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Michael Dickens The importance of unknown existential risks online The article argues that most dangerous existential risks are the ones that were recently discovered. As technology advances, existential risks increase as well. Extrapolating from this trend there might exist even worse risks in the future. There might also be existential risks that are possible today but haven’t yet been discovered. If we accept this line of reasoning, then looking only at known risk might lead to a substantial underestimation of the probability of an existential catastrophe. – AI-generated abstract.

The importance of unknown existential risks

Michael Dickens

Effective Altruism Forum, July 23, 2020

Abstract

The article argues that most dangerous existential risks are the ones that were recently discovered. As technology advances, existential risks increase as well. Extrapolating from this trend there might exist even worse risks in the future. There might also be existential risks that are possible today but haven’t yet been discovered. If we accept this line of reasoning, then looking only at known risk might lead to a substantial underestimation of the probability of an existential catastrophe. – AI-generated abstract.

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