If humanity is victim to an existential catastrophe that wipes out civilization (most humans, technology, most trade, etc.) but does not kill everyone, we need easy ways to restart.
If it’s possible to restart, then it’s not an existential catastrophe.”Global catastrophe” would be a more appropriate term here.
I basically agree and am glad you highlighted this.
Nit-pick: But it could be an existential catastrophe even if it’s possible to “restart” civilization, if we’re locked into a much worse trajectory than was previously attainable. E.g. if we’ll recover in terms of population, tech, and GDP, but never expand beyond the Earth, never end factory farming, never have huge numbers of digital minds living excellent lives, or whatever.
FYI this sentence misuses the term “existential catastrophe”:
If it’s possible to restart, then it’s not an existential catastrophe.”Global catastrophe” would be a more appropriate term here.
Good catch. We agree and updated it to global catastrophe.
I basically agree and am glad you highlighted this.
Nit-pick: But it could be an existential catastrophe even if it’s possible to “restart” civilization, if we’re locked into a much worse trajectory than was previously attainable. E.g. if we’ll recover in terms of population, tech, and GDP, but never expand beyond the Earth, never end factory farming, never have huge numbers of digital minds living excellent lives, or whatever.
See also Venn diagrams of existential, global, and suffering catastrophes.