Russ Steele
You just never know what you can find surfing the Internet. This from the Lifeboat Foundation's blog:
How would you allocate a hypothetical $100 million budget for a Lifeboat Foundation study of the top 10 existential risks… risks that are both global and terminal?
$?? Biological viruses…
$?? Environmental global warming…
$?? Extraterrestrial invasion…
$?? Governments abusive power…
$?? Nanotechnology gray goo…
$?? Nuclear holocaust…
$?? Simulation Shut Down if we live in one…
$?? Space Threats asteroids…
$?? Superintelligent AI un-friendly…
$?? Other
$100 million total
You have read all the other responses here to appreciate this one comment.
This thread conclusively demonstrates the pervasiveness of what must be the biggest threat to humanity… lack of critical thinking skills. Some of the “logic” on display here:
- we would not be invaded by extraterrestrials because we are probably descended from them via spores.
- we should focus on threats we would have little time to respond to, like asteroids… followed by global warming.How about we do something about the increasing rate of creation of morons, by a media and academia intent on scaring us into accepting world socialism? [emphasis added]
I have to agree, one of the greatest dangers we face is the lack of critical thinking skills and the dumbing down of our youth. My friend George Rebane often discusses this problem at Rebane's Ruminations.
