Resilience (Volume 2, 2018) Domains of Resilience for Complex Interconnected Systems

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Resilience (Volume 2, 2018) Domains of Resilience for Complex Interconnected Systems RESOURCE GUIDE Resilience (Volume 2, 2018) Domains of resilience for complex interconnected systems. An edited collection of authored pieces IRGC’s mission includes developing risk governance concepts and providing policy advice to decision-makers in the private and public sectors on key emerging or neglected issues. The EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC@EPFL) organises IRGC activities, emphasising the role of risk governance for issues marked by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity, and focusing on the creation of appropriate policy and regulatory environments for new technology where risk issues may be important. https://irgc.epfl.ch The International Risk Governance Council (IRGC Foundation) is an independent non-profit foundation whose purpose it is to help improve the understanding and governance of systemic risks that have impacts on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. https://irgc.org/ This publication must be cited as: Trump, B. D., Florin, M.-V., & Linkov, I. (Eds.). (2018). IRGC resource guide on resilience (vol. 2): Domains of resilience for complex interconnected systems. Lausanne: EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC). DOI: 10.5075/epfl-irgc-262527 Available from: irgc.epfl.ch Authorisation to reproduce IRGC material is granted under the condition of full acknowledgment of IRGC as a source. No right to reproduce figures whose original author is not IRGC. For any questions, please contact: [email protected] © EPFL International Risk Governance Center, 2018 ISBN 978-2-9701188-1-7 Preface to Volume 2 of the IRGC Resource Guide on Resilience IRGC's work includes diverse activities and publications with the aim to improve the governance of systemic or emerging risks, when complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity complicate analysis and decisions. As a property of systems and a dynamic process to improve the capacity of a system to prepare for, rebound after and recover from shocks and disruptions, as well as adapt to changing context conditions, resilience is an important tool in the toolbox of risk managers and decision- makers. Resilience is particularly attractive to those confronted to the need to make expensive investments to avoid potential catastrophic consequences, and to the limitations of conventional risk management. In 2016 IRGC took the initiative of publishing a first web-based 'Resource Guide on Resilience' for researchers and practitioners: Volume 1. The resource guide is a collection of authored pieces that review existing concepts, approaches and illustrations or case studies for comparing, contrasting and integrating risk and resilience, and for developing resilience. Volume 1 emphasised the need to develop ways to measure resilience. https://www.irgc.org/irgc-resource-guide-on-resilience/ In November 2018, following new interesting and useful developments in the field, IRGC publishes Volume 2. Volume 2 provides an in-depth and pragmatic evaluation of concepts and methods for resilience- based approaches in contrast to risk-based approaches, as proposed and practised in different domains of science and practice. Adequate articulation of risk and resilience is key to ensure security in systems. The guide also considers possible drawbacks of resilience, such as if efforts to improve resilience diverts attention from core functions of risk management, or from the need to discourage inappropriate risk-seeking behaviour. Some of the papers in Volume 2 also discuss the relevance and role of resilience as a strategy to address the challenges posed by systemic risks that develop in complex adaptive systems (CAS). Such systems are interconnected, with the result that risks can cascade within and between systems. Resilience can help navigate dynamic changes in CAS, as those evolve in response to internal and external shocks and stresses. https://irgc.epfl.ch/risk-governance/projects-resilience/ Dr Benjamin Trump (ORISE Fellow, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center), Marie- Valentine Florin (IRGC) and Dr Igor Linkov (Carnegie Mellon University; US Army Engineer Research and Development Center) served as coordinators and editors for this collection of authored pieces, with the help of Marcel Bürkler and Anca G. Rusu. We hope that researchers and practitioners will find the guide relevant to their needs. 3 Contents An Introduction to 2nd Volume of the Resource Guide on Resilience .............................................................. 6 Igor Linkov, Marie-Valentine Florin, Benjamin D. Trump A Janus-Faced Resource: Social Capital and Resilience Trade-Offs ................................................................ 13 Daniel P. Aldrich, Courtney Page-Tan and Timothy Fraser Ecological Resilience ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Craig R. Allen and Dirac Twidwell From Security to Resilience: New Vistas for International Responses to Protracted Crises ........................... 25 Rosanne Anholt and Kees Boersma The Importance of Resilience-Based Strategies in Risk Analysis, and Vice Versa ............................................ 33 Terje Aven and Shital Thekdi Resilience as an Integrative, Measurable Concept for Humanitarian and Development Programming .......... 39 Christopher B. Barrett and Joanna B. Upton Resilience to Global Catastrophe ................................................................................................................... 47 Seth D. Baum Conceptualizing Risk and Unit Resilience in a Military Context ...................................................................... 