"Reasons to be cheerless: all the ways in which humanity might soon be obliterated"
The New Statesman reviews Lord Martin Rees' new book On The Future:
"Climate change, nuclear war or an asteroid strike could wipe out the planet as a viable habitat. An overpopulated world – there are projected to be nine billion citizens by 2050 – offers handsome prospects for starvation and pandemic disease. In a highly connected world run by machines, the consequences of cyber-attacks can cascade globally. Who knows, the rise of artificial intelligence may even put us under the titanium jackboot of future robotic overlords.
Remarkably, what seems like an extended state-of-the-planet essay does not feel as depressing as it ought: Rees dispenses his apocalyptic overview of the coming decades like cocktail party wisdom. The author, who moves in elevated circles and has the papal ear, is an affable doom merchant for the time-poor Davos crowd."
