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A Trinity of Existential Risks
About This Book
On November 20, 1983, the film, ‘The Day After’ debuted on American television. For the first time, Americans were given a glimpse of what a nuclear holocaust and the nuclear winter that followed in its wake would look like. It was a shocking film viewed by a hundred million people including then-President Ronald Reagan and the First Lady. It crystallized the notion of an ‘Existential Risk’ into tangible terms everyone could understand.
Over forty years later, our world is significantly more dangerous than when the film first aired. Our unipolar world order is descending into a bipolar or multipolar order, and we’re not yet quite sure which. However, we can be certain that an increase in danger and hostilities will characterize either scenario. In fact, we are witnessing an increase in hostilities on a near-daily basis. With the war in Ukraine, and the extremely elevated levels of enmity between China and Russia on one side and the United States and the West on the other, the threat of nuclear war has increased as the treaties governing these weapons of mass destruction are weakened or cast aside.
The sophistication and destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons have also increased in the forty years since that film was released. Artificial Intelligence can be employed to manage our nuclear arsenal and decide when and where to deploy the warheads. Alarmingly, only the United States is willing to pledge not to utilize AI in such a capacity. AI can make decisions and respond so rapidly, that we cannot participate in the chain of command since the delay resulting from human intervention would pose too great a risk for the nation. Of course, AI can be employed in countless other ways which can be very dangerous to humankind such as in the research and development of bioweapons which can also result in mass casualties. In conjunction with other 4th Industrial Revolution technologies, AI poses an existential threat.
At the same time as we are confronting a collapse in world order and rapidly increasing risks from AI and the 4th Industrial Revolution, we are also undergoing Climate Change and ecological collapse, which ironically is a negative byproduct of the Industrial Revolution. With such a series of existential risks before us, it is time to once again present society with a realistic view of what this means for humankind. But this time, we must be we must find a path forward to prevent such harm from ever being realized for us and future generations. We must find a way to contain the danger and not let this trinity of existential risks destroy us.
On November 20, 1983, the film, ‘The Day After’ debuted on American television. For the first time, Americans were given a glimpse of what a nuclear holocaust and the nuclear winter that followed in its wake would look like. It was a shocking film viewed by a hundred million people including then-President Ronald Reagan and the First Lady. It crystallized the notion of an ‘Existential Risk’ into tangible terms everyone could understand.
Over forty years later, our world is significantly more dangerous than when the film first aired. Our unipolar world order is descending into a bipolar or multipolar order, and we’re not yet quite sure which. However, we can be certain that an increase in danger and hostilities will characterize either scenario. In fact, we are witnessing an increase in hostilities on a near-daily basis. With the war in Ukraine, and the extremely elevated levels of enmity between China and Russia on one side and the United States and the West on the other, the threat of nuclear war has increased as the treaties governing these weapons of mass destruction are weakened or cast aside.
The sophistication and destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons have also increased in the forty years since that film was released. Artificial Intelligence can be employed to manage our nuclear arsenal and decide when and where to deploy the warheads. Alarmingly, only the United States is willing to pledge not to utilize AI in such a capacity. AI can make decisions and respond so rapidly, that we cannot participate in the chain of command since the delay resulting from human intervention would pose too great a risk for the nation. Of course, AI can be employed in countless other ways which can be very dangerous to humankind such as in the research and development of bioweapons which can also result in mass casualties. In conjunction with other 4th Industrial Revolution technologies, AI poses an existential threat.
At the same time as we are confronting a collapse in world order and rapidly increasing risks from AI and the 4th Industrial Revolution, we are also undergoing Climate Change and ecological collapse, which ironically is a negative byproduct of the Industrial Revolution. With such a series of existential risks before us, it is time to once again present society with a realistic view of what this means for humankind. But this time, we must be we must find a path forward to prevent such harm from ever being realized for us and future generations. We must find a way to contain the danger and not let this trinity of existential risks destroy us.
381 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2024
About the author
Vicar Sayeedi
5 books112 followershttps://www.amazon.com/author/vicarsa...
VICAR SAYEEDI IS THE AUTHOR of the novel, “The Shariah Parliament - Renaissance and Sacred Law”.
The story illuminates a path forward for the Muslim World, a ray of hope for a way out from its current malaise. In the absence of any other comparably constructive initiatives, I felt compelled to write this book. Although but a work of contemporary fiction, my profound aspiration is to sow the seed of possibility in the minds of readers and thinkers throughout the world with the sincere hope that their collective voice will resonate so loudly as to leave no choice for world leaders but to mobilize and undertake this desperately needed project.
VICAR SAYEEDI IS THE AUTHOR of the novel, “The Shariah Parliament - Renaissance and Sacred Law”.
The story illuminates a path forward for the Muslim World, a ray of hope for a way out from its current malaise. In the absence of any other comparably constructive initiatives, I felt compelled to write this book. Although but a work of contemporary fiction, my profound aspiration is to sow the seed of possibility in the minds of readers and thinkers throughout the world with the sincere hope that their collective voice will resonate so loudly as to leave no choice for world leaders but to mobilize and undertake this desperately needed project.
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