ABSTRACT
The most extreme type of risk is the risk of a global catastrophe causing permanent worldwide destruction to human civilization. Global catastrophic risk (GCR) is thus risk of events of the highest magnitude of consequences, and the risks merit serious attention even if the probabilities of such events are low. The high stakes and urgent threats of GCR demand careful analysis of the risks and the opportunities for addressing them. This chapter presents an overview of contemporary GCR scholarship and related issues for risk analysis and risk management. It focuses on the risks themselves, each of which merits its own dedicated treatment. The chapter defines GCR in more detail and explains why many researchers consider it to be so important. Taken literally, a global catastrophe can be any event that is in some way catastrophic across the globe. Unfortunately, managing GCR is not always as simple as analyzing the risks and identifying the risk management options.
