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Archive for the ‘existential risks’ category: Page 56

Oct 27, 2021

Global catastrophic and existential risks: the weightiest complex phenomena?

Posted by in categories: biological, ethics, existential risks, food

Anders Sandberg, University of Oxford.

One of the deepest realizations of the scientific understanding of the world that emerged in the 18th and 19th century is that the world is changing, that it has been radically different in the past, that it can be radically different in the future, and that such changes could spell the end of humanity as we know it. An added twist arrived in the 20th century: we could ourselves be the cause of our demise. In the late 20th century an interdisciplinary field studying global catastrophic and existential risks emerged, driven by philosophical concern about the moral weight of such risks and the realization that many such risks show important commonalities that may allow us as a species to mitigate them. For example, much of the total harm from nuclear wars, supervolcanic eruptions, meteor impacts and some biological risks comes from global agricultural collapse. This talk is going to be an overview of the world of low-probability, high-impact risks and their overlap with questions of complexity in the systems generating or responding to them. Understanding their complex dynamics may be a way of mitigating them and ensuring a happier future.

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Oct 21, 2021

A Second Object Crashed into Jupiter in Just One Month (video)

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

According to astronomers, several asteroids with diameters more than 10 meters collide with the surface of the solar system’s largest planet every year, causing explosions visible from Earth. Previously, such collisions were registered in 1,994 2009, 2,010 2012, 2,016 2017 and 2019.

If confirmed, this will be the ninth recorded impact on Jupiter since the first in July 1,994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 shattered into several smaller pieces, sinking one after another into the giant’s gas shell, leaving dark marks on the clouds of Jupiter, some of them the size of our planet.

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Oct 21, 2021

NASA’s ‘Armageddon’-style asteroid deflection mission takes off in November

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, satellites

NASA has a launch date for that most Hollywood of missions, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which is basically a dry run of the movie “Armageddon.” Unlike the film, this will not involve nukes, oil rigs or Aerosmith, but instead is a practical test of our ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid in a significant and predictable way.

The DART mission, managed by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (!), involves sending a pair of satellites out to a relatively nearby pair of asteroids, known as the Didymos binary. It’s one large-ish asteroid, approximately 780 meters across — that’s Didymos proper — and a 160-meter “moonlet” in its orbit.

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Oct 19, 2021

North Korea fires at least one ballistic missile

Posted by in categories: existential risks, military

North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile from its eastern coast on Tuesday morning, according to South Korean and Japanese officials.

The launch took place in the port city of Sinpo, Hamgyong province, at about 10 a.m. local time Tuesday (9 p.m. ET Monday), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. In a text to reporters, the JCS said it appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the missile is estimated to have been fired from the sea, but has yet to confirm whether it was launched from a submarine. Sinpo is home to a North Korean naval shipyard.

Oct 17, 2021

Planetary Defense: Physicists Propose New Way To Defend Earth Against Cosmic Impacts

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, physics

Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky?

In February of 2,013 skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV.

Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On February 15 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows and damaged buildings, and nearly two thousand people were hurt, though thankfully no one died.

Oct 14, 2021

We Explored the World’s Largest Doomsday Community (575 underground bunkers)

Posted by in category: existential risks

We spent 24 hours exploring 575 underground bunkers in the middle of South Dakota being converted into the worlds largest prepper community. Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/karaandnate.
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Vlog 765 | #vanlife at xPoint, South Dakota, USA | State 27/50 | Filmed April 8 2021.

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Oct 14, 2021

Harvard University professor geneticist Dr. George Church stops by the Institute

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, existential risks, genetics, life extension

Talking about RejuvenateBio starts at 20:30. Mentions there are 300 known genes concerning human aging and 45 of those have been tested in mice with what sounds like success.


Wow! Where do I start. I woke up and seen Dr. George Church on Bloomberg news. They was discussing a new biotech startup company called Rejuvenate Bio. A life extension company that seeks to reverse aging in dogs. Then apply that knowledge to humans. I ask Dr. Church about what he thinks is the cause of aging. t. Dr. Church thinks its a genetic reason why we age. Dr. Church is a cofounder of a company called Colossal is a company that wants to create a hybrid between the east asian elephant and the woolly mammoth. The purpose of doing this is to fight climate change and prevent the extinction of the east asian elephant.

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Oct 14, 2021

IQ2 Debate: Don’t Trust The Promise Of Artificial Intelligence

Posted by in categories: existential risks, life extension, robotics/AI

As technology rapidly progresses, some proponents of artificial intelligence believe that it will help solve complex social challenges and offer immortality via virtual humans.

But AI’s critics are sounding the alarm, going so far as to call its development an “existential threat” to mankind. Is this the stuff of science fiction? Could the “Terminator” become reality, or will these fears prevent the next technological revolution?

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Oct 12, 2021

Can We Save Our Planet. Creating A Future We Can All Embrace

Posted by in categories: existential risks, food

Our planet is in crisis.

From increasing storms, wild fires and extinctions, to the pollution of our water and the possible failure of our food systems, we are on the brink of a disaster of epic proportions.

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Oct 10, 2021

Fermi Paradox: 71 years later, SETI may have solved the cosmic mystery

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks

“Where is everybody?”


The Fermi Paradox has perplexed scientists for years. We examine the possibility that we haven’t heard from any aliens is because no one is transmitting.

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