The Precipice

What it is about

Toby Ord frames humanity’s present century as a decisive period in which a species capable of shaping its future has also acquired means of permanently destroying or constraining it. He distinguishes natural from human-made existential risks, evaluates nuclear war, engineered pandemics, climate change, artificial intelligence, and unknown hazards, then connects risk reduction to the moral value of future generations. I keep it on this shelf because I want to stay honest about meaning, responsibility, and the stories I use to live.

Why I keep it

How close we are to the edge, counted carefully.

Key ideas

Beside it on the shelf · Philosophy & Meaning