UK's Doomsday Document: Assessing Apocalypse Amid New Threats
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The British government's risk register lists apocalyptic threats like nuclear accidents, pandemics, and terrorist attacks, and assigns them likelihood and impact scores.
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Some threats like pandemics now feel more imminent after recent events like covid-19, the Ukraine war, and advances in AI.
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The register has flaws like opaque methodology, omitting slow threats like antimicrobial resistance, and advice to individuals that seems eccentric.
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Governments can take threats very seriously, like the UK building the Kelvedon nuclear bunker in the 1950s, but there are costs to overpreparing.
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Unforeseen risks remain lose-lose situations, but if catastrophe strikes at least no one will be left to criticize.