#16 – SJ Beard on Parfit, Climate Change, and Existential Risk

[2:00] Existential risks defined in brief;

[4:45] SJ's background;

[12:30] What made philosopher Derek Parfit so influential;

[17:30] What is the repugnant conclusion?

[22:12] What is the non-identity problem?

[28:40] Meeting Parfit;

[34:20] Why SJ chose a career in existial risk research;

[36:43] What existential risk research looks like;

[45:58] How can we estimate the probability of catastrophes with no strict precedents?

[56:52] Under what circumstances could climate change cause a collapse of global civilization?

[1:07:52] Why SJ ran as an MP for the Liberal Democrats;

[1:17:25] Is academia broken? How can we fix it?

[1:23:23] Why SJ changed his mind about whether COVID is a potential global catastrophe