Thread by @ProfPaulPoast

If there is one benefit to 2020, students will no longer view my "Human Extinction" lecture as far fetched

[THREAD]

I always end #ChicagoIntroIR with a lecture on existential threats to humanity

https://twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1193702442724134913

2020 is full of material for this lecture.

To recap...well, no reason to recap #COVID19

But that's not the only potentially "existential risk" that has appeared recently

In late April, @CNN reported on a "potentially hazardous object" passed by Earth

https://mobile.twitter.com/CNN/status/1253523587119620099

While this asteroid was first seen back in 1998, such long term warning is not always possible

washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07…

Pandemics! Asteriods!

Oh, and don't forget about UFOs

https://twitter.com/SenatorReid/status/1254836730546384897

Pandemics! Asteroids! UFOs!

Oh, and don't forget about the return of nuclear arms racing

reuters.com/article/uk-usa…

These events, along with #COVID19, make real to people that some threats could completely alter life on the planet, possibly even eliminating human life.

Scary to think about, but this IS what the folks at places like @FHIOxford, @CSERCambridge, & @FLIxrisk think about. A LOT.

These threats to humanity also require international cooperation to address them: as I like to say, "you can't tech your way out of these problems"

news.uchicago.edu/videos/covid-2…

This same point raised recently by @BulletinAtomic

thebulletin.org/2020/04/covid-…

As they write, "COVID-19 brings into sharp relief how catastrophe feeds on dysfunction in national and international governance."

But such dysfunction has been on full display of late

reuters.com/article/us-hea…

Addressing the dysfunction isn't a matter of conjuring up amorphous "political will"

https://twitter.com/mcopelov/status/1175186451866300418

Instead, it's a function of domestic and international conditions and incentives. As Bob & Bob taught us long ago, "Cooperation under anarchy is difficult"

cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Or as Einstein said regarding nuclear weapons (in his 1947 Open Letter to the General Assembly): "As long as atomic energy and armaments are considered a vital part of national security no nation will give more than lip service to international treaties."

He, in turn, was echoing Merze Tate and her 1941 book "The Disarmament Illusion"

Okay, so this is not a very happy assessment. Sorry. But as @dandrezner wrote recently, "If this sounds like a very jaded and pessimistic view of the world, welcome to the land of international relations professors." [END]

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…