WATCH: Existential Risk & The Future of Humanity
Watch this session with pioneers who are reorientating our politics, culture and economy to take future generations into account…
Toby Ord in conversation with Matthew Taylor:
In the twentieth century, we developed the means to destroy ourselves - without developing the moral framework to ensure we won't. This is what moral philosopher Toby Ord calls the Precipice, and how we respond to it will be the most crucial decision of our time.
In this session, Toby Ord is in conversation with Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA. They explore the risks to humanity's future, from the familiar human-created threats of climate change and nuclear war, to more unfamiliar threats from engineered pandemics and advanced artificial intelligence.
The Long Time Sessions
With all its crises, 2020 is a poignant reminder that we need longer-term thinking now to tackle the existential risks we face and create a better world for future generations.
The Long Time Sessions is a fortnightly Zoom talk series on cultivating care for the world beyond our lifetimes. It brings together leading thinkers and doers from art, culture, philosophy, science, technology, law, finance and politics, to take a longer view. Speakers explore how engaging with the long-term can change the way we act in the short term.
Biographies:
Toby Ord
Toby Ord is a moral philosopher based at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute. He focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity. His earlier work explored the ethics of global health and global poverty, which led him to create an international society called Giving What We Can and the wider Effective Altruism movement. His current research is on avoiding the threat of human extinction which he considers to be among the most pressing and neglected issues we face. He has advised the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Office, and Government Office for Science.
Matthew Taylor
Matthew Taylor has been Chief Executive of the RSA since 2006. Prior to becoming Chief Executive of the RSA, Matthew was Chief Adviser on Political Strategy to the Prime Minister. He was the Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research between 1999 and 2003, has written numerous articles, and is a regular panellist on Radio 4’s Moral Maze.