Catastrophe

Catastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid runaway global warming voraciously replicating nanomachines a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis a scientifically literate legal profession unprecedented international cooperation and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.