251R_Existential risk and existential hope: Definitions (research summary)

What is The Future for Cities?

Are you interested in existential hope instead of existential risk?

Summary of the article titled Existential risk and existential hope: Definitions from 2015 by Owen Cotton-Barratt and Toby Ord, published by the Future of Humanity Institute.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Allison Duettmann in episode 252 talking optimism and existential hope.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see the opposite of existential risk in our doom and gloom world. This article presents the existential hope concept, the chance of something extremely good happening.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:

1. The concept of "existential hope" is introduced, highlighting the importance of pursuing transformative events that can greatly improve humanity's future prospects.
2. Existential risks are events that could either wipe out humanity or drastically limit its future potential.
3. Existential catastrophes could be defined by the loss of expected value, which accounts for events that reduce humanity's future potential even without immediate extinction.

You can find the article through this link.

Abstract: We look at the strengths and weaknesses of two existing definitions of existential risk, and suggest a new definition based on expected value. This leads to a parallel concept: ‘existential hope’, the chance of something extremely good happening.

Connecting episode you might be intersted in:

• No.101R - What we owe the future (book summary)
• No.178R - Brighter (book summary)
• No.222 - Interview with Adam Dorr about a brighter future

You can find the transcript through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

What wast the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WTF4Cities⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wtf4cities.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ website where the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠showno⁠t⁠es⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠are also available.

I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.

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