The Doomsday Clock is not a precise risk assessment, it’s a flawed but powerful metaphor for the catastrophic risk humanity faces
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Articles on Existential risk
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What are the odds of the end of humanity? There’s no real way to know.
Researchers simulated thousands of scenarios of an ancient pathogen being released into modern ecosystems. In the worst cases, up to one-third of host species were destroyed.
Is it possible to ‘align’ AI systems to human interest? A new plan to build an AI system to solve this problem highlights the limits of the idea.
From open letters to congressional testimony, some AI leaders have stoked fears that the technology is a direct threat to humanity. The reality is less dramatic but perhaps more insidious.
NASA has only mapped 40% of the potentially dangerous asteroids that could crash into Earth. New projects will boost that number, and upcoming missions will test tech that could prevent collisions.
We need long-term solutions, but the idea has been hijacked by a worldview that downplays climate risks.
There’s no need to panic about the asteroids heading ‘close’ to Earth in January.
Will Don’t Look Up wake people up? Here’s what the research on climate communication says.
When people think about how AI might ‘go wrong’, most probably picture malevolent computers trying to cause harm. But what if we should be more worried about them seeking pleasure?
Hearing about climate change prompts people to buy more stuff, which increases their environmental footprint. Rituals that inspire gratitude for nature can help reduce the desire to over-consume.
The US mustn’t make the mistake of tackling these threats separately – or of trying to take a unilateral approach.
Imagine an advanced artificial intelligence took over from Santa. What could go wrong?
Other existential risks include the decline of natural resources (particularly water), human population growth beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity, and nuclear weapons.
An obscure Russian prince lays claim to being the first person to announce that humanity may destroy itself through its own technological advancement.
Realising the silence of outer space was what made us appreciate our precarious position down on this pale blue dot – so beginning our obsession with extinction.
Growing evidence suggests that the extinction of the dinosaurs involved profound, complex and interconnected changes to the global systems that support life. Much like we are facing today.
The Earth’s climate has always changed. All species eventually become extinct. But a new study has brought into sharp relief the fact that humans have, in the context of geological timescales, produced…
Biological brains are unlikely to be the final stage of intelligence. Machines already have superhuman strength, speed and stamina – and one day they will have superhuman intelligence. The only reasons…
In the daily hubbub of current “crises” facing humanity, we forget about the many generations we hope are yet to come. Not those who will live 200 years from now, but 1,000 or 10,000 years from now. I…
Top contributors
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Visiting Researcher,, University of Oxford
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James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute & Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
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Professor in Earth Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Emeritus Professor of Mineral Physics, University of Cambridge
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Associate Professor in Earth System Science, University of Exeter
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Senior Research Fellow in Human Factors & Sociotechnical Systems, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Director of Research, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Professor of Human Factors, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Director, Future of Humanity Institute at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
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ANU Human Futures Fellow; Cardiologist and Physician., Australian National University
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Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Research Associate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge
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Reader in Philosophy, University of East Anglia
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Research fellow, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Postdoctoral Research Associate in Existential Risk, University of Cambridge
