Seth Baum

My interests and activities are broad, but all revolve around the theme of making the world (universe(s)?) a better place. I am an interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) researcher working across a wide range of fields in natural and social science, engineering, philosophy, and policy. My primary focus is global catastrophic risk, meaning risk of events that could destroy global human civilization, such as climate change or nuclear war. I also work in astrobiology, which is the study of life in the universe. My research aims to inform major social decisions through careful attention to their impacts on the world and the universe(s), to fundamental ethics principles, and to the people and institutions involved in the decisions.

I am Co-Founder (with Tony Barrett) and Executive Director of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute. I am also a Research Affiliate of the University of Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. I live in New York City.

Contact: seth [at] gcrinstitute.org

Other Info: CV * photos * LinkedIn * Google Scholar

Updates:
2 Aug: New paper Public health and nuclear winter: Addressing a catastrophic threat with Andreas Vilhelmsson. I'm also quoted in the announcement of the new US legislation Health Impacts of Nuclear War Act. See also the GCRI Open Call for Advisees and Collaborators, August 2023.
Click here for old updates

Some Recent Publications:
* Public health and nuclear winter: Addressing a catastrophic threat, Journal of Public Health Policy (academic)
* Even with electric vehicles, an expanded Turnpike Extension would be bad for the environment, The Jersey Journal (online)
* New York's housing plans must address affordability-& climate change, City Limits (online)
* Assessing natural global catastrophic risks, Natural Hazards (academic)
* Nonhuman value: A survey of the intrinsic valuation of natural and artificial nonhuman entities, Science and Engineering Ethics (academic)
* Book review of The Precipice, Risk Analysis (academic)
* Pandemic refuges: Lessons from two years of COVID-19, Risk Analysis (academic)
* Early reflections and resources on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Effective Altruism Forum (online)
* How to evaluate the risk of nuclear war, BBC Future (online)

Upcoming Conferences & Events: None at this time.
Click here for old events

About this site: This site is kindly hosted by Manoj Thomas. The formatting of this site was adapted from W3C's Starting with HTML + CSS page.

Created 15 Jun 2007 * Updated 20 Nov 2023