Hi Jeff, thanks for your response. I hold a PhD in Medical Microbiology and am a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, at Plateau State University, Bokkos, Nigeria. My passion lies in deciphering how this changing climate fosters the emergence of novel and more formidable pathogens, posing a grave risk to human lives. I believe that climate change will make us more vulnerable to pathogens like fungi, however, I am realising that ” natural pandemics” may not be an existential risk based on Toby Ord’s opinion in “The Precipice”. Do you think funders will be willing to fund research focused on looking at how climate change will lead to the evolution of pathogens leading to “natural” pandemics?
I think it’s pretty common within EA to think that pathogens evolving in the wild are very unlikely to present existential risks. We could be wrong on this, though, and a good first step could be to write up a top-level post here explaining why you see climate change-driven biological risks as potentially existential?
Hi Jeff, thanks for your response. I hold a PhD in Medical Microbiology and am a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, at Plateau State University, Bokkos, Nigeria. My passion lies in deciphering how this changing climate fosters the emergence of novel and more formidable pathogens, posing a grave risk to human lives. I believe that climate change will make us more vulnerable to pathogens like fungi, however, I am realising that ” natural pandemics” may not be an existential risk based on Toby Ord’s opinion in “The Precipice”. Do you think funders will be willing to fund research focused on looking at how climate change will lead to the evolution of pathogens leading to “natural” pandemics?
I think it’s pretty common within EA to think that pathogens evolving in the wild are very unlikely to present existential risks. We could be wrong on this, though, and a good first step could be to write up a top-level post here explaining why you see climate change-driven biological risks as potentially existential?
Thanks Jeff for the reply. I had written on climate change and emerging pathogens earlier. Here is the link to a thought I had earlier
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wh6sCGu8qYMrAznJL/climate-change-and-emerging-fungal-infections-impacts
Thanks for sharing the post! I don’t see an argument in it for how emerging fungal infections could be potentially civilization-ending, though?