X-RISK:

HOW HUMANITY DISCOVERED ITS OWN EXTINCTION

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OUT NOW.

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Human extinction is an idea whose time has come. Both scientists and philosophers now take it very seriously as a possibility. We now have some idea of just how bad our extinction would be, of just what the moral stakes are in protecting the continued existence of our species. But ideas—especially important ones—don’t come from nowhere. How did we get here? Contributing an entirely new dimension to this fast-growing conversation, X-Risk unveils where today’s preoccupation with the loss of the future came from. It reveals how concern for human extinction is not just a trend of the current moment, as we grapple COVID-19 and AI safety, but is essential to the wider sweep of recent history. As yet untold, this story is shown to be one of the great dramas of human discovery, one that ought to be considered for what it truly is: a crowning achievement for our species.