In the face of a runaway kilometer catastrophe, the idea of an unlivable planet is increasingly becoming a reality. And with it, the end of mankind. Both scientists and philosophers now take human extinction very seriously as a possibility.
“We now have some idea of just how bad our extinction would be, of just what the moral stakes are in protecting the continued existence of our species. But ideas—especially important ones—don’t come from nowhere. How did we get here?”
In his new book X-Risk, author and researcher Thomas D. Moynihan unfolds the history of thinking about our own extinction and how it affects (or does not affect) our thinking and actions. Thomas D. Moynihan is a writer and researcher from the UK. In 2019, he completed a PhD at Oriel College on the history of human extinction. He has worked with Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and has been supported by grants from the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative and Long-Term Future Fund.