Abstract
I think the odds are no better than fifty-fifty that our present civilization on Earth will survive to the end of the present century. Our choices and actions could ensure the perpetual future of life (not just on Earth, but perhaps far beyond it, too). Or in contrast, through malign intent, or through misadventure, twenty-first century technology could jeopardise life's potential, foreclosing its human and post-human future. What happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter.
Recommended Citation
Barrett, Scott
(2006)
"The Problem of Averting Global Catastrophe,"
Chicago Journal of International Law:
Vol. 6:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol6/iss2/4