Even With Electric Vehicles, An Expanded Turnpike Extension Would Be Bad For The Environment

View the article “Even With Electric Vehicles, An Expanded Turnpike Extension Would Be Bad For The Environment”.

There is currently a heated policy debate over a part of the New Jersey Turnpike across from Lower Manhattan (circled in the image above). The Turnpike Authority has proposed replacing and expanding this stretch of road. The governor supports it, but most local politicians oppose it. This article argues against the Turnpike expansion, detailing its environmental harms and instead calling for investment in transit, cycling, and walking. It …

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New York’s Housing Plans Must Address Affordability—& Climate Change

View the article “New York’s Housing Plans Must Address Affordability—& Climate Change”.

New York City is one of the most energy-efficient places in the United States, thanks to its high population density and excellent (by US standards) transit. However, it is also one of the most expensive places, thanks to its extremely high cost of housing. This article calls for an ambitious increase in the local housing supply to address both affordability and climate change. It is published in City Limits, a news publication …

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December Newsletter: Year in Review

Dear friends,This year has been an important year for global catastrophic risk. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, a multitude of extreme weather events, the release of new AI systems, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have either threatened global catastrophe or raised issues related to global catastrophic risk. Additionally, the recent collapse of the cryptocurrency company FTX has brought disruption and scrutiny to the field global catastrophic risk due to FTX’s philanthropic connections to the field.As explained in this year’s Annual Report, these events have prompted …

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2022 Annual Report

Our work in 2022 has taken an unexpected turn. We began the year focused on a series of research projects. Then, in late February, Russia invaded Ukraine, creating a historic nuclear crisis. This began a series of events that put global catastrophic risk into the news. The northern summer saw major extreme weather events in many locations, thrusting climate change to the forefront. Most recently, the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency company FTX brought a different sort of news coverage. The philanthropic arm of FTX …

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GCRI Media Engagement On The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

This past fall, GCRI conducted a stretch of media outreach regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It focused on the risk of the invasion escalating to nuclear war. It drew on GCRI’s research on nuclear war, especially the publication A model for the probability of nuclear war. This post provides a summary of this outreach work.

The work began with a series of posts by Seth Baum on Twitter, mainly in the form of extended threads. The posts are compiled in a thread of …

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Summary of the 2022 Advising and Collaboration Program

In May, GCRI put out an open call for people interested in seeking our advice or collaborating on projects with us. This was a continuation of our successful 2019, 2020, and 2021 Advising and Collaboration Programs. The 2022 Program was made possible by continued support from Gordon Irlam.

The GCRI Advising and Collaboration Program is an opportunity for anyone interested in global catastrophic risk to get more involved in the field. There is practically no barrier to entry in the program: the only thing people need …

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2022 GCRI Fellowship Program

GCRI is pleased to announce the 2022 Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program aims to highlight exceptional collaborators GCRI had the opportunity to partner with over the course of the year. This year, we have four 2022 Fellows.

The 2022 GCRI Fellows include students and senior professionals hailing from four countries around the world. Their contributions include research across a diverse range of research disciplines including nuclear war risk, misinformation, and artificial intelligence scenario mapping. Their contributions are invaluable and we are confident that they will continue …

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GCRI Statement on the Ethics of Funding Sources

The field of global catastrophic risk has been jolted by the recent collapse of the cryptocurrency company FTX. Its philanthropic arm, the FTX Future Fund, was, for a brief stretch of time, a major funder of work on global catastrophic risk and related topics. Some projects related to global catastrophic risk were also funded directly by FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

We at GCRI are deeply saddened by this turn of events. Our hearts go out to all the victims who have suffered from …

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November Newsletter: Giving Tuesday

Dear friends,

GCRI would like to take the time to thank you for your continued support throughout 2022. Because of your help, we have been able to accomplish much throughout the year including publishing research, hosting another successful Advising and Collaboration Program, and much more (you’ll find our summary of 2022 accomplishments in the upcoming December newsletter). Whether you subscribe to our newsletter, participate in our annual Advising and Collaboration Program, or have the means to donate, we are grateful for your generosity. To continue supporting …

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Assessing Natural Global Catastrophic Risks

View the paper “Assessing Natural Global Catastrophic Risks”

Humanity today faces a wide range of threats. Some, such as nuclear war, are of human origin. Others, such as volcano eruptions, are not. The relative importance of these two categories of risk is a matter of ongoing debate. This paper argues that prior theoretical research has understated the risk from natural threats. It presents analysis of six natural global catastrophic risks, finding potential for several to pose a high ongoing risk to humanity.

Prior research has posed a …

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