Humanity stands at a precipice. Our species could survive for millions of generations—enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and reach new heights of flourishing. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, gaining the power to destroy ourselves without the wisdom to ensure that we won’t. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pandemics and unaligned artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it may soon be too late.

Harvard Effective Altruism is running a fellowship centered around The Precipice, a recently-released book about existential risk and the future of humanity by Oxford University philosopher Toby Ord, along with other supplementary materials. The Precipice Fellowship is open to Harvard students in every year and course of study and will last 7 weeks. We hope you join us in examining some of the most pressing problems of our time—and learning how to solve them—through the Precipice fellowship. Apply and view the syllabus below

Nick Gabrieli is our Fall 2023 Precipice Fellowship Lead.

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