In our conversation, we discuss the influence of the late philosopher Derek Parfit, and how his writing motivated the modern existential risk movement. We ask about how research at CSER gets done, how to interpret probability estimates about major one-off events like global catastrophes, and how climate change is most likely to precipitate a global catastrophe. Lastly, Simon reflects on his experience running as a political candidate, how incentives in academia may be fixed, and what COVID has taught us about the fragility of global systems. In this article, we summarise and illustrate these ideas; providing both extra examples and further reading.