53 Colanda R. Cato, Shala N. Blue and Bridget Boyle Resilience in the Context of Systemic Risks: Perspectives from IRGC's Guidelines for the Governance of Systemic Risks ................................................................................................................................................ 60 Marie-Valentine Florin and Benjamin D. Trump Resilience Analysis of Urban Critical Infrastructure: A human-Centred View of Resilience ........................... 69 Kazuo Furuta and Taro Kanno Robustness and Reconfigurability – Key Concepts to Build Resilience ........................................................... 74 Hans Rudolf Heinimann Resilience of Systems to Individual Risk and Systemic Risk ............................................................................ 81 Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Gergely Boza, Célian Colon, Sebastian Poledna, Elena Rovenskaya and Ulf Dieckmann Technological Surprise and Resilience in Military Systems ............................................................................. 89 Alexander Kott Mindfulness and the Risk-Resilience Trade-off in Organizations .................................................................... 94 Ravi S. Kudesia and Jochen Reb, 4 Resilience and Robustness in Ecological Systems ......................................................................................... 102 Simon A. Levin Considerations of Resilience Management in Transportation ...................................................................... 107 Maria Nogal and Alan O’Connor Resilience: Moving Forward from a Metaphor ............................................................................................. 111 José Palma-Oliveira and Benjamin D. Trump Resilience Assessment in Homeland Security............................................................................................... 118 Frédéric Petit Unlocking Organizational Resilience ............................................................................................................ 127 Elaine D. Pulakos and Derek Lusk Advances in Analyzing and Measuring Dynamic Economic Resilience .......................................................... 133 Adam Rose and Noah Dormady The Case for Systemic Resilience: Urban Communities in Natural Disasters................................................ 141 Božidar Stojadinović Resilience of Critical Infrastructure Systems: Policy, Research Projects and Tools ...................................... 147 Marianthi Theocharidou, Luca Galbusera and Georgios Giannopoulos Resilience Analytics by Separation of Enterprise Schedules: Applications to Infrastructure ......................... 160 Heimir Thorisson and James H. Lambert Resilience is a Verb ...................................................................................................................................... 167 David D. Woods Managing Energy Transition Through Dynamic Resilience ........................................................................... 173 Martin Young and Angela Wilkinson 5 An Introduction to 2nd Volume of the Resource Guide on Resilience Igor Linkovi*, Marie-Valentine Florinii, Benjamin D. Trumpi *Corresponding author: [email protected] Society is increasingly reliant upon complex and interconnected systems to foster virtually all elements of modern life. From basic infrastructure to public health and medicine to business and finance, these systems are often predicated upon interdependencies in order to deliver better, faster, and less expensive services. Such interconnection has opened the door to incredible innovations in organizational and infrastructural operation yet has also left many critical and foundational societal systems at risk of systemic disruption. A growing area of inquiry to best prepare the complex infrastructural, social, and environmental systems which sustain
Recommended publications
  • Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks
    journal of international humanitarian legal studies 11 (2020) 295-310 brill.com/ihls Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks Hin-Yan Liu, Kristian Lauta and Matthijs Maas Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract This paper explores the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic through the framework of exis- tential risks – a class of extreme risks that threaten the entire future of humanity. In doing so, we tease out three lessons: (1) possible reasons underlying the limits and shortfalls of international law, international institutions and other actors which Covid-19 has revealed, and what they reveal about the resilience or fragility of institu- tional frameworks in the face of existential risks; (2) using Covid-19 to test and refine our prior ‘Boring Apocalypses’ model for understanding the interplay of hazards, vul- nerabilities and exposures in facilitating a particular disaster, or magnifying its effects; and (3) to extrapolate some possible futures for existential risk scholarship and governance. Keywords Covid-19 – pandemics – existential risks – global catastrophic risks – boring apocalypses 1 Introduction: Our First ‘Brush’ with Existential Risk? All too suddenly, yesterday’s ‘impossibilities’ have turned into today’s ‘condi- tions’. The impossible has already happened, and quickly. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both directly and as manifested through the far-reaching global societal responses to it, signal a jarring departure away from even the © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/18781527-01102004Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:13:00AM via free access <UN> 296 Liu, Lauta and Maas recent past, and suggest that our futures will be profoundly different in its af- termath.
