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Archive for the ‘existential risks’ category: Page 81

Sep 14, 2017

We will sink Japan and turn US to ‘ashes and darkness’, says North Korea

Posted by in category: existential risks

Tokyo condemns ‘absolutely unacceptable’ provocation, as Pyongyang reacts to imposition of new UN sanctions following missile tests.

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Sep 7, 2017

Should We be Cautious about Envisioning Dystopias?

Posted by in categories: entertainment, ethics, existential risks, futurism, human trajectories, media & arts, philosophy, transhumanism

How will our relationship to technology evolve in the future? Will we regard it as something apart from ourselves, part of ourselves, or as a new area of evolution? In this new video from the Galactic Public Archives, Futurist Gray Scott explains that we are a part of a technological cosmos. Do you agree with Scott that technology is built into the universe, waiting to be discovered?

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Aug 9, 2017

How to avoid nuclear war with North Korea

Posted by in categories: economics, existential risks, military

IT IS odd that North Korea causes so much trouble. It is not exactly a superpower. Its economy is only a fiftieth as big as that of its democratic capitalist cousin, South Korea. Americans spend twice its total GDP on their pets. Yet Kim Jong Un’s backward little dictatorship has grabbed the attention of the whole world, and even of America’s president, with its nuclear brinkmanship. On July 28th it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit Los Angeles. Before long, it will be able to mount nuclear warheads on such missiles, as it already can on missiles aimed at South Korea and Japan. In charge of this terrifying arsenal is a man who was brought up as a demigod and cares nothing for human life—witness the innocents beaten to death with hammers in his gigantic gulag. Last week his foreign ministry vowed that if the regime’s “supreme dignity” is threatened, it will “pre-emptively annihilate” the countries that threaten it, with all means “including the nuclear ones”. Only a fool could fail to be alarmed.

What another Korean war might look like

Yet the most serious danger is not that one side will suddenly try to devastate the other. It is that both sides will miscalculate, and that a spiral of escalation will lead to a catastrophe that no one wants. Our briefing this week lays out, step by step, one way that America and North Korea might blunder into a nuclear war (see article). It also lists some of the likely consequences. These include: for North Korea, the destruction of its regime and the death of hundreds of thousands of people. For South Korea, the destruction of Seoul, a city of 10m within easy range of 1,000 of the North’s conventional artillery pieces. For America, the possibility of a nuclear attack on one of its garrisons in East Asia, or even on an American city. And don’t forget the danger of an armed confrontation between America and China, the North’s neighbour and grudging ally. It seems distasteful to mention the economic effects of another Korean war, but they would of course be awful, too.

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Aug 9, 2017

Gold Prices Spike As People Freak Out About Nuclear War

Posted by in categories: existential risks, finance, government, military

Gold climbed to the highest since mid-June, pushing up mining-company shares amid military tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

Equities slid and the Swiss franc and some developed-market government bonds advanced as President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” following a series of missile tests by the communist regime, boosting demand for haven assets. Gold also climbed after Indian imports of the metal were said to have doubled.

The U.S. North-Korea tensions add to investor angst that has helped push up gold more than 10 percent this year, even with equities hitting records and the Federal Reserve keen to shrink its balance sheet. Should geopolitical tensions intensify, gold is likely to be in demand as a safe-haven, according to analysts at Commerzbank AG.

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Aug 8, 2017

Cancer Care in the Future

Posted by in categories: biological, complex systems, disruptive technology, environmental, existential risks, health, homo sapiens, science

The future of cancer care should mean more cost-effective treatments, a greater focus on prevention, and a new mindset: A Surgical Oncologist’s take

Multidisciplinary team management of many types of cancer has led to significant improvements in median and overall survival. Unfortunately, there are still other cancers which we have impacted little. In patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and hepatocellular cancer, we have been able to improve median survival only by a matter of a few months, and at a cost of toxicity associated with the treatments. From the point of view of a surgical oncologist, I believe there will be rapid advances over the next several decades.

Robotic Surgery

There is already one surgery robot system on the market and another will soon be available. The advances in robotics and imaging have allowed for improved 3-dimensional spacial recognition of anatomy, and the range of movement of instruments will continue to improve. Real-time haptic feedback may become possible with enhanced neural network systems. It is already possible to perform some operations with greater facility, such as very low sphincter-sparing operations for rectal adenocarcinoma in patients who previously would have required a permanent colostomy. As surgeons’ ability and experience with new robotic equipment becomes greater, the number and types of operation performed will increase and patient recovery time, length of hospital stay, and return to full functional status will improve. Competition may drive down the exorbitant cost of current equipment.

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Aug 1, 2017

The Scary AI Revolution Will Decimate Jobs and Might Cause World War III: Jack Ma

Posted by in categories: employment, existential risks, internet, robotics/AI

Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba and one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, says he worries about the scary Artificial Intelligence revolution. Artificial Intelligence could decimate middle-class jobs and might cause World War III, but it could also be the opportunities to build new companies and change the current status quo of Africa. He believes that AI will be smarter than human and in the future we will make robot more like human.

He spoke to young African at the University of Nairobi and encourage African Entrepreneurs “When I arrived, I found the internet speed in Kenya is faster than in United states, and you will build even better infrastructure and build the future of Africa because entrepreneurship is the best philanthropy to help the society.”

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Jul 20, 2017

Dear Mum: A Letter from the future

Posted by in categories: economics, existential risks, food, futurism, government

Dear Mum,

We’ve missed you over the ten long years since you passed away. You wanted me to write to you to tell you what’s happened, so now in 2030 I am fulfilling that wish.

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Jul 14, 2017

Earth is on its way to the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs, scientists warn

Posted by in categories: biological, existential risks, habitats

Three scientists who have studied extinctions of thousands of species of vertebrates believe so, though others are skeptical of the doomsday-like findings.


“This is the case of a biological annihilation occurring globally, even if the species these populations belong to are still present somewhere on Earth,” Rodolfo Dirzo, the study’s co-author and a Stanford University biology professor, said in a news release.

The researchers analyzed 27,600 species of birds, amphibians, mammals and reptiles — about half of all known vertebrate species — and found that 8,851 (about 32 percent) have seen declining populations and shrinking areas of habitat. A more detailed analysis on 177 mammal species found that more than 40 percent have experienced significant drops in population. The findings, the study says, mean that billions of animal populations that once roamed the Earth are now gone.

Continue reading “Earth is on its way to the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs, scientists warn” »

Jul 9, 2017

Isn’t Technological Singularity Just Backing Up Consciousness For Safe Keeping?

Posted by in categories: existential risks, neuroscience, singularity, transhumanism

It’s amazing how fast science and emerging technologies are moving but most people seem to not care and want to break their emotional trance on trivial, emotional laden, propaganda filled news and views. Even though, this new science and emerging technology will have a profound effect on their lives and the lives of their children.


Human Extinction and using technological singularity and transhumanism to back up human consciousness to save and evolve the human race.

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Jul 5, 2017

Apocalypse, now? The 10 biggest threats facing civilisation, from asteroids to tyrannical leaders

Posted by in categories: existential risks, law, robotics/AI

The team, made up of highly educated academics, lawyers, scholars and philosophers, form the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER, commonly referred to as “caesar”) and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. At times of global threat, the experts meet to assess the biggest threats facing Earth and what can be done to save civilisation from the impending apocalypse.

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