Before the insanity of climate change, there was the insanity of a nuclear arms race. If we survive the current crisis there’s no end of grim scenarios – grey-goo nanotech, hard-takeoff AI, bioengineered doomsday pandemic – waiting in the wings. An obvious common denominator connects all these apocalyptic threats. Is this the best we can expect when a species that evolved to fuck and fight on some African savannah gets its hands on world-changing technology? Are there solutions more effective (and more radical) than the half-assed half-measures currently on the table? If so, will we embrace them in time – or will someone have to shove them down our throats?
