About

The Global Risk Research Network is a blog where essays and articles on global risks are published. Most research on global risks is done within academia, but a worldwide community focused on global catastrophic and existential risks also depends on the thoughts and actions of those outside of academia as well. So, we’ve seen fit to create a blog for non-academic publications in this area, as part of an effort to build the research base and community. The Global Risk Research Network also looks to contribute to, build upon, and cooperate with existing academic research in the field.

“Global risk” is a generic term for risks which pose catastrophic consequences to humanity and life on Earth in the near- and long-term future. These are typically referred to as “global catastrophic risks” (GCRs), which also includes “existential risks” (x-risks), a special class of risks which threaten to cause human extinction, or otherwise cause terminal and intergenerational harm to a broad spectrum of Earth-originating life/sentience. Other terms for this field may include “long-run security” or “long-run development”.

The topics our network will focus on include:

Ecological risks, including climate change, soil erosion, food security, and critical loss of biodiversity.
Nuclear risks, including nuclear war, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear meltdowns.
Artificial Intelligence Risk and Safety, including risks from Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), AI control problems, AI safety policy, and near-term risks from industrial or weaponized Narrow AI systems.
Biological risks, such as a natural or bioengineered global pandemic, and the misuse of emerging biotechnologies.
Political and systemic risks, such as socioeconomic collapse scenarios, authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, global coordination problems, arms race scenarios, and war.
Ideological and terrorist threats, such as the weaponization or hijacking of dangerous technologies, religious and political sectarianism, and ideological extremism.
Cybersecurity, such as the issues of network security, cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare, and surveillance states.
Emerging technologies and attendant ideas, such as ‘dual-use technology‘, ‘differential technological development‘, and ‘information hazards‘.
Interdisciplinary research applying to multiple object-level topics, such as integrated assessment, social and decision sciences, and natural and life sciences.

We are allied with peers in other intellectual communities, also acting as researchers and advocates of our shared concerns. Research foci outside of global risks may include:

Effective Altruism
Cause Prioritization
Foundational Research
Forecasting
Transhumanism
Rationality

Organizations whose work we support include: