(Xrisk 101): Existential Risk for Interstellar Advocates

(This paper is based on a joint presentation given at Icarus Interstellar’s Starship Congress, August 15-18, 2013. This work forms the basis for Project Astrolabe, at Icarus Interstellar.) http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/introducing-project-astrolabe-navigating-the-future-of-civilization/

Though the concept of Existential Risk or Xrisk denotes risks to our very existence, it will be shown that Xrisk is far from intractable or imponderable. Because of the subtypes described in our session below (Permanent Stagnation and Flawed Realization), humanity can do much to improve the prospects for Earth-originating intelligent life tomorrow by working to improve its prospects today.

This begins with directly mitigating the extinction risks that can be mitigated, and with safeguarding—to the best of humanity’s abilities—the scientific, cultural, and biological record so that future recoveries are possible if needed. The Vessel proposal attempts a unified approach to this work. If existential risk is well mitigated, the prospects for Earth- originating life over the very long term are shown to be expansive.

(Xrisk 101) is divided into two parts, and mirrors the format of the original presentation. The first part, authored by Heath Rezabek, will cover the fundamentals of Xrisk, and update on the Vessel project, a framework for preserving the cultural, scientific, and biological record in resilient facilities, on Earth and beyond. The second part, authored by Nick Nielsen, will explore the longer term implications of overcoming Xrisk for the future of civilization.