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Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction

Posted by kdawson on from the doing-the-numbers dept.

wiredog sends in a study from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Center For Biosecurity, assessing risks of human extinction and the costs of preventing it. "In this century a number of events could extinguish humanity. The probability of these events may be very low, but the expected value of preventing them could be high, as it represents the value of all future human lives."

3 of 399 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why bother? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

    If we all die off, nobody is going to be around to lament the fact that we're gone.

    Not true, as I have programmed Lamentobot for exactly this purpose, and his nuclear heart will ensure that he will be around to cry over the passing of human kind should we be wiped out any time in the next twenty thousand years.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  2. missed geeks favorite disasters by Coraon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Things like a zombie apocalypse or raptors being resurrected and running amok. We need plans for dealing with those issues too.

    --
    -Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
  3. I LIKE this plan! by Tetsujin · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hello there ladies. Would any of you be interested in participating in my scientific experiment to reduce the risk of human extinction?"

    Hah! That's great! I can just imagine how this would all go down... You'd tell the ladies how you're conducting a program to reduce the risk of human extinction and "preserve favorable genetic traits"... You'd, like, buy 'em a drink, take 'em back to the lab with you, then take a genetic sample, put it in the freezer and send 'em on their way...

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.