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The Cambridge
Project for Existential Risk
Many scientists are concerned that developments in
human technology may soon pose new,
extinction-level risks to our species as a whole.
Such dangers have been suggested from progress in
AI, from developments in biotechnology and
artificial life, from nanotechnology, and from
possible extreme effects of anthropogenic climate
change. The seriousness of these risks is
difficult to assess, but that in itself seems a
cause for concern, given how much is at stake.
(For a brief introduction to the issues in the
case of AI, with links to further reading, see this
recent online article by Huw Price and Jaan
Tallinn.)
The Cambridge Project for Existential Risk — a
joint initiative between a philosopher, a
scientist, and a software entrepreneur — begins
with the conviction that these issues require a
great deal more scientific investigation than they
presently receive. Our aim is to establish within
the University of Cambridge a multidisciplinary
research centre dedicated to the study and
mitigation of risks of this kind. We are convinced
that there is nowhere on the planet better suited
to house such a centre. Our goal is to steer a
small fraction of Cambridge's great intellectual
resources, and of the reputation built on its past
and present scientific pre-eminence, to the task
of ensuring that our own species has a long-term
future. (In the process, we hope to make it a
little more certain that we humans will be around
to celebrate the University's own millennium, now less than
two centuries hence.)
We will be developing a prospectus for a
Cambridge-based Centre
for the Study of Existential Risk
in coming months, and welcome enquiries and offers of support.
(However, we regret that due to the volume of enquiries we now receive,
we are not able to respond to all emails individually.)
HP, MJR & JT
April 2012
Co-founders
Huw Price
Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy,
Cambridge
Martin
Rees
Emeritus Professor of Cosmology &
Astrophysics, Cambridge
Jaan
Tallinn
Co-founder of Skype
Cambridge advisors
David
Cleevely
Founding
Director, Centre for Science and Policy
Tim Crane
Knightbridge
Professor of Philosophy
Robert
Doubleday
Executive
Director, Centre for Science and Policy
Hermann
Hauser
Co-founder,
Amadeus
Capital Partners
Jane
Heal
Emeritus
Professor of Philosophy
Sean
Holden
Senior
Lecturer, Computing Laboratory; Fellow of
Trinity College
David
Spiegelhalter
Winton
Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk
External advisors
Nick Bostrom
Professor
of Philosophy, Future of Humanity Institute,
Oxford
David
Chalmers
Professor
of Philosophy, NYU & ANU
George
M Church
Professor
of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Dana
Scott
Emeritus
Professor of Computer Science, Philosophy &
Mathematical Logic, Carnegie Mellon University
Max
Tegmark
Professor
of Physics, MIT
Jonathan
B Wiener
Professor
of Law, Environmental Policy & Public
Policy, Duke University
Contact|Faculty of
Philosophy|CSaP|University of
Cambridge
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