This lecture examines how, for many types of disasters, severity seems to follow a power law distribution, and how the level of resistance to such disruptions can affect the future of humanity.

Expected and unexpected in the exploration of the fundamental laws of nature

In July 2008 the Future of Humanity Institute hosted a number of leading experts on different global catastrophic risks. The conference provided delegates with an overview of the key risks, and the state of current thinking on each of them. It brought scholars together from many different disciplines to discuss the common problems and methodologies which affect the study of global catastrophic risks.