September Newsletter: 2017 Society for Risk Analysis Meeting

by | 8 September 2017

Dear friends,

Each year, GCRI hosts sessions on global catastrophic risk at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, which is the leading academic and professional society for all things risk. This year, we have gotten three full sessions accepted for the meeting, our most ever. SRA is competitive and we are honored to have three sessions.

Likewise, for those of you who are interested in SRA but haven’t come to the meeting before, this would be a good year to come. SRA has a talented, interdisciplinary community with much to offer people from a variety of backgrounds.

Here are our sessions for this year and here is a full listing of our SRA sessions since 2010.

Sincerely,
Seth Baum, Executive Director

Gothenburg Chair Programme for Advanced Studies Workshop

Three GCRI affiliates are participating in a workshop on Existential Risk to Humanity at the Gothenburg Chair Programme for Advanced Studies (GoCAS) at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. GCRI Associate Dave Denkenberger is leading an exercise in catastrophe planning (September 6) and giving a talk titled “Cost of Non-Sunlight Dependent Food for Agricultural Catastrophes” (September 7). GCRI Associate Roman Yampolskiy is giving a talk titled “Artificial Intelligence as an Existential Risk to Humanity (September 7). GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum is giving two talks, “In Search of the Biggest Risk Reduction Opportunities” (September 8) and “Long-Term Trajectories of Human Civilization” (September 9).

Artificial Intelligence

GCRI Associate Roman Yampolskiy did a Reddit AMA in August. Yampolskiy was also interviewed for a TechRepublic article on the risk that “killer robots” could be hijacked by an adversary.

Food Security

Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED)
 is a new organization founded in part by GCRI Associate Dave Denkenberger that seeks to facilitate research and preparedness for global catastrophic agricultural risks. ALLFED is hiring a fundraiser and research associate.

Help us make the world a safer place! The Global Catastrophic Risk Institute depends on your support to reduce the risk of global catastrophe. You can donate online or contact us for further information.

Author

Recent Publications

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Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

Is climate change a global catastrophic risk? This paper, published in the journal Futures, addresses the question by examining the definition of global catastrophic risk and by comparing climate change to another severe global risk, nuclear winter. The paper concludes that yes, climate change is a global catastrophic risk, and potentially a significant one.

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

For over 50 years, experts have worried about the risk of AI taking over the world and killing everyone. The concern had always been about hypothetical future AI systems—until recent LLMs emerged. This paper, published in the journal Risk Analysis, assesses how close LLMs are to having the capabilities needed to cause takeover catastrophe.

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Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

Climate Change, Uncertainty, and Global Catastrophic Risk

Is climate change a global catastrophic risk? This paper, published in the journal Futures, addresses the question by examining the definition of global catastrophic risk and by comparing climate change to another severe global risk, nuclear winter. The paper concludes that yes, climate change is a global catastrophic risk, and potentially a significant one.

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

Assessing the Risk of Takeover Catastrophe from Large Language Models

For over 50 years, experts have worried about the risk of AI taking over the world and killing everyone. The concern had always been about hypothetical future AI systems—until recent LLMs emerged. This paper, published in the journal Risk Analysis, assesses how close LLMs are to having the capabilities needed to cause takeover catastrophe.

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

On the Intrinsic Value of Diversity

Diversity is a major ethics concept, but it is remarkably understudied. This paper, published in the journal Inquiry, presents a foundational study of the ethics of diversity. It adapts ideas about biodiversity and sociodiversity to the overall category of diversity. It also presents three new thought experiments, with implications for AI ethics.