Global Existential Risks & Radical Futures (conference June 14)

post by turchin · 2014-03-18T03:27:34.201Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 2 comments

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From 2000 - 2008 was the golden age of x-risk research. Many books and articles were published - from Bill Joy to Bostrom and Yudkowsky - and many new ideas appeared. But after that, the stream of new ideas stopped. This might be good, because every new idea increased the total risk, and perhaps all important ideas about the topic had been discussed…but unfortunately…nothing was done for preventing x-risks, and dangerous tendencies continued. Risks of nuclear war are growing. No FAI theory exists. Biotech is developing very quickly and geneticaly modifed virusus are cheaper and cheaper. The time until the catastrophe is running out. The next obvious step is to create a new stream of ideas - ideas on how to prevent x-risks and when to implement these ideas. But before doing this, we need a consensus between researchers about the structure of the incoming risks. This can be via dialog, especially informal dialogs during scientific conferences.

 

A conference titled “Global Existential Risks & Radical Futures” will be held on June 14 (Saturday) at Piedmont Veteran’s Hall, 401 Highland Avenue, in Piedmont.

The event will take place from 9am - 9pm. Co-producers are Hank Pellissier, director of TRANSHUMAN VISIONS and the Brighter Brains Institute, and Alexey Turchin, co-founder of The Longevity Party and founder of Stop Existential Risks. (their complete bios can be found below)

Tickets for the event will cost between $25 - $35. They’ll be available on EventBrite by April 6th.

Lead Sponsor: The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology.IEET.org is a nonprofit think tank which promotes ideas about how technological progress can increase freedom, happiness, and human flourishing in democratic societies. IEET generously donated funds to pay airfare for Seth Baum (the Keynote Speaker), and it provided publicity to the conference via its website and mailing list. Several of the conference speakers are IEET Fellows, Affiliate Scholars and contributing writers.

Global Existential Risks & Radical Futures will present the future’s worst “catastrophic scenarios, and what we can do to avoid them. Numerous “radical futures” will also be examined.

Seth Baum (Keynote) is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI, http://gcrinstitute.org). He received a PhD in Geography from Pennsylvania State University and was recently a post-doc with Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. His research covers a broad range of topics, including artificial general intelligence, environmental policy, ethics, economics, education, and astrobiology. He also helps lead the global catastrophic risk research community via GCRI, the Society for Risk Analysis, and other organizations.

Dr. Baum is also active at the interface of academic scholarship and other sectors of society. Through GCRI, he is building ties between global catastrophic risk researchers and other relevant professionals. He is also active in public scholarship through collaborations with artists, entertainers, journalists, and other members of the media. His research has gotten wide media attention including interviews in the Discovery Channel, Fox News, and Talk Radio 702 (South Africa), plus additional coverage in The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, MSNBC, and other publications.

Dr. Baum’s travel expenses at this conference are generously provided for by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology (IEET). He will lecture on the following topic: “Navigating The High-Stakes Turbulence To Our Future.”

More:

http://brighterbrains.org/articles/entry/global-existential-risks-radical-futures-conference-june-14

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