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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."

7 of 399 comments (clear)

  1. Summary of the article by greenguy · · Score: 4, Informative

    We could all die!!! But we probably won't. At least not right away.

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    What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
  2. Re:Why bother? by gnick · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry, human or not we're all doomed. Deal with it.
    The Last Question

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    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  3. Re:Why bother? by gnick · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sorry - I should have credited that. Short story by Isaac Asimov dealing with the end of life everywhere written in 1956.
    Here's the wiki for anyone who just wants the gist without reading all 5 or 6 pages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  4. Re:Let's Get a New Dominant Species On This Planet by AndGodSed · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know why but the term "go apeshit" always makes me laugh...

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    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

  5. Voluntary Human Extinction Movement by juancnuno · · Score: 2, Informative

    I thought this was interesting.

  6. Re:There is non-zero finite chance of extinction by El+Torico · · Score: 2, Informative
    Yeah, and the Romans thought the Empire would last a thousand years.

    It did; the Eastern Roman Empire a.k.a. the Byzantine Empire didn't come to an end until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire.

    --
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
  7. Re:Nuclear Decay in 1032 to 1041 years? by thatseattleguy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Methinks it would be good to RTFA again after checking your browser for the ability to display superscript fonts. That was 10^32 to 10^41 years, not "1032 to 1041" years. In other words, 100 million trillion trillion (give or take an order of magnitude) years at a minimum.