7.2 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 19 March 2003 | 3.6/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Martin Rees books, Future books, Disaster books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our final hour review of martin rees book
Our Final Hour is a 2003 book by the British Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees. The full title of the book is Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future In This Century - On Earth and Beyond. It was published in the United Kingdom under the more prosaic title Our Final Century: Will the Human Race Survive the Twenty-first Century?. The premise of the book is that the Earth and human survival are in far greater danger from the potential effects of modern technology than is commonly realised, and that the 21st century may be a critical moment in history when humanity's fate is decided. Rees discusses a range of existential risks confronting humanity, and controversially estimates that the probability of extinction before 2100 CE is around 50 percent, based on the possibility of malign or accidental release of destructive technology.
Contents
Martin rees our final hour
Humanity's fate and recommendations for survival
In Our Final Hour, Rees predicts that one of the two following outcomes is inevitable for humanity:
In order to avoid human extinction, Rees advocates control of scientific research worldwide, and control of open access to such research. He states that, in the 1990s, Aum Shinrikyo tried unsuccessfully to obtain an Ebola virus sample, which they could now create in their Mount Fuji lab, using ingredients and instructions from the Internet.
Rees has long been active in disarmament campaigns, and although he now sees nuclear warfare as a less probable cause of extinction, he advocates arms control as much as control of science and technology (see also World government). More concerning to him now is the possibility of major bioterrorist attacks, as evidenced by his outstanding bet (registered with the Long Bet Project) that such events will occur within the next twenty years.
In terms of space exploration and survival through colonization, Rees is an advocate of the free market solution, and believes that the wealthy will push back the frontiers of space.