Catastrophe
Price:
$20.00 (04)Description
Catastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.Reviews
"Once again, Judge Posner has added to our cultural dialogue in a useful and interesting way."--Law and Politics Book Review
"A valuable contribution to the study of risk control and management."--Natural Resources Journal
"We would be well advised to... take the message of this book seriously. We ignore it at (a small risk of) our (very great) peril."--Peter Singer, The New York Times Book Review
"[Posner] addresses what can be done to improve the assessment of...catastrophic risks and of the possible responses to them. [Catastrophe] examines a number of possible institutional reforms at the law-science interface that may aid in coping with [these] risks."--Journal of Economic Literature
"Catastrophe is worth the price of the book simply for Posner's lively and readable summary of the apocalyptic dystopias that serious scientists judge to be possible."-- Graham Allison, The Washington Post Book World
"Interesting and provocative...it is well worth reading."--The Federal Lawyer
"A fine lawyerly analysis.... Posner's perspective, very different from those held by most scientists, is a welcome addition to considerations of catastrophic risks."--Science
"Will likely spark controversy.... subtle insights...[and] thoughtful analysis."--Publishers Weekly
Product Details
336 pages; 6 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-530647-7ISBN10: 0-19-530647-3About the Author(s)
Richard A. Posner is Judge of the U.S. Court Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of numerous books, including Overcoming Law a New York Times Book Review editors' choices for best book of 1995 and An Affair of State, one of their choices for Best Book of the Year in 1999.
