The Precipice : Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity

I finished this book a few days ago, and I still feel a little high. It's like I took a hallucinogen that made the colors of the world brighter and put me in a prolonged state of ecstasy. It sounds weird to say that about a book that is pretty much all about the many horrific dangers facing humanity, but it is what it is. I have a list of people to give it to, and I dream about it at night. But for those of you who don't know me that well, let me reassure you: there is an easy way to get the object of my devotion for free.

Summary

We are at a turning point in our history. This may sound like a hackneyed phrase, there are people who have said it at just about every turn, but there are very good reasons to believe it now. This is especially true these days, with the war in Ukraine bringing the fear of a third world war and climate change getting worse every year. What makes this moment so special is that we humans now have the technological means to destroy ourselves, and we don't seem to have the maturity to not do it.

But if that happened, it would be a catastrophe. Because as humans, we also have enormous potential. If we manage not to fall off the precipice, we could be in our teens. Thousands and millions of years, or even more, could lie ahead of us. And what we could accomplish in that many years is beyond our imagination.

Impressions

I discovered this book via 80,000 Hours, a non-profit organization which I discovered via a Tim Ferriss podcast. I wasn't sure if I liked Tim Ferriss that much, but now he has gained a lot of respect from me.

I told you, I still feel a little high. Never has a book succeeded so brilliantly in changing my entire outlook on life. And I'm not kidding. You'll think I'm intense, but this book is intense. There are people who have had the courage and intelligence to address one of the most fundamental, yet uncomfortable and difficult questions we could ask ourselves as humans: how do we quantify the risks of our race becoming extinct, and how can we ensure that we minimize those risks to ensure our very, very long-term safety?

It would be very difficult for me to try to convey to you what I took away from this book, because I am still digesting it. What I can tell you is that it is written with such a rare and satisfying professionalism that it managed to project me both far into the past and far into the future, to scare me while giving me a lot of hope, and to make me feel like I know what's coming while knowing absolutely nothing.

I was wondering lately if it was a good idea for me to have children, seeing the state of the world. Now I'm thinking that I must have children, because there's no way I'm giving up now. That fighting for the future of humanity is an incredibly noble and inspiring cause. That humans are morons sometimes, but also brilliant and creative and capable of wonderful things. That it's easy to fall into cynicism, but that it would be an incredibly sad waste.

And now I'm going to stop, because I'm going to look like I did drugs for real.

Trust me, you need to read this. All you have to do is subscribe to the newsletter of this organization which, I remind you, is a non-profit. It's free, and it can change your life.

That being said, I'm going to go to bed and try to calm down.