Arnagretta Hunter, Australian National University and John Hewson, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Other existential risks include the decline of natural resources (particularly water), human population growth beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity, and nuclear weapons.
Researchers used a statistical algorithm to analyse written texts between 1820-2009 in four Western countries.
sirtravelalot/Shutterstock
Despite his fears artificial intelligence might one day overtake humanity, Stephen Hawking knew from his own life how profoundly AI could improve humans’ daily lives.
NASA says there are ten “potentially hazardous” asteroids close to Earth. Good reason to make sure we have a backup plan should any catastrophic event wipe of much of life on Earth.
People rate the risks of global threats to humanity surprisingly high. We need to understand the impacts of a loss of faith in notions of material progress and scientific and technological fixes.
Other ways humanity could end are more subtle.
United States Department of Energy
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…
The future is uncertain, and that’s a problem.
cblue98
The Conversation organised a public question-and-answer session on Reddit in which Anders Sandberg and Andrew Snyder-Beattie, researchers at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, explored…
Let’s hope it’s barren.
NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-CalTech
Last week, scientists announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, a planet 492 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Kepler-186f is special because it marks the first planet almost exactly the same…
Talent is unfair. One can quibble about what it actually is. But there is little doubt that it is something that emerges not just from the genes but also from their interaction with the environment. Different…
Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles