A global catastrophic risk is one with the potential to wreak death and destruction on a global scale. In human history, wars and plagues have done so on more than one occasion, and misguided ideologies and totalitarian regimes have darkened an entire era or a region. Advances in technology are adding dangers of a new kind. It could happen again. In Global Catastrophic Risks 25 leading experts look at the gravest risks facing humanity in the 21st century, including asteroid impacts, gamma-ray bursts, Earth-based natural catastrophes, nuclear war, terrorism, global warming, biological weapons, totalitarianism, advanced nanotechnology, general artificial intelligence, and social collapse. The book also addresses over-arching issues - policy responses and methods for predicting and managing catastrophes. This is invaluable reading for anyone interested in the big issues of our time; for students focusing on science, society, technology, and public policy; and for academics, policy-makers, and professionals working in these acutely important fields.
| ISBN | 0199606501 | | Pages | 576 | | ISBN13 | 9780199606504
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 858 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Imprint | Oxford University Press | | Previous ISBN | 9780198570509 | | Format | Paperback | | Height (mm) | 229 | | Publication date | 29 Sep 2011 | | Width (mm) | 156 | | DEWEY | 363.34 | | Spine width (mm) | 36 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Academic level | General |
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Acknowledgements ; Foreword ; Introduction ; I BACKGROUND ; Long-term astrophysical processes ; Evolution theory and the future of humanity ; Millenial tendencies in responses to apocalyptic threats ; Cognitive biases potentially affecting judgement of global risks ; Observation selection effects and global catastrophic risks ; Systems-based risk analysis ; Catastrophes and insurance ; Public policy towards catastrophe ; II RISKS FROM NATURE ; Super-volcanism and other geophysical processes of catastrophic import ; Hazards from comets and asteroids ; Influence of Supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and cosmic rays on the terrestrial environment ; III RISKS FROM UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES ; Climate change and global risk ; Plagues and pandemics: past, present, and future ; Artificial Intelligence as a positive and negative factor in global risk ; Big troubles, imagined and real ; IV RISKS FROM HOSTILE ACTS ; Catastrophe, social collapse, and and human extinction ; The continuing threat of nuclear war ; Catastrophic nuclear terrorism: a preventable peril ; Biotechnology and biosecurity ; Nanotechnology as global catastrophic risk ; The totalitarian threat ; Author's biographies ; Index
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