Suffering risks, known as s-risks for short, are future events with the potential capacity to produce an astronomical amount of

suffering Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of a ...

. These events may generate more suffering than has ever existed on Earth, in the entirety of its existence. Sources of possible s-risks include embodied

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

and superintelligence, as well as

space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territori ...

, which could potentially lead to "constant and catastrophic wars" and an immense increase in wild animal suffering by introducing wild animals, who "generally lead short, miserable lives full of sometimes the most brutal suffering", to other planets, either intentionally, or inadvertently. Steven Umbrello, an AI ethics researcher has warned that

biological computing Biological computers use biologically derived molecules — such as DNA and/or proteins — to perform digital or real computations. The development of biocomputers has been made possible by the expanding new science of nanobiotechnology. The ter ...

may make system design more prone to s-risks.

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Further reading

See also