At the start of November FHI researchers, Piers Millett and Eric Drexler participated in a one day biological engineering horizon scanning workshop hosted by the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). The workshop was the culmination of a process that ran for several months in which experts in the biosciences, biotechnology, biosecurity, bioethics as well as existential and global catastrophic risks identified recent developments likely to have the greatest impact on our societies in the short to medium term.
FHI is working with CSER to consider how recent developments in biological engineering might impact existential risks. Our work to date has focused on identifying how these technologies might mitigate or compound existing risks. We intend for the horizon scanning process to result in a peer-reviewed publication highlighting 15-20 developments of greatest likely impact.