Nick Bostrom on the end of the world
Film strip of the Trinity test, the first nuclear explosion.
Nick Bostrom: More than 99.9 % of all species that ever existed on Earth are extinct already. Humanity is another species, and we have no reason to suppose that we are immune from extinction. In fact, I think that the century we have now entered might well be critical for humanity.
That’s Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University in Britain. Bostrom’s work involves considering potential scenarios that could severely threaten – or end – the human species. When he spoke to EarthSky’s Lindsay Patterson in June, 2008, Bostrom was busy organizing a July meeting of experts on what he calls Global Catastrophic Risks.
