Existential Bio-Risks: Clarifying Key Concepts w/ Poker Chen (PhD)

Our collective experience with SARS-nCov-2 so far look like it'll help humanity better prepare for the outbreak of another pandemic. However, this doesn't mean our collective future is now safe once and for all from pathogenic threats.

In this talk and discussion session, Poker will briefly review global catastrophic biological risks then give a by-stander's mechanical breakdown of a pandemic-causing virus from the viewpoint of a structural biologist/biophysicist. Afterwards, we hope to invite everyone to discuss the potential actions we can take as individuals and as a society to reduce the impacts of current and future pandemics.

ALL WELCOME!

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Primer: Dr. Gregory Lewis on the basics of global catastrophic biological risks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A--U0O2OFFc

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The 80,000 hours problem profile:

https://80000hours.org/.../preventing-catastrophic.../

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Other useful background reading:

- "Immune" by Philipp Dettmer. Excellent public-level book on the magnificent defences pathogens have to overcome in order to harm a human being

https://www.philippdettmer.net/immune

- "Global Catastrophic Biological Risks", editors Inglesby and Adalja. Chapter 1 gives a good academic-level introduction on why and how viruses, above all other pathogens, currently pose the greatest threat of causing a pandemic. Accessible, e.g., via the MQ library.

https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-36311-6

- Article "Prepare and plan a biosecure future" by Dr Luke Kemp.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/sto.../beyond-the-pandemic-biosecurity