    [Show full text]
  • The Air Severe Thunderstorm Model for the United States
    In 2011, six severe thunderstorms The AIR Severe generated insured losses of over USD 1 billion each. Total losses from Thunderstorm 24 separate outbreaks that year exceeded USD 26 billion. With the potential for insured losses on both an Model for the occurrence and aggregate basis this high, companies need the best tools available to assess and mitigate U.S. United States severe thunderstorm risk. THE AIR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MODEL FOR THE UNITED STATES The AIR Severe Thunderstorm Model AIR Worldwide has developed for the United States estimates the a comprehensive Severe frequency, severity, and geographical Thunderstorm Model for the United States... The damage distribution of potential losses from functions are based on the straight-line winds, hail, and tornadoes. scientific relationship between building damage and wind The model incorporates the latest speed/hail impact energy. The scientific research into the highly model includes both the vertical fall speed [of hail] as well as the localized effects of these complex horizontal component of wind perils as well as independent research, speed to calculate impact energy. This is especially useful when post-disaster surveys, and more than estimating the amount of damage USD 40 billion in claims data. While to building exteriors such as siding and windows. severe thunderstorm is a relatively high- - Timothy Marshall, PE frequency peril, aggregate losses can Haag Engineering result in extreme volatility in financial results, making it crucial for companies to have a robust and highly granular An Innovative Way to Model Storm Occurrence The AIR U.S. severe thunderstorm model utilizes a large view of the risk.
    [Show full text]
  • The Use of Computer Modeling in Estimating and Managing Future Catastrophe Losses
    The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Vol. 27 No. 2 (April 2002) 181±195 The Use of Computer Modeling in Estimating and Managing Future Catastrophe Losses by Karen M. Clarkà Overview Over the past two decades, the use of computer modeling to estimate future losses from natural catastrophes has gone from being virtually unheard of to being the standard global risk assessment technology. This is primarily the result of the unprecedented and unexpected losses sustained by insurance and reinsurance companies from actual catastrophe events, most notably the series of winter storms that struck Europe in 1990, Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. By the mid-1990s it was apparent to all that the catastrophe loss potential was far greater than had previously been thought possible, even though some computer models available much earlier had been providing loss estimates well in excess of the losses sustained from Andrew and Northridge. However, these larger loss scenarios were not taken seriously by most in the industry without the actual occurrence of a major loss-producing event. Today, catastrophe modeling is used extensively for pricing, risk selection and underwriting, loss mitigation activities, reinsurance decision-making and overall portfolio management. This paper presents a history of catastrophe modeling technology and an explanation of how catastrophe models work. It also reviews recent advances in catastrophe modeling and concludes with a discussion of how insurers and reinsurers can derive maximum value from
    [Show full text]
  • Unobtainium-Vol-1.Pdf
    Unobtainium [noun] - that which cannot be obtained through the usual channels of commerce Boo-Hooray is proud to present Unobtainium, Vol. 1. For over a decade, we have been committed to the organization, stabilization, and preservation of cultural narratives through archival placement. Today, we continue and expand our mission through the sale of individual items and smaller collections. We invite you to our space in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where we encourage visitors to browse our extensive inventory of rare books, ephemera, archives and collections by appointment or chance. Please direct all inquiries to Daylon ([email protected]). Terms: Usual. Not onerous. All items subject to prior sale. Payment may be made via check, credit card, wire transfer or PayPal. Institutions may be billed accordingly. Shipping is additional and will be billed at cost. Returns will be accepted for any reason within a week of receipt. Please provide advance notice of the return. Please contact us for complete inventories for any and all collections. The Flash, 5 Issues Charles Gatewood, ed. New York and Woodstock: The Flash, 1976-1979. Sizes vary slightly, all at or under 11 ¼ x 16 in. folio. Unpaginated. Each issue in very good condition, minor edgewear. Issues include Vol. 1 no. 1 [not numbered], Vol. 1 no. 4 [not numbered], Vol. 1 Issue 5, Vol. 2 no. 1. and Vol. 2 no. 2. Five issues of underground photographer and artist Charles Gatewood’s irregularly published photography paper. Issues feature work by the Lower East Side counterculture crowd Gatewood associated with, including George W. Gardner, Elaine Mayes, Ramon Muxter, Marcia Resnick, Toby Old, tattooist Spider Webb, author Marco Vassi, and more.
