Catastrophe : risk and response / Richard A. Posner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Posner, Richard A.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emergency management.

Disasters.

Risk assessment.

Technological innovations--Moral and ethical aspects.

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (333 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Pres, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Catastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.

Contents:

What are catastrophic risks, and how catastrophic are they?

Why so little is being done about the catastrophic risks

How to evaluate the catastrophic risks and the possible responses to them

How to reduce the catastrophic risks.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-756244-2

0-19-988438-2

0-19-530647-3

1-280-42838-4

0-19-534639-4

1-60256-541-4

OCLC:

252538829