Existential Risk Programs

The Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board is working on many programs to reduce existential risks. They are:

Current Programs

• AIShield

  To protect against unfriendly AI (Artificial Intelligence).

• AsteroidShield

  To protect against devastating asteroid strikes.

• BioShield

  To protect against bioweapons and pandemics.

• InfoPreserver

  To preserve the information created by our civilization, including technology, art, and culture.

• InternetShield

  As the Internet grows in importance, an attack on it could cause physical as well as informational damage. An attack today on hospital systems or electric utilities could lead to deaths. In the future an attack could be used to alter the output that is produced by nanofactories worldwide leading to massive deaths.

• LifePreserver

  The LifePreserver program is designed to bring you the latest information about aging research and the progress towards treating age-related diseases. The program also aims to bring you practical information about the steps you can take now to slow the aging process and delay the onset of age-related disease.

• LifeShield Bunkers

  Developing fallback positions on Earth in case programs such as our BioShield and NanoShield fail globally or locally.

• NanoShield

  To protect against ecophages and nonreplicating nanoweapons.

• ScientificFreedomShield

  This shield strives to protect scientists from obstacles that would prevent latter day Max Plancks from completing their research.

• SecurityPreserver

  To prevent nuclear, biological, and nanotechnological attacks from occurring by using surveillance and sousveillance to identify terrorists before they are able to launch their attacks.

• Space Habitats

  To build fail-safes against global existential risks by encouraging the spread of sustainable human civilization beyond Earth.

Future Programs

• BioPreserver

  To preserve animal life and diversity on the planet.

• ClimateShield

  To protect against unwanted climate changes.

• CommPreserver

  Explores new communication technology for surviving existential events.

• EnergyPreserver

  If our civilization ran out of energy, it would grind to a halt, so Lifeboat Foundation is looking for solutions.

• NeuroethicsShield

  To prevent abuse in the areas of neuropharmaceuticals, neurodevices, and neurodiagnostics. Worst cases include enslaving the world’s population or causing everyone to commit suicide.

• NuclearShield

  To prevent nuclear holocausts including destruction of entire cities.

• ParticleAcceleratorShield

  To prevent, and also make plans on surviving when possible, particle accelerator mishaps including quantum vacuum collapse, mining the quantum vacuum, formation of a stable strangelet, and the creation of artificial mini-black holes.

• PersonalityPreserver

  Methods of preserving persons — or just their personalities — include cryopreservation and uploading .

• SeedPreserver

  To preserve plant life and diversity on the planet by storing seeds in safe locations and other methods.

Long Range Programs

• AlienShield

  To prevent annihilation by an alien race (biological or otherwise).

• AntimatterShield

  To prevent antimatter-based annihilation.

• BlackHoleShield

  To protect against black holes that are not manmade. This would include an “eye to the sky” program that would scan for signs of them.

• GammaRayShield

  To protect against gamma ray bursts.

• SunShield

  To protect against and/or cope with our sun becoming a red giant and other harmful fluctuations in its output.