    [Show full text]
  • Future of Research on Catastrophic and Existential Risk
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Working together to face humanity's greatest threats: Introduction to The Future of Research in Catastrophic and Existential Risk AUTHORS Currie, AM; Ó hÉigeartaigh, S JOURNAL Futures DEPOSITED IN ORE 06 February 2019 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/35764 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Working together to face humanity’s greatest threats: Introduction to The Future of Research on Catastrophic and Existential Risk. Adrian Currie & Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh Penultimate Version, forthcoming in Futures Acknowledgements We would like to thank the authors of the papers in the special issue, as well as the referees who provided such constructive and useful feedback. We are grateful to the team at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk who organized the first Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk where many of the papers collected here were originally presented, and whose multi-disciplinary expertise was invaluable for making this special issue a reality. We’d like to thank Emma Bates, Simon Beard and Haydn Belfield for feedback on drafts. Ted Fuller, Futures’ Editor-in-Chief also provided invaluable guidance throughout. The Conference, and a number of the publications in this issue, were made possible through the support of a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF); the conference was also supported by a supplementary grant from the Future of Life Institute.
    [Show full text]
  • What Lies Beneath 2 FOREWORD
    2018 RELEASE THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF EXISTENTIAL CLIMATE RISK BY DAVID SPRATT & IAN DUNLOP | FOREWORD BY HANS JOACHIM SCHELLNHUBER BREAKTHROUGHONLINE.ORG.AU Published by Breakthrough, National Centre for Climate Restoration, Melbourne, Australia. First published September 2017. Revised and updated August 2018. CONTENTS FOREWORD 02 INTRODUCTION 04 RISK UNDERSTATEMENT EXCESSIVE CAUTION 08 THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE 09 THE UNDERESTIMATION OF RISK 10 EXISTENTIAL RISK TO HUMAN CIVILISATION 13 PUBLIC SECTOR DUTY OF CARE ON CLIMATE RISK 15 SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTATEMENT CLIMATE MODELS 18 TIPPING POINTS 21 CLIMATE SENSITIVITY 22 CARBON BUDGETS 24 PERMAFROST AND THE CARBON CYCLE 25 ARCTIC SEA ICE 27 POLAR ICE-MASS LOSS 28 SEA-LEVEL RISE 30 POLITICAL UNDERSTATEMENT POLITICISATION 34 GOALS ABANDONED 36 A FAILURE OF IMAGINATION 38 ADDRESSING EXISTENTIAL CLIMATE RISK 39 SUMMARY 40 What Lies Beneath 2 FOREWORD What Lies Beneath is an important report. It does not deliver new facts and figures, but instead provides a new perspective on the existential risks associated with anthropogenic global warming. It is the critical overview of well-informed intellectuals who sit outside the climate-science community which has developed over the last fifty years. All such expert communities are prone to what the French call deformation professionelle and the German betriebsblindheit. Expressed in plain English, experts tend to establish a peer world-view which becomes ever more rigid and focussed. Yet the crucial insights regarding the issue in question may lurk at the fringes, as BY HANS JOACHIM SCHELLNHUBER this report suggests. This is particularly true when Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is a professor of theoretical the issue is the very survival of our civilisation, physics specialising in complex systems and nonlinearity, where conventional means of analysis may become founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate useless.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Change and Insurance: an Agenda for Action in the United States
