks

Throughout human history, doomsayers — people predicting the end of the world — have lived largely on the fringes of society. Today, a doomsday industry is booming thanks to TV shows, movies, hyper-partisan politics and the news media. With the country’s collective anxiety on the rise, even the nation’s wealthiest people are jumping on board, spending millions of dollars on survival readiness in preparation for unknown calamities. We sent Thomas Morton to see how people across the country are planning to weather the coming storm.

Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com

Continue reading “How The 1% Will Live After The End Of The World | VICE on HBO (Bonus)” »

Dec 3, 2018

Thousands of Unstudied Plants May Be at Risk of Extinction

Posted by in categories: existential risks, robotics/AI

Plants often get short shrift in conservation circles, but machine learning could help botanists save tens of thousands of species.

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Dec 2, 2018

Astronaut says a neglected telescope is NASA’s best chance of defending Earth from ‘city killer’ asteroids — ‘for God’s sake, fund it’

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, government, military

Killer asteroids might be a bigger threat than you think.


  • Small asteroids can strike Earth with the force of many nuclear weapons and destroy entire cities.
  • A small fraction of such asteroids is estimated to have been found, but NASA is supposed to find 90% of them by 2020.
  • Retired astronaut Rusty Schweickart says a relatively inexpensive space telescope, called the Near-Earth Object Camera, could find these space rocks — and quickly.
  • NASA has denied full funding to NEOCam multiple times because the agency’s mission selection process is weighted against the telescope.
  • NEOCam’s supporters say the telescope needs just $40 million more in NASA’s budget to launch into space.
  • It’s up to President Trump and Congress to raise NASA’s budget enough to support the mission.

A former NASA astronaut says the agency he used to work for has a duty to protect civilians from killer asteroids, but that it isn’t meeting that obligation.

The threat of asteroid strikes might seem as abstract as outer space itself. But the risk, while infrequent, is real — and potentially more deadly than the threat posed by some of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever detonated.

Continue reading “Astronaut says a neglected telescope is NASA’s best chance of defending Earth from ‘city killer’ asteroids — ‘for God’s sake, fund it’” »

Nov 14, 2018

Apollo Astronaut claims Aliens PREVENTED a NUCLEAR WAR on Earth to ensure our existence

Posted by in categories: alien life, engineering, existential risks, military

The write up provides few sources but the phone interview with Mitchell on Fox News is good…


The Sixth Man to walk on the Moon – Edgar Mitchell made fainting claims about alien life when he stated that the existence of the alien visitors is kept a secret from the public, not due to fear of widespread disbelief, rather, a fear that the monetized interests of big business could go into a state of irrelevance if we were given a chance to harbor the technology.

Continue reading “Apollo Astronaut claims Aliens PREVENTED a NUCLEAR WAR on Earth to ensure our existence” »

Nov 14, 2018

Huge impact crater found under Greenland’s Hiawatha Glacier, the first known under ice

Posted by in category: existential risks

The first large crater ever found under ice, the discovery could possibly be linked to a controversial extinction theory.

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Nov 11, 2018

Albert Camus and the Absurd — Life Extension and the Big Picture

Posted by in categories: existential risks, futurism, health, life extension, philosophy

This paper explores Albert Camus’s notions of the absurd in The Myth of Sisyphus and draws correlations with the movement for indefinite life extension and the big picture of existence.

Calorie vacuums playing in the mud, isn’t that what we are when it comes down to it? We guess our way through much of life, trying not to spend too much time thinking about how trivial it all may or may not be so as to see about keeping the levels of despair down, waiting for our turn on the chopping block… We try to make sense of this life but in the end, can never fully convince ourselves that we have because we never fully do. That challenge is a mountain whose top hasn’t been seen yet.

People are drawn to understand what the most sensible things to do with life are, or as Albert Camus writes “the meaning of life is the most urgent of questions”. It’s a ballpark question. People thirst to make sense of their being, to understand what’s going on, for meaning, to track down and engage the most profound implication. Is thirst proof that water exists, as Gaston Bachelard says? Even rocks mean profound things, and we are self-aware supercomputers in a space filled with variables and has no known walls. It is very improbable that there is not a fundamentally profound implication within such circumstances.

How might we ever make sense of our existence? Masses of people are desperate with this “hope of another life one must ‘deserve’” and often take an irrational “leap”, as Camus says, to “some great idea that will transcend it, refine it, give it a meaning, and betray it.” Many rest on the hope that they’ll land a job they really love and can shine in someday but don’t put serious effort into figuring out what that would specifically be let alone work to make it happen.

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Nov 4, 2018

The Wonders and Worries of ‘Extinct Animal’ Zoos

Posted by in categories: climatology, existential risks, sustainability

The future is both glorious and horrifying. As we continue to expand our technological footprint in the hopes of creating wonder, several issues remain fixed with a trajectory towards disaster. From climate change to the mass extinction of several animal species, there’s no doubt that we’re heading into ruin if we’re to keep this up.


As our technology continues to advance to the point of bringing the dead back to life, how will our own species react to a growing new population of animals that can die and live again?

Continue reading “The Wonders and Worries of ‘Extinct Animal’ Zoos” »

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