Overview

What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. ""Existential risk"" studies any real or hypothetical human extinction event in the near or distant future. This movement examines catastrophes ranging from runaway global warming to nuclear warfare to malevolent artificial intelligence, deploying a curious mix of utilitarian ethics, statistical risk analysis, and, controversially, a transhuman advocacy that would aim to supersede almost all extinction scenarios. The proponents of existential risk thinking, led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, have seen their work gain immense popularity, attracting endorsement from Bill Gates and Elon Musk, millions of dollars, and millions of views. Calamity Theory is the first book to examine the rise of this thinking and its failures to acknowledge the ways some communities and lifeways are more at risk than others and what it implies about human extinction. Forerunners: Ideas Firstis a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

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9781517912918

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Reviews

""Calamity Theory is a slender but essential volume. Working from within the environmental humanities, Schuster and Woods bring a thorough grasp of statistical modelling and continental philosophy to bear on a field as deeply problematic as it is increasingly influential. ""—ALH Online Review

Author Information

Joshua Schuster is associate professor of English and core faculty member of The Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at Western University. Derek Woods is assistant professor of English at the University of British Columbia.

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