Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive the century?

Philosopher Toby Ord explains how, as a species, we are at a point in time that we are teetering on the edge of extinction, and what we can do about it.

Published: May 6, 2020 at 7:01 pm

This week we talk to the philosopher Toby Ord about the end of civilisation as we know it.

Ok, it’s not all doom and gloom. As Toby says, he’s an optimistic person, but in his new book The Precipice (£25, Bloomsbury) he explains why we’re at a point in time where we, as a species, are teetering on the edge of extinction.

We discuss how much potential us homo sapiens have, what’s putting our continued survival at risk, how civilisation as we know it could come to an end, and what are the odds we’ll see out the century.

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