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The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of HumanityBook

by Toby Ord, 2020

Who uses, recommends or left The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity, in their own words: each a verbatim quote with a link to where it was said.

2 people

Research Fellow at the Astera Institute, writes on existential risk, metascience and tools for thought
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A good introduction to the topic may be found in Toby Ord's book "The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity" (2020).

Footnote defining existential risk in his essay on being a wise optimist

2024-12-01·michaelnotebook.com ↗

Non-fiction writer, podcaster and TV host; author of The Ghost Map, Where Good Ideas Come From and Extra Life, and of the Adjacent Possible newsletter.
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I wouldn’t say that this is the most compelling book I’ve ever read in terms of the prose style or storytelling, but it does provide a very helpful, almost quantitative overview of all the potential threats looming out there

Holiday gift-guide post listing the books he spent the most time thinking about in 2021.

2021-11-23·adjacentpossible.substack.com ↗

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.

What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:

Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.