The Precipice: Existential Threat and the Way forward for Humanity

If all goes nicely, human historical past is simply starting. Our species might survive for billions of years – sufficient time to finish illness, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in methods unimaginable right this moment. However this huge future is in danger. With the appearance of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a brand new age, the place we face existential catastrophes – these from which we might by no means come again. Since then, these risks have solely multiplied, from local weather change to engineered pathogens and synthetic intelligence. If we don’t act quick to succeed in a spot of security, it can quickly be too late.

Drawing on over a decade of analysis,
The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the dangers we face. It places them within the context of the higher story of humanity: displaying how ending these dangers is among the many most urgent ethical problems with our time. And it factors the way in which ahead, to the actions and methods that may safeguard humanity.

An Oxford thinker dedicated to placing concepts into motion, Toby Ord has suggested the US Nationwide Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister’s Workplace, and the World Financial institution on the largest questions going through humanity. In
The Precipice, he provides a startling reassessment of human historical past, the long run we’re failing to guard, and the steps we should take to make sure that our era shouldn’t be the final.