- Foundations (326)
- Effective Altruism (127)
- Existential risk (93)
- Future generations & longtermism (80)
- Moral philosophy (75)
- Moral patients (12)
- Moral uncertainty (11)
- Reasoning well (126)
- Decision making (44)
- Epistemics (6)
- Forecasting (8)
- World problems (379)
- Emerging challenges (41)
- Most pressing problems (282)
- Other pressing problems (130)
- Atomically precise manufacturing (3)
- Charter cities (3)
- Climate change (19)
- Geoengineering (3)
- Economic growth (13)
- Ending Ageing (5)
- False ideas on social media (10)
- Global Health (29)
- Global public goods (11)
- Gun Control (3)
- Harmful restrictions on migration (5)
- Improving values (4)
- Individual reasoning & cognition (21)
- Mental health (problem area) (5)
- Risks from malevolent actors (13)
- Science policy & infrastructure (22)
- Voting reform (7)
- Whole brain emulation (5)
- Problem prioritisation (26)
- Careers (531)
- Careers to build career capital (31)
- Categories of impactful careers (263)
- Other careers (174)
- Art & Entertainment (7)
- Biomedical Research (16)
- Computer Science PhD (15)
- Consulting (10)
- Data science (28)
- Design (2)
- Education (7)
- Finance (19)
- Lawyer (10)
- Marketing (3)
- Medicine (28)
- Doctor (13)
- Medical Researcher (7)
- Nursing (1)
- Philosophy academia (10)
- Politics (52)
- Civil Service (10)
- Party Politics (20)
- Web designer (1)
- Sometimes-recommended careers (245)
- Academic Research (108)
- China-Western coordination (10)
- Data collection for AI alignment (1)
- Earning to give in quant trading (6)
- Effective climate change interventions (10)
- Engineering (9)
- Expert in AI hardware (8)
- Found a tech startup (30)
- High impact executive assistant (3)
- Historian of large societal trends (7)
- Information security (12)
- Investigate new problems (6)
- Journalism (26)
- Journalist (11)
- Longtermist philanthropy (2)
- Non-technical roles in leading AI labs (7)
- Organise an effective altruism group (1)
- Policy careers (12)
- Public intellectual (15)
- Research management (7)
- Software Engineering (32)
- Specialist in emerging global powers (6)
- Think tank research (3)
- Top-recommended careers (232)
- AI safety technical research (45)
- Biorisk strategy & policy (35)
- Building the effective altruism community (19)
- China-related AI safety & governance (10)
- Forecasting research & implementation (24)
- Founder of new projects (44)
- Grantmaker (23)
- Long-term AI policy (48)
- Operations at high impact organisations (12)
- Research into global priorities (45)
- Skills (8)
- Career advice & strategy (323)
- Accidental harm (19)
- Advice for undergraduates (15)
- Being ambitious (18)
- Career capital (55)
- Career planning (27)
- Community & coordination (11)
- Exploration (19)
- Graduate school (22)
- PhDs (13)
- How to get a job (24)
- Leverage (7)
- Mental health (26)
- Now vs. Later (17)
- Personal fit (78)
- Ability (19)
- Job satisfaction (29)
- Risk (14)
- Unconventional advice (114)
- Replaceability (5)
- Fields (138)
- Computer science (24)
- Economics (44)
- History (11)
- Law (9)
- Machine learning (27)
- Philosophy (23)
- Physics (4)
- Psychology (18)
- Statistics (7)
- Other topics (206)
- About 80,000 Hours (67)
- Updates (43)
- Anonymous advice (19)
- COVID-19 (23)
- Doing good in your current job (95)
- Advocacy (32)
- Donating effectively (27)
- Income (30)
- Volunteering (8)
- Promoting effective altruism (2)
- User stories (3)
- About 80,000 Hours (67)
Topic archive: Existential risk
So long as civilisation continues to exist, we’ll have the chance to solve all our other problems, and have a far better future. But if we go extinct, that’s it.
Those concerned about extinction have started a new movement working to safeguard civilisation, which has been joined by Stephen Hawking, Max Tegmark, and new institutes founded by researchers at Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, and elsewhere.
Risks such as climate change and nuclear war are worrying enough — but there might be still bigger threats. We think that that reducing these risks could be the most important thing you do with your life, and want to explain exactly what you can do to help.
Selected highlights
Working in US AI policy
Article by Niel Bowerman · Last updated July 2023 · First published January 2019
#33 – Anders Sandberg on what if we ended ageing, solar flares & the annual risk of nuclear war
Podcast by Robert Wiblin and Keiran Harris · Published May 29th, 2018
All content tagged "Existential risk"
2024
- Article
- Preventing an AI-related catastrophe (Updated)Problem profile
- Podcast (80k After Hours)
2023
- PodcastPodcastSeptemberAugustJuly
- PodcastPodcast (80k After Hours)June
- Problem profile
May- Blog postThe 80,000 Hours Podcast on Artificial Intelligence and related topics (First published)ArticleCareer guideMarch
- PodcastJanuary
2022
DecemberSeptember- Problem profile
August- Preventing an AI-related catastrophe (First published)Problem profileArticleJuly
- Problem profileJune
- PodcastPodcastThe case for reducing existential risks (Updated)ArticleMay
- Blog postAprilMarchFebruary
2021
DecemberNovember- PodcastOctober
- Career reviewJune
- PodcastPodcastMay
- PodcastMarch
2020
DecemberAugust- PodcastJulyAprilMarch
- Blog postProblem profilePodcastFebruary
- PodcastJanuary
2019
DecemberNovemberOctoberAugustJuneAprilMarch2018
DecemberOctober- PodcastWays people trying to do good accidentally make things worse, and how to avoid them (First published)ArticleAugust
- PodcastPodcastWhat are the most pressing world problems? (First published)ArticleJulyMay
- PodcastApril
2017
NovemberOctober- The case for reducing existential risks (First published)ArticleArticlePodcastSeptemberAugust
- Article
July- Is it fair to say that most social programmes don’t work? (First published)Article
March- Career guide
2016
April- Blog postJanuary
2015
December- Blog postApril
2014
OctoberJanuary- Blog postBlog post
2013
NovemberOctober- Blog post
August2012
February- Blog post
January