+ Advances in nanotechnology leading to radically enhanced intelligences, environmental degradation and social disruption
+ Helpful breakthroughs in biotechnology being mismanaged, leading to the production of biological weapons
+ Objects from outer space colliding with Earth, causing horrendous damage on a continental or global scale
+ Cosmic expansion, entropy and the subsequent darkness that may envelop our universe over trillions of years
At TED in 2005, Bostrom outlined some of humanity’s biggest problems — including death (“most humans who have ever lived have died”) and total extinction — and pointed out that most of such risks are neglected in serious discussion. He recently published a paper in MIT’s Technology Review arguing that finding extraterrestrial life would not augur well for humanity.
(Announcement via Accelerating Future.)