Lifeboat Foundation

The Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board is working on many programs to reduce existential risks. They are:

Current Programs

AIShield

To protect against unfriendly AI (Artificial Intelligence).
 

AsteroidShield

To protect against devastating asteroid strikes.
 

BioShield

To protect against bioweapons and pandemics.
 

InternetShield

As the Internet grows in importance, an attack on it could cause physical as well as informational damage. An attack today on hospital systems or electric utilities could lead to deaths. In the future an attack could be used to alter the output that is produced by nanofactories worldwide leading to massive deaths.
 

LifeShield Bunkers

Developing fallback positions on Earth in case programs such as our BioShield and NanoShield fail globally or locally.
 

NanoShield

To protect against ecophages and nonreplicating nanoweapons.
 

ScientificFreedomShield

This shield strives to protect scientists from obstacles that would prevent latter day Max Plancks from completing their research.
 

SecurityPreserver

To prevent nuclear, biological, and nanotechnological attacks from occurring by using surveillance and sousveillance to identify terrorists before they are able to launch their attacks.
 

Space Habitats

To build fail-safes against global existential risks by encouraging the spread of sustainable human civilization beyond Earth.
 
 

Future Programs

BioPreserver

To preserve animal life and diversity on the planet.
 

ClimateShield

To protect against unwanted climate changes.
 

CommPreserver

Explores new communication technology for surviving existential events.
 

EnergyPreserver

If our civilization ran out of energy, it would grind to a halt, so Lifeboat Foundation is looking for solutions.
 

InfoPreserver

To preserve the information created by our civilization, including technology as well as art and culture.
 

LifePreserver

The program explores new life-extension methods, such as the work of Aubrey de Grey and Robert A. Freitas, Jr.
 

NeuroethicsShield

To prevent abuse in the areas of neuropharmaceuticals, neurodevices, and neurodiagnostics. Worst cases include enslaving the world’s population or causing everyone to commit suicide.
 

NuclearShield

To prevent nuclear holocaust including destruction of entire cities.
 

ParticleAcceleratorShield

To prevent, and also make plans on surviving when possible, particle accelerator mishaps including quantum vacuum collapse, mining the quantum vacuum, formation of a stable strangelet, and the creation of artificial mini-black holes.
 

PersonalityPreserver

Methods of preserving persons — or just their personalities — include cryopreservation and uploading.
 

SeedPreserver

To preserve plant life and diversity on the planet by storing seeds in a safe location and other methods.
 
 

Long Range Programs

AlienShield

To prevent annihilation by an alien race (biological or otherwise).
 

AntimatterShield

To prevent antimatter-based annihilation.
 

BlackHoleShield

To protect against black holes that are not manmade. This would include an “eye to the sky” program that would scan for signs of them.
 

GammaRayShield

To protect against gamma ray bursts.
 

SunShield

To protect against and/or cope with our sun becoming a red giant and other harmful fluctuations in its output.