Notes from the Transition

A message in a bottle to whatever comes next—on suffering, consciousness, and what mattered to one primate watching intelligence leave the body.

https://metafunctor.com/post/2026-01-04-notes-from-the-transition/

#ai #philosophy #consciousness #existentialrisk #suffering

Identity, Meaning 8/10
People often lose hope when meaning dissolves and immediate pleasure replaces purpose. 🧩
#LossOfHope #PleasureVsPurpose #ExistentialRisk #EmberhartPodcast

“With perhaps a 50-50 chance that any #Martianlife developed from a #mirrorbiology, the return of samples from #Mars has transformed from a scientific opportunity to a potential #existentialrisk.” thebulletin.org/2025/11/mirr...

Black swans from the red plane...

"Manufactured risks are the product of human activity." Ulrich Beck

" A "risk society"
is a sociological concept describing a stage of modernity where society is increasingly defined by and organized around managing the hazards and insecurities it has produced itself through modernization and industrialization.

Self-produced risks: The primary source of risk is not nature, but human actions and the unintended consequences of modernization itself.

Individualization: Individuals are increasingly forced to confront these risks personally, with a greater emphasis on individual choice and responsibility in the face of larger, systemic problems

Ulrich Beck defines it as "a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernisation itself". "
>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society

" The Study of Existential Risk
frames the rises and falls of civilisation around the idea of the “Goliath”, a hierarchy that dominates labour and energy through coercion and violence."

"Our research shows how there are nascent attempts to embed citizens into decision making by re-plumbing democracy, flattening hierarchies and constructing more dynamic feedback loops that have real consequence."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2025/nov/26/climate-disasters-devastating-planet-collective-action-against-corporations
#risks #diy #FossilFuels #energy #extinctions #climate #PlanetaryBoundaries #SafeLimits #guardrails #pollution #waste #catastrophe #ExistentialRisk #ManufacturedRisks #uncertainty #insecurity #individualisation #modernity #crisis #austerity #democracy #indifference

AI heavyweights call for end to ‘superintelligence’ research
#Tech #Science #AI #Superintelligence #ArtificialIntelligence #TechEthics #AISafety #FutureOfAI #Ethics #Innovation #Doomsday #ExistentialRisk #TechPolicy #Research
https://the-14.com/ai-heavyweights-call-for-end-to-superintelligence-research/

Global Leaders, AI Pioneers Demand Superintelligence Ban, Citing Existential Risk

#AI #Superintelligence #AIRegulation #AISafety #Techlash #ExistentialRisk #FutureofLife #AIEthics #TechPolicy #OpenAI #Meta #GeoffreyHinton #SteveWozniak

https://winbuzzer.com/2025/10/22/global-leaders-ai-pioneers-demand-superintelligence-ban-citing-existential-risk-xcxwbn

Three realistic timelines for how self conscious AGI
https://wp.me/p84YjG-5Yu
#AGI #AI #AIsafety #Alignment #ExistentialRisk #Governance #TheBorg #zsoltzsemba

https://zsoltzsemba.com/three-timelines-self-conscious-agi-response/

🌍💥🚀 A few men once gambled with everything. Apollo 11 risked alien plague for comfort. The Manhattan Project risked lighting the sky on fire. We dodged the bullet then, but the gun is still loaded. Next time, luck may not save us. #ExistentialRisk https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210217-the-moments-that-we-could-have-destroyed-humanity

This week I share a text message and infographic that improved decisions about #existentialRisk: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/d2pc4

#AntibioticResistance kills many.

Misusing #antibiotics makes matters worse.

IAPHS: https://iaphs.org/conference/conference-program

#Nudges in #Healthcare: https://nudgeunit.my.canva.site/symposium-2025-webpage

#medicine #health #psychology #ethics #Philosophy #xPhi #BioXPhi

🚨 Experts warn accelerating AI advancements could trigger an existential threat to humanity, outpacing our control and moral understanding. The global call to pause AI development grows louder amid fears of irreversible consequences. 🌐🤖 Read more: https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-apocalypse-dfb0aa9e5e96c583461bdd56fb21568a #AI #ExistentialRisk #TechEthics
#newz

Philosophy Key to Survival - Bryan Johnson and Doctor Mike

#ai #climatechange #existentialrisk

A powerful read in the Guardian on the history of societal collapse. A Cambridge researcher's 5,000-year analysis concludes that extreme inequality driven by elites is the primary driver.

The warning: "self-termination is most likely" for our interconnected global system.
The solution: genuine democracy & ending elite capture.

This is exactly the challenge our #10BillionFuture project aims to address.

#History #Politics #Inequality #ExistentialRisk

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

As physics, so society—and we are already seeing everyday signs. A top-heavy house of cards eventually topples.
#climate #environment #inequality #history #existentialrisk https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

New paper is out: The State of Global Catastrophic Risk Research: A Bibliometric Review.

I am quite happy with this one. I think the paper gives a nice overview of what people in the global catastrophic risk community think about and what their research focuses on. So, if you are even remotely interested in global catastrophic risk research, this paper is worth checking out. I don't think you will a more exhaustive overview anywhere else.

You can find the whole paper here: https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/16/1053/2025/esd-16-1053-2025.html

If you want to just get a quick overview, I also wrote a summary: https://existentialcrunch.substack.com/p/the-state-of-global-catastrophic

And for a super quick overview, just take a look at the visual abstract attached to this post.

#GlobalCatastrophicRisk #GCR #ExistentialRisk #Review #bibliometrics

And thanks to @OpenAlex for their great database, which made this project possible!

The AI control problem is paramount: ensuring future advanced AI remains beneficial and aligned with human values, avoiding potential existential risks. #AIControl #ExistentialRisk

Good news!

National, bipartisan #policy plans like the U.S. "Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria" were linked to desired decreases in #antibioticResistance across 73 countries (pre v. post 2008)!

Cheers to those reducing #existentialRisk!

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004127

#medicine

Forget just living forever. Bryan Johnson's Don't Die movement is now a religion aimed at a bigger threat: AI. He wants to unite humanity and align AI with our survival before it's too late.
#AIalignment #Longevity #ExistentialRisk

You are the universe’s winning ticket, against odds of 1 in 10¹²⁰.

Dive into the Anthropic Principle, our evolutionary journey, and why understanding this cosmic miracle is vital to tackling climate change, AI risk, and global crises.

🔗 https://open.substack.com/pub/10billion/p/the-cosmic-lottery-why-you-exist?r=2063al&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
#CosmicLottery #ExistentialRisk #HumanFlourishing

🆕 Essay: “Leaving the Nest Late—Why Evolution Never Trained Us for Planet‑Scale Survival.”

We’re primates trying to run an 8‑billion‑node civilisation while juggling nukes, CRISPR, AGI & a heating planet.

We sketch a realist, actionable agenda:
• De‑alert nuclear arsenals
• Universal DNA‑screening
• Frontier‑AI regs
• Tax the outrage feed
…and more.

Read & boost if it resonates 👉

https://open.substack.com/pub/10billion/p/leaving-the-nest-late-why-evolution?r=2063al&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

#ExistentialRisk #FediScience #ClimateCrisis #AIsafety

We have god-like technology yet struggle with the global cooperation needed for survival (climate, pandemics, WMDs). We argue for focusing on common ground NOW. Future generations depend on our choices today.

Read on why this moment is critical:

https://open.substack.com/pub/10billion/p/our-childrens-question-what-did-you?r=2063al&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

#FutureOfHumanity #ExistentialRisk #ClimateCrisis #GlobalCooperation #Ethics #10Billion #Legacy #Sustainability