23 books
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20 voters
Existential Risk
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But there is a huge difference between, on one hand, admitting that there severe difficulties, and, on the other, throwing our hands in the air and fatalistically declaring the problem to be unsolvable. We don't know that they are in solvable until we tried, and tried really hard. Given the magnitude of what's at stake, just giving up on the problem is in my opinion unacceptable. The extent to which we are currently neglecting the problem is shocking. Nick Bostrom, in a recent paper, illustrates
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― Here Be Dragons: Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity
― Here Be Dragons: Science, Technology and the Future of Humanity
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If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Humanity is about two hundred thousand years old. But the Earth will remain habitable for hundreds of millions more—enough time for millions of future generations; enough to end disease, poverty and injustice forever; enough to create heights of flourishing unimaginable today. And if we could learn to reach out further into the cosmos, we could have more time yet: trillions of years, to explore billions of worlds. Such a lifespan places humanity
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― The Precipice
― The Precipice
A book group for anyone affiliated with Harvard or MIT who is interested in existential risk and…more
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