Lifeboat Foundation announces new existential-risk programs

August 17, 2006 | Source: KurzweilAI

The Lifeboat Foundation said today it has launched four programs to combat existential risks (threats to human survival) — BioShield, InfoShield, NanoShield, and Space Habitats — and has announced 11 other planned programs, ranging from AsteroidShield to AntimatterShield, to “prevent antimatter-based annihilation.” Public participation is invited.

The programs fill a gap left by governments and corporations, which “only think short term, so we felt that it was critical for an organization to focus on the long term and worry about existential risks to humanity,” said Lifeboat Foundation Chief Evangelist Philippe Van Nedervelde.

The foundation also announced KURZWEIL FOR PRES 2045 buttons and bumper stickers, a reference to Ray Kurzweil’s forecast that The Singularity will happen around that time.