– Oxford Scientists Cite “Global System Catastrophe” Among 12 Plausible Threats To Civilization
– “Global System Catastrophe” More Of A Possibility Than Most Western People Suspect
– Study Described As A “Scientific Assessment About The Possibility Of Oblivion”
– Other Threats Include Nuclear War, Environmental Degradation, Geological Events and Out of Control Technology
Recent research undertaken by scientists in Oxford University to identify possible threats to human civilisation has identified “system-wide failures caused by the structure of the network” as one of twelve major threats.
Global economic collapse, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology have been named alongside nuclear war, ecological catastrophe and super-volcano eruptions as “risks that threaten human civilization” in a report by the Global Challenges Foundation.
The world’s economic and political systems face systematic risks because of their intricate and interconnected natures. The researchers say more work needs to be done to clarify what parts of the system could collapse and destroy western civilization.
The authors of the study say it is about “how better understanding of the magnitude of the challenges can help the world to address the risks it faces, and can help to create a path towards more sustainable development.”
The foundation was set up in 2011 with the aim of funding research into risks that threaten humanity, and encouraging more collaboration between governments, scientists and companies to combat them.
Apart from failure of the systems of civilization the report also looks at the threats posed by the following:
– extreme climate change
– nuclear war
– global pandemic
– major asteroid impact
– super volcano
– ecological catastrophe
– synthetic biology
– nanotechnology
– artificial intelligence
– future bad global governance
– unknown unknowns
The impact of human activities on our environment is the most pressing problem according to the study.
The report warns that ‘extreme climate change’ could lead to a nightmare scenario of famines, mass deaths, social collapse and mass migration igniting global conflict as civilization crumbles.
Cheery stuff !
We are not of the Armageddon persuasion and do not think the end of the world is nigh. However, we are of the view that economic collapse is possible given the unstable and unsustainable nature of our modern global financial, monetary and economic system.
