Good book on existential threats by Toby Ord called the Precipice . It explores different threats, probability of occurrence, and how to mitigate risk of said threats.
Nukes
Climate change
Bioweapon/pandemic
AI
Natural disaster
Agreed to an extent. But the primary reason we’re the dominant species on this planet is due to our tribal codependence on each other. We recognized (perhaps, selfishly, to your point) that our odds of survival would be greatly increased if we banded together. That worked because we were relatively limited geographically.
Technology allows these distances to be surmounted in seconds. Mashing together cultures that normally would have likely never met. It calls for a larger “tribe” of humanity. One that recognized that a warming planet hurts us all. That nuclear weapons are the antithesis of the security we’re all craving as a species rather than as a nation.
If we don’t develop this sense or larger tribe and we continue to develop technology, we will almost certainly develop the end of our own existence. I recently heard an interview with the author of this book where he said the odds of this happening in the next generation are 1 in 6.
Nah, I'm a psychology/computer science major pulling that out of my arse. I am sure there are some interesting books out there about AI rights but none I'm aware of.
On a topic that is related but not the same: I do have a book rec on the risk involved in developing superintelligent AI, ~~Toby Ord's The Precipice~~ sorry, getting my books confused. I meant Stuart Russell's <u>Human Compatible</u>.
OECD, UN and most other major global institutions no longer consider overpopulation an issue. It's just stuck as such in most people's minds, even as the academic view has changed.
Regarding multi-planetary and why that should be our main focus: this is the best book I've read on the subject:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Precipice-Existential-Risk-Future-Humanity/dp/0316484911