Episode 20: Apocalypse How?

Climate change, nuclear war, hostile AI, runaway nanotech, supervolcanoes, supermassive meteor strikes and unrelenting alien invasions: Ped and Tom shine a gamma ray burst on the biggest threats to our continued existence. Inspiration optional!

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Micro follow-ups [00:00]

• Todoist is working out great for Ped
• Blink: exceptional standalone sci-fi, and a great Who intro
• Andrew Mao clarifies Resilient Cooperators (more to come)

Handicapping the (Human) Race [15:22]

• Inevitably, we roll along
• Wikipedia at its best: Global Catastrophic Risk
• Nick Bostrom and the Future of Humanity Institute
• Carlin on the anthropocene (and the sixth extinction we’re soaking in)
• Thich Nhat Hanh: evolving intelligence and love
• Interlude: A brief stroll through the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter
• It’s two and a half minutes to midnight: The Doomsday Clock advances
• Hostile AI: Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and many others are sounding alarms
• Nanotech ecophagy, Grey Goo and see also Astrochicken
• Just a matter of time: supervolcano eruptions and magnetic pole reversal
• Gamma Ray Bursts - what fun!

Music by Lee Rosevere (CC by 4.0)

Cover photo by Kristi McCluer