National and International News Coverage

There was extensive coverage of the conference in the press, and a selection of this material is available by following the links below. There are also a number of blog articles available on the web giving detailed overviews of the topics covered, including a post from FHI Research Fellow Anders Sandberg.

'The end of the world is not nigh', by Michael Brooks, 23 August 2008, issue 2666, pp. 8-9. The article emphasises how potential risks such as nuclear war, nuclear and biological terrorism, and near-earth objects are being mitigated effectively. However, some risks remain unquantifiable, especially those posed by nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

Reason's Ron Bailey sent three reports from the conference: 'TEOTWAWKI!
Or, the end of the world as we know it at the Global Catastrophic Risks conference', July 17; 'Will Humanity Survive the 21st Century?', Second report, July 18; 'The End of Humanity: Nukes, Nanotech, or God-Like Artificial Intelligences?', Final report, July 22, 2008.

'We may have the credit crunch, crime and terrorism, but it isn't the end of the world', by Stephen McGinty, 24 July 2008.

Earth and Sky produces syndicated Science podcasts heard by 12 million people daily. In two podcasts, Earth and Sky interviewed Nick Bostrom about FHI's work on Global Catastrophic Risks, and specifically about the conference. You can listen to a detailed seven minute podcast 'Nick Bostrom on the end of the world' and a brief sixty-second podcast 'Experts gather to discuss global catastrophic risks' by following the links.

'Scientists: Humans and machines will merge in future', by Lara Farrar, 15 July 2008.