Creator and destroyer of worlds

Progress inevitably leads to inescapable existential threats (IEDs): technological developments that bring enormous benefits with a high risk of extinction. Accepting long-term disasters as the cost of immediate success is an age-old devil’s bargain. While the Romans celebrated the destruction of Carthage, Scipio Africanus the Younger pondered the fate of Rome as war inevitably destroys the empires it builds. Countless other societies have pledged themselves for instant wealth or power. What has changed is the amount of the initial payout and final debt.

Nuclear war, the first IED

The first modern IED was the first to end a global war that had destroyed fifty million lives and would claim up to a million more. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the surrender of a ferocious aggressor who usually fought to the death to achieve even the smallest victory. Thermonuclear weapons subsequently made it clear to the world community that …