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What is existential risk?

Existential risks, or global catastrophic risks, are risks that could cause the collapse of human civilization. Prominent examples of human-driven global catastrophic risks include but are not limited to:

  1. nuclear war
  2. pandemics, bioterrorism, and other threats related to advances in biotechnology
  3. catastrophic accidents/misuse and other risks related to advances in AI
  4. effects of extreme climate change and environmental degradation

 

Waterfall cascading over rocks

Intersections, Reinforcements, Cascades

Proceedings of the 2023 Stanford Existential Risks Conference

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