    Climate Change and Insurance: An Agenda for Action in the United States A publication of Allianz Group and WWF, October 2006 FOREWORD Climate change poses significant risks throughout the United States, particularly to coastal, flood-prone and fire-prone areas . Allianz and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are working together to understand and better manage the true risks of global warming. Without examining how global warming could intensify risk it is impractical for Allianz, WWF and our peers to carry out long term planning to protect assets. The insurance industry has a two-fold responsibility. On the one hand, it needs to prepare itself for the negative effects that climate change may have on its business and on its customers. On the other hand, it can significantly help mitigate the eco- nomic risks and enter the low-carbon economy by providing appropriate products and services. Allianz Group and WWF have joined forces to produce a report that will advance the debate in the insurance industry, and propose solutions. The report identifies risks for the sector, emerging physical impacts that will likely be amplified with climate change, and develops actions that demonstrate how insurance providers, such as Allianz Group, can respond to these risks in a meaningful and responsible manner. Implementing these actions will mean big steps forward, developing sound practices business for a living planet. WWF and Allianz Group will work together to implement the actions of this report and to take responsible steps to help solve this global problem. Allianz and WWF strongly believe that companies that are ready to seize these new opportunities will ultimately be able to reap benefits for society and for their shareholders.
    [Show full text]
  • CBD Technical Series No. 87 Assessing Progress Towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 6 on Sustainable Marine Fisheries
    Secretariat of the CBD Technical Series No. 87 Convention on Biological Diversity ASSESSING PROGRESS87 TOWARDS AICHI BIODIVERSITY TARGET 6 ON SUSTAINABLE MARINE FISHERIES CBD Technical Series No. 87 Assessing Progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 6 on Sustainable Marine Fisheries Serge M. Garcia and Jake Rice Fisheries Expert Group of the IUCN Commission of Ecosystem Management Published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity ISBN: 9789292256616 Copyright © 2020, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views reported in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This publication may be reproduced for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holders, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The Secretariat of the Convention would appreciate receiving a copy of any publications that use this document as a source. Citation Garcia, S.M. and Rice, J. 2020. Assessing Progress towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 6 on Sustainable Marine Fisheries. Technical Series No. 87. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, 103 pages For further information, please contact: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity World Trade Centre 413 St. Jacques Street, Suite 800 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9 Phone: 1(514) 288 2220 Fax: 1 (514) 288 6588 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.cbd.int This publication was made possible thanks to financial assistance from the Government of Canada.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Catastrophic Risks Survey
    GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC RISKS SURVEY (2008) Technical Report 2008/1 Published by Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom At the Global Catastrophic Risk Conference in Oxford (17‐20 July, 2008) an informal survey was circulated among participants, asking them to make their best guess at the chance that there will be disasters of different types before 2100. This report summarizes the main results. The median extinction risk estimates were: Risk At least 1 million At least 1 billion Human extinction dead dead Number killed by 25% 10% 5% molecular nanotech weapons. Total killed by 10% 5% 5% superintelligent AI. Total killed in all 98% 30% 4% wars (including civil wars). Number killed in 30% 10% 2% the single biggest engineered pandemic. Total killed in all 30% 10% 1% nuclear wars. Number killed in 5% 1% 0.5% the single biggest nanotech accident. Number killed in 60% 5% 0.05% the single biggest natural pandemic. Total killed in all 15% 1% 0.03% acts of nuclear terrorism. Overall risk of n/a n/a 19% extinction prior to 2100 These results should be taken with a grain of salt. Non‐responses have been omitted, although some might represent a statement of zero probability rather than no opinion. 1 There are likely to be many cognitive biases that affect the result, such as unpacking bias and the availability heuristic‒‐well as old‐fashioned optimism and pessimism. In appendix A the results are plotted with individual response distributions visible. Other Risks The list of risks was not intended to be inclusive of all the biggest risks.
