BBC On Short-Termism And Long-Term Trajectories

Post Date January 31, 2019
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Category aftermath, ethics, media coverage, post-catastrophe

Richard Fisher of the BBC has published a detailed and thoughtful article The perils of short-termism: Civilisation’s greatest threat. The article covers the widespread tendency across contemporary society to focus on very short-term issues and several efforts to promote more long-term thinking and action. The article includes a detailed discussion of the research paper Long-term trajectories of human civilization, which I am lead author of. The BBC article includes each of the four types of trajectories covered in the Long-term trajectories paper (and illustrated in …

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Long-Term Trajectories of Human Civilization

Post Date August 08, 2018
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Category announcement, articles, ethics, post-catastrophe

View the paper “Long-Term Trajectories of Human Civilization”

Society today needs greater attention to the long-term fate of human civilization. Important present-day decisions can affect what happens millions, billions, or trillions of years into the future. The long-term effects may be the most important factor for present-day decisions and must be taken into account. An international group of 14 scholars calls for the dedicated study of “long-term trajectories of human civilization” in order to understand long-term outcomes and inform decision-making. This new approach is presented in …

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Dave Denkenberger To Deliver Online Lecture On Post-Catastrophe Food Crisis 22 August

Post Date July 23, 2013
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Category online lectures, post-catastrophe

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Dave Denkenberger, Ph.D., an engineer at Ecova.

Here is the full talk info:

Feeding Everyone: Solving the Food Crisis in Event of Global Catastrophes that Kill the Sun or Crops
Thursday 22 August, 16:00 GMT (10:00 Denver, 12:00 New York, 17:00 London)
To be held online via Skype. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

Please note: There will be no online post-lecture summary for this.

It is widely assumed that if agricultural production is …

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Adaptation to and Recovery from Global Catastrophe

Post Date April 01, 2013
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Category post-catastrophe, publications

View the paper “Adaptation to and Recovery from Global Catastrophe” 

Global catastrophes, such as nuclear war, pandemics, and ecological collapse threaten the long-term sustainability of human civilization. A lot of research has studied the nature of global catastrophes and how to prevent them. The research neglects what happens to any human survivors of the catastrophe. This paper analyzes the possibility that survivors may adapt to post-catastrophe conditions, recover civilization and perhaps even go on to colonize space. The paper considers both the importance of adaptation/recovery and …

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