Assorted Sunday Links #2
Contents
Some links from the last few weeks—and some from the last few days—on what’s been happening in the world of existential risk:
1. The Open Philanthropy Project, a growing philanthropic force in the field of Global Catastrophic Risks, posts a summary of their work on GCRs over the last year, and their plans for the future. “Our new goal is to be in the late stages of making at least one ‘big bet’ – a major grant ($5+ million) or full-time hire – in the next six months.”
2. Elon Musk discusses the Future of Life, artificial intelligence, and more in an hourlong interview with physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. An entertaining listen!
3. Sam Altman, President of tech accelerator Y Combinator, joins other recent Silicon Valley gurus in sharing his concerns about the risks posed by machine intelligence. He suggests some next steps in his recent blog post on the topic.
4. Prof Bill McGuire of the UCL Hazard Research Centre discusses how we should prepare for volcanic catastrophes which could be headed our way.
5. Robert de Neufville of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute posts his monthly GCR News Summary for February. Watch out for the recap of March coming up next week!
About the Future of Life Institute
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a global non-profit with a team of 20+ full-time staff operating across the US and Europe. FLI has been working to steer the development of transformative technologies towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks since its founding in 2014. Find out more about our mission or explore our work.