    [Show full text]
  • RISK MODELING for HAZARDS and DISASTERS This Page Intentionally Left Blank RISK MODELING for HAZARDS and DISASTERS
    RISK MODELING FOR HAZARDS AND DISASTERS This page intentionally left blank RISK MODELING FOR HAZARDS AND DISASTERS Edited by GERO MICHEL Chaucer Syndicates, Denmark Elsevier Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom 50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein). Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
    [Show full text]
  • Governing Complexity
    GLOBAL GOVERNANCE INSTITUTE Governing Complexity Design Principles for Improving the Governance of Global Catastrophic Risks A Knowledge Overview on Global Catastrophic Risks and the Global Governance Gap Produced for the Global Challenges Foundation (GCF) Dr Tom Pegram and Julia Kreienkamp • November 2019 Abstract This knowledge overview paper explores the implications of complexity thinking for governing global catastrophic risks (GCRs), in particular a new breed of super-complex GCRs. It offers a novel interrogation of why legacy governance structures are ‘not fit for purpose’ when it comes to responding to the complex drivers of GCRs. This assessment provides the basis for an exploration of systemic design principles which could serve as a compass for policymakers and other participants seeking to innovate upon existing governance configurations in the face of mounting global complexity and risk imperatives. This exercise suggests that establishing right relationship between overlapping complicated and complex domains is a necessary condition for any design criteria underpinning governance of a viable global civilisation. The authors are grateful for the support of the Global Challenges Foundation. Contents I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 II. Complexity and Global Catastrophic Risks ......................................................................... 4 1. Complexity Theory: Between Order and Chaos ..........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing Climate Change's Contribution to Global Catastrophic
    Assessing Climate Change’s Contribution to Global Catastrophic Risk Simon Beard,1,2 Lauren Holt,1 Shahar Avin,1 Asaf Tzachor,1 Luke Kemp,1,3 Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh,1,4 Phil Torres, and Haydn Belfield1 5 A growing number of people and organizations have claimed climate change is an imminent threat to human civilization and survival but there is currently no way to verify such claims. This paper considers what is already known about this risk and describes new ways of assessing it. First, it reviews existing assessments of climate change’s contribution to global catastrophic risk and their limitations. It then introduces new conceptual and evaluative tools, being developed by scholars of global catastrophic risk that could help to overcome these limitations. These connect global catastrophic risk to planetary boundary concepts, classify its key features, and place global catastrophes in a broader policy context. While not yet constituting a comprehensive risk assessment; applying these tools can yield new insights and suggest plausible models of how climate change could cause a global catastrophe. Climate Change; Global Catastrophic Risk; Planetary Boundaries; Food Security; Conflict “Understanding the long-term consequences of nuclear war is not a problem amenable to experimental verification – at least not more than once" Carl Sagan (1983) With these words, Carl Sagan opened one of the most influential papers ever written on the possibility of a global catastrophe. “Nuclear war and climatic catastrophe: Some policy implications” set out a clear and credible mechanism by which nuclear war might lead to human extinction or global civilization collapse by triggering a nuclear winter.
    [Show full text]