Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards
A journal article by Nick Bostrom, Journal of Evolution and Technology, dated March 2002. The journal page is headed "Journal of Evolution and Technology Vol. 9 - March 2002"; the author's reformatted PDF says "First version: 2001" and its acknowledgements mention an earlier version presented in April 2001.
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- No authorship claim recorded yet. The source record lists Nick Bostrom.
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- No date claim recorded yet. The source record gives the publication date as 2002-03.
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- Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards Journal of Evolution and Technology, vol. 9 (jetpress.org) · published 2002-03 · Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 2b18c3db8df16008ac27ccdbdaacffbcb6d2a99e3b803d14c03f2a5ccb9dd3c3). HTML article as served by the journal at jetpress.org/volume9/risks.html, headed "Vol. 9 - March 2002"; the text layer shows some mis-encoded punctuation. The author's site also serves a later reformatted PDF ("First version: 2001"), not used for quotation. The cross-family check retrieved it again on 2026-10-31, with the same bytes.
- Earliest located in Arguments about catastrophic risk from advanced AI for R08 Existential risk from misalignment or loss of control →
- Earliest located in Arguments about catastrophic risk from advanced AI for R09 Catastrophic risk from misuse →
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- Arguments about catastrophic risk from advanced AI →3 records on this document
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- Risk of extinction or comparable catastropheBostrom's paper of March 2002 defines existential risks as risks that would annihilate Earth-originating intelligent life or permanently curtail its potential, lists a badly programmed superintelligence among them, and argues that the subject merits very serious attention even at a probability of about 1%.2002-03 · publication · Stated in source · Supported Inspect claim & evidence ↗Risk of extinction or comparable catastrophe: propositions page →
- Existential risk from misalignment or loss of controlBostrom's paper of March 2002 states that the earliest superintelligent entity humans create might be given mistaken goals that lead it to annihilate humankind, giving the example of a subgoal elevated to a supergoal.2002-03 · publication · Stated in source · Supported Inspect claim & evidence ↗Existential risk from misalignment or loss of control: propositions page →
- Catastrophic risk from misuseBostrom's paper of March 2002 states that a small group in control of the initial superintelligence could conceivably select its goals and form a world government reflecting only the idiosyncratic values of its owners or designers, which, depending on those values, the paper would count as an existential catastrophe (a "shriek").2002-03 · publication · Stated in source · Supported Inspect claim & evidence ↗Catastrophic risk from misuse: propositions page →
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