The capacity for small groups and even single individuals to wreak unprecedented havoc on civilization is growing as a result of dual-use emerging technologies. This means that scholars should be increasingly concerned about individuals who express omnicidal, mass genocidal, anti-civilizational, or apocalyptic beliefs/desires. The present article offers a comprehensive and systematic survey of actual individuals who have harbored a death wish for humanity or destruction wish for civilization. This paper thus provides a strong foundation for future research on “agential risks” and related issues. It could also serve as a helpful resource for counterterrorism experts and global risk scholars who wish to better understand our evolving threat environment.
However, the analysis is quite qualitative. Are you aware of research trying to quantify the number of omnicidal actors?
I’m not aware of quantitative estimates of omnicidal actors. Personally, I’m less interested in omnicidal actors and more interested in actors that would decrease the quality of the long-term future if they had substantial levels of influence. This is partly because the latter type of category is plausibly much larger (e.g., Hitler, Mao, and Stalin wouldn’t have wanted to destroy the world but would have been bad news regardless).
FWIW, I’ve done a few pilots on how common various “s-risk conducive” values and attitudes are (e.g., extreme retributivism, sadism, wanting to create hell) and may publish these results at some point.
Hi David and Tobias,
I just came across Who would destroy the world? Omnicidal agents and related phenomena, which relates to your analysis. For reference, here is the abstract:
However, the analysis is quite qualitative. Are you aware of research trying to quantify the number of omnicidal actors?
I’m not aware of quantitative estimates of omnicidal actors. Personally, I’m less interested in omnicidal actors and more interested in actors that would decrease the quality of the long-term future if they had substantial levels of influence. This is partly because the latter type of category is plausibly much larger (e.g., Hitler, Mao, and Stalin wouldn’t have wanted to destroy the world but would have been bad news regardless).
FWIW, I’ve done a few pilots on how common various “s-risk conducive” values and attitudes are (e.g., extreme retributivism, sadism, wanting to create hell) and may publish these results at some point.