Catastrophe: Risk and ResponseCatastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks. |
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Catastrophe: risk and response
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictThis collection of 17 essays provides a detailed discussion of torture and whether it is ever morally justified. Including scholarly contributions from both Americans and Europeans, it is divided into ... Read full review
Contents
| 3 | |
1 What are the catastrophic risks and how catastrophic are they? | 21 |
2 Why so little is being done about the catastrophic risks | 92 |
3 How to evaluate the catastrophic risks and the possible responses to them | 139 |
4 How to reduce the catastrophic risks | 199 |
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abrupt global warming annual assessment asteroid collision asteroid defense atmosphere atomic benefits biodiversity biological bioterrorism carbon dioxide catastrophic risks cause chapter civil libertarians civil liberties Climate Change cost-benefit analysis countries create danger death destruction discount rate discussed disease earth economic effect emissions tax energy Environmental estimate evaluate the catastrophic example expected cost extinction fossil fuels future genetically global warming greenhouse gases human race Ibid impact increase Journal Kyoto Protocol lawyers less lethal pathogens limited loss Martin Rees measures methods million nanomachines nanotechnology National natural near-earth objects Notes to Pages nuclear Oryx and Crake pandemic particle accelerators percent physics political population Posner possible responses potential present value probability problem reduce the catastrophic RHIC robots science court scientific scientists smallpox social species strange quarks strangelet strangelet disaster temperature terrorism terrorist threat tion trillion United vaccine virus weapons
