You mentioned how some of the risks in the table were for extinction, rather than existential risk. However, the above two were for the reduction in long-term future potential, which could include trajectory changes that do not qualify as existential risk, such as slightly worse values ending up in locked-in AI. Also another source by this definition was the 30% reduction in long-term potential from 80,000 Hours’ earlier version of this profile. By the way, the source attributed to me was based on a poll of GCR researchers—my own estimate is lower.
Based on my adjustments to CEARCH’s analysis of nuclear and volcanic winter, the expected annual mortality of nuclear winter as a fraction of the global population is 7.32*10^-6. I estimated the deaths from the climatic effects would be 1.16 times as large as the ones from direct effects. In this case, the expected annual mortality of nuclear war as a fraction of the global population would be 1.86 (= 1 + 1⁄1.16) times the expected annual mortality of nuclear winter as a fraction of the global population, i.e. 0.00136 %(= 1.86*7.32*10^-6). So the annual losses in future potential mentioned in the table above are 221 (= 0.0030/(1.36*10^-5)) and 73.5 (= 0.0010/(1.36*10^-5)) times my expected annual death toll, whereas I would have expected the annual loss in future potential to be much lower than the expected annual death toll.
You mentioned how some of the risks in the table were for extinction, rather than existential risk. However, the above two were for the reduction in long-term future potential, which could include trajectory changes that do not qualify as existential risk, such as slightly worse values ending up in locked-in AI. Also another source by this definition was the 30% reduction in long-term potential from 80,000 Hours’ earlier version of this profile. By the way, the source attributed to me was based on a poll of GCR researchers—my own estimate is lower.
Hi David,
Based on my adjustments to CEARCH’s analysis of nuclear and volcanic winter, the expected annual mortality of nuclear winter as a fraction of the global population is 7.32*10^-6. I estimated the deaths from the climatic effects would be 1.16 times as large as the ones from direct effects. In this case, the expected annual mortality of nuclear war as a fraction of the global population would be 1.86 (= 1 + 1⁄1.16) times the expected annual mortality of nuclear winter as a fraction of the global population, i.e. 0.00136 %(= 1.86*7.32*10^-6). So the annual losses in future potential mentioned in the table above are 221 (= 0.0030/(1.36*10^-5)) and 73.5 (= 0.0010/(1.36*10^-5)) times my expected annual death toll, whereas I would have expected the annual loss in future potential to be much lower than the expected annual death toll.