The Anti-Catastrophe League: The Pioneers And Visionaries On A Quest To Save The World

by Tom Ough

A superbly written work of narrative non-fiction by an exciting new talent, The Anti-Catastrophe League is a brilliant study of the people and their teams who are trying to save the world.

Our species has a unique genius for self-imperilment. The ancient dangers – asteroids, super-volcanoes and worse – still stalk us, but the most pressing time-bombs are of our own making. Our knack for self-imperilment, though, is one side of a for we are also developing a knack for ambitious solutions.

The Anti-Catastrophe League, informed by the author’s experience of working in the field of what is known as existential risk, tells the story of a species that is working out how to defuse several bombs at once. From ancient risks to very modern apocalypses, the book charts the imminent dangers to the human race, and introduces readers to the groups of scientists, eccentrics, diplomats and visionaries who are trying to prevent doom.

The Anti-Catastrophe League is a fascinating story of the end of the world – and what we can do about it.

Genres: Nonfiction

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 17, 2025

Reviews

[W.S. Luk]

A lively and optimistic account of people who are planning ways of averting catastrophes from asteroid impacts to AI threats, Ough begins by discussing schemes for preventing the aforementioned threat of asteroids and of volcanic eruptions, though I actually found the less visibly glamorous aspects of this book—Rose Gottemoeller's exhausting attempt to negotiate nuclear-reduction treaties with Russia, for instance—more fascinating, with Ough's deep research and thoughtful interviews showcasing the methodical work needed to secure such change.

I find myself sometimes skeptical of the people Ough profiles—perhaps naturally considering the subject, THE ANTI-CATASTROPHE LEAGUE emphasises the governmental experts and CEOs driving anti-catastrophe projects, and has more confidence than I do that existing social systems can handle future crises—and wish the book could've scrutinised each of the topics it discusses at greater length. However, as a highly readable and entertaining overview of this subject, it's an excellent starting point for anyone curious to know what's being done about the threats of tomorrow.

[Ricardo Motti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite interesting, but after eight chapters you're exhausted. It just feels like blah blah apocalypse blah blah AI blah blah

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite beautiful.

from potential solutions to AI safety (one researcher was briefly overjoyed when he mistakenly believed he had solved the problem), to a prediction of what interstellar war would involve, to a consideration of what music would be like if we had more than one time dimension

After a period at FHI, Jan Leike and Paul Christiano helped create the method we now know as reinforcement learning from human feedback, a method which today undergirds every major large
language model. With two research scholars, the alignment specialist Owain Evans provided an important benchmark of AI truthfulness; this benchmark is still used by major developers. And Katja Grace, with Evans and others, began the project that became AI Impacts...

'This was a fairly typical approach for FHI,’ Sandberg wrote in
his retrospective of FHI. The modus operandi was to find a neglected topic deserving of research, before ‘germinating it in the sheltered FHI greenhouse; showing that progress could be
made; coalescing a field and setting research directions; attracting bright minds to it; and once it’s established enough, setting it free, and moving onto the next seedlings’.
Two particular seedlings – AI risk and AI governance – were to become almighty forests.

Objectively, the most striking about it is its lightness. We're talking about nearly the worst things that can happen, and yet it's bubbling with curiosity and fondness. The vibe is this (which Ough actually generated himself). Compare Chivers getting soulful and shaken-up.

Subjectively too: it's uniquely unburdened. For a few years most discussions of xrisk have been either politicised ("boo those are the decels, not your weights") or gossip-ragged ("those are the people SBF liked") or haunted. But as a cheerful embedded observer Tom doesn't have to feel bad or slighted by any of that, and so you get a rare fresh look without baggage.

Conflict of interest: author is a friend.

[Matthew Tortora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book slightly slowed by its premise in the first chapters opens up brilliantly as you tear through chapter after chapter. Weaving together what has the potential to be a meandering subject with the threads of the coined team “the anti-catastrophe league” a loose group bringing together effective altruists, rationalists, longtermists, AI researches, diplomats and many more, basically the people thinking about the solutions to the day-after-tomorrow’s problems.

The book really opens up in its middle chapters when discussing the Future of Humanity Institute and the general “scene” all the members of the league occupy. Funny enough, a few years ago I read one of the members of the league’s book, Toby Ord’s “The Precipice” (the pretty negative review of which you can still find, and I pretty much retract looking back, though I stand by the fact it could’ve been shorter, books usually can be shorter) it highlighted the actual statistics and probability of the existential risks that the Anti-Catastrophe league deals with, one of perhaps my only legitimate criticisms of “The Precipice” is that at the end of the day it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, all this potential for catastrophe highlighted, but no remedy. This book, The Anti-Catastrophe League, is the answer to this criticism, and now having read both, they are very complimentary and I would highly recommend both.

Overall the book is a terrific introduction to the field, leaves the reader thinking, and is written in a very engaging style. Essential reading for anyone concerned with the future.

[Yates Buckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a perfect book but there are not enough books on this subject so I think its important to read.

What is good is it generally introduces the field in an organised way and os complete with its references to leading personalitiea and is a little bit sincere about some of the problematic characters and assumptions but does not dive into the ethical paradoxes that come with theories of existential risk.

What I really don’t like is it drifts across many subjects and their vision of risk in a narrow way, ignoring some of the more conventional but realistic aspects of risk.

What i like is that he made an effort and it would be a good starting point in reading about this.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of this book is great: it’s really interesting to learn more about little known people and organisations who are seeking to prevent major disasters. The first few chapters deliver on this promise and are highly readable.

However, the book gets bogged down as it continues. Ough has a tendency to focus on technology has the solution to everything, and some of the technologies he advocates for are unconvincing. For instance, he talks up the role of nuclear power and geothermal power in addressing climate change and is dismissive of the role of solar and batteries despite acknowledging that solar power has become very cheap. The role of better regulation or market based approaches in addressing problems is also not covered at all.

What caused me to start skimming the book was the chapter on the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford. Oddly, this was largely focused on the institute’s internal politics rather than its work. Ough acknowledges the irony of this institute failing due mainly to being bad at administration, but doesn’t reflect on what this means for the value of its work: how seriously should we take a collection of highly credentialed big thinkers who didn’t have the wit to hire a competent office manager?

Another irritation with the book is that it’s focused on rich country perspectives. For instance, while the final chapter on aging was interesting, it didn’t even briefly acknowledge the potential for substantial improvements in life expectancy in many countries from making decent health care available and addressing diseases like malaria.

[joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good example of the pop science genre, of which I’m not a fan. Quite nostalgic in places, as it reminds the reader of catastrophe scenarios of yesteryear, of going out with the world in a spectacular bang, not via a banal mugging.

I didn’t warm to the egotistical brainiacs who are saving us. Universalist liberals to a man, and therefore blind to the impending mugging-catastrophe. That’s a chapter for the revised edition.