The Four Pillars: A Hypothesis for Countering Catastrophic Biological Risk
Biological risks are more severe than has been widely appreciated. Here we outline a hypothesis for ‘four pillars’ of biodefense that should work against even the most sophisticated engineered pathogens or ‘unknown unknowns’.
Biological risks are more severe than has been widely appreciated. Recent discussions of mirror bacteria highlight an extreme scenario: a single organism that could infect and kill humans, plants, and animals, exhibits environmental persistence in soil or dust, and might be capable of spreading worldwide within several months. In the worst-case scenario, this could pose an existential risk to humanity, especially if the responses/countermeasures were inadequate. Less severe pandemic pathogens could still cause hundreds of millions (or billions) of casualties if they were engineered to cause ha
saved by
related reading
- How I think about catastrophic biological risk (part I): risk breakdown by type of responsedefensesindepth.bio
- The Four Pillars: A Hypothesis for Countering Catastrophic Biological Riskforum.effectivealtruism.org
- Preventing catastrophic pandemics | 80,000 Hours80000hours.org
- *Reflective Disequilibrium*: Envisioning a world immune to global catastrophic biological risksreflectivedisequilibrium.blogspot.com
- How I think about catastrophic biological risk (part II): risk breakdown by type of preventiondefensesindepth.bio
- 10 big projects for reducing bio x-riskdefensesindepth.bio
- Reasons to be pessimistic (and optimistic) on the future of biosecurityowlposting.com
- Interceptinterceptfund.com
- The Dangers of Mirrored Lifepress.asimov.com
- How to Prevent the Next Pandemic—Asteriskasteriskmag.com
- A call for biosecurity fieldbuilding — EA Forumforum.effectivealtruism.org
- “Designer bugs”: how the next pandemic might come from a labvox.com