Eight Catastrophic Risks That Threaten Humanity — And How International Cooperation Might Stop Them

There is a certain category of disaster, whether manmade or natural, that poses an existential threat to humanity.  These are called global catastrophic risks. Some of these are fairly obvious, like nuclear war, and some may seem more the realm of science fiction like an asteroid impact.

My guest today, Jens Orback is the CEO of the Global Challenges Foundation, a Sweden based group that is seeking to prevent these catastrophes or mitigate their impact through enhanced international cooperation.

The Global Challenges Foundation recently released a report identifying eight global catastrophic risks and the current state of global governance or international cooperation to deal with them.

This includes: nuclear warfare, biological and chemical warfare, catastrophic climate change, ecological collapse, pandemics, asteroid impact, super-volcanic eruptions, and the misuse of Artificial Intelligence

As Jens Orback argues, what binds each of these risks is not only their potential to decimate human life, but also that they can be mitigated through stronger international cooperation and global governance.

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