Dr Toby Ord

#6 - Dr Toby Ord on why the long-term future matters more than anything else & what to do about it

Dr Toby Ord, Keiran Harris, Rob Wiblin

The presentation argues that the 21st century represents a pivotal era where humanity faces a roughly one-in-six probability of extinction from anthropogenic threats like artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and nuclear conflict. It posits that this existential risk is uniquely high because current technological power has outpaced civilizational wisdom, necessitating immediate global coordination and targeted interventions to preserve the potential value of a multi-million year future. By reframing long-term survival as a moral imperative, the argument advocates for specific career paths and institutional reforms that prioritize managing these catastrophic risks over short-term gains.