Humanity could thrive for millions of years — unless our future is cut short by an existential catastrophe. Oxford philosopher Toby Ord explains the possible existential risks we face, including climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence. Toby and Julia discuss what led him to take existential risk more seriously, which risks he considers underrated vs. overrated, and how to estimate the probability of existential risk. (December 10, 2021)
Additional links:
- Toby Ord’s website
- Toby’s book, The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
- Carl Shulman on the common-sense case for existential risk work and its practical implications (80,000 Hours podcast episode referenced in this conversation)