Executive summary: Working to reduce the risks of nuclear war is one of the highest-impact career paths available due to the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear conflict and the relatively small number of people focused on this issue.
Key points:
Nuclear weapons pose an existential risk to humanity, with estimates of around 0.01-2% chance of nuclear war per year.
The key goals are reducing accident risk, preventing escalatory weapons, introducing checks on launch authority, anticipating dangerous technologies, promoting arms control, and strengthening non-use norms.
High-impact career paths include working in the U.S. government (Congress, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, State Department), research, communication/advocacy, and building the field.
Promising roles exist across various governments, international organizations (UN, IAEA), think tanks, and non-profits focused on nuclear risk.
The decline of expertise in nuclear policy since the Cold War suggests building the field could have major impact.
Example influential roles include government officials who rethought U.S. nuclear strategy and prominent researchers whose ideas shaped policies.
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Executive summary: Working to reduce the risks of nuclear war is one of the highest-impact career paths available due to the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear conflict and the relatively small number of people focused on this issue.
Key points:
Nuclear weapons pose an existential risk to humanity, with estimates of around 0.01-2% chance of nuclear war per year.
The key goals are reducing accident risk, preventing escalatory weapons, introducing checks on launch authority, anticipating dangerous technologies, promoting arms control, and strengthening non-use norms.
High-impact career paths include working in the U.S. government (Congress, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, State Department), research, communication/advocacy, and building the field.
Promising roles exist across various governments, international organizations (UN, IAEA), think tanks, and non-profits focused on nuclear risk.
The decline of expertise in nuclear policy since the Cold War suggests building the field could have major impact.
Example influential roles include government officials who rethought U.S. nuclear strategy and prominent researchers whose ideas shaped policies.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.