[tt] Global Catastrophic Risks conference Oxford July 17-20

[Anders Sandberg]

http://www.global-catastrophic-risks.com/

This July the Future of Humanity Institute will play host in Oxford to a
number of leading experts on different global catastrophic risks. The
conference is intended to advance knowledge and increase academic interest
in this neglected area.

The conference will provide delegates with an overview of the key risks,
and the state of current thinking on each of them. It will also be a forum
to bring together scholars from many different disciplines to discuss the
common problems and methodologies which affect the study of global
catastrophic risks. Any scholar whose interest lies in issues which could
potentially involve a catastrophe on a global scale will find the
conference stimulating and relevant to their research.

Topics treated will include nuclear terrorism, cosmic threats such as
supernova, comets and asteroids, the long term fate of the universe,
pandemics, nanotechnology, ecological disasters which drastically reduce
biodiversity, climate change, biotechnology and biosecurity, the cognitive
biases associated with making judgements in the context of global
catastrophic risk, social collapse, and the role of the insurance industry
in mitigating and quantifying risk. Follow the links to the left for more
detailed information about our speakers and the topic of their lectures
and to register for the conference (the deadline for registration is
Monday, 19 May, 2008).

It is hoped that during the Conference discussions and networks will be
created which will lead to more extensive collaborations that will treat
global catastrophic risks as a field for research and as an issue
requiring the engagement of the public and policy makers.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University