What would you do if a nuclear weapon were used in Ukraine? What about if there were evidence of a disease as transmissible as COVID-19 but more fatal, potentially enabled by AI?
While our community aims to reduce the chances of catastrophe, we may not always succeed. If the risk becomes very high in your location you might consider the possibility of relocating. Most people don’t have the luxury to consider moving, but many EA Forum readers do. For most people relocating, it will be a personal decision to increase the safety of themselves and their loved ones. But in some cases, this could be an altruistic decision, for example if your work is likely to be valuable post-catastrophe by helping to rebuild or mitigate further harm.
We think it's a good idea to think through what you would do ahead of time so that you can act quickly. Sentinel has put together a number of different potential triggers. It also has a fantastic weekly newsletter mailing list that will be sent as an emergency message if there is a particularly concerning trigger (sign up here - you may also be interested in applying to join their emergency response team). Of course it's going to depend on your particular circumstances, but you may want to move out of a high risk city or country.[1] If you’re able to travel far, you might consider Southern Hemisphere locations that are more likely to be resilient to nuclear winter and islands that are more resistant to pandemics. There may be more temporary or permanent immigration options than you realise, for example, it has recently become easier to work remotely in New Zealand. If the risk level drops with no catastrophe, as we all hope it will, you could return to your original location. This would mean some people relocating could end up reflecting on this time as more like a working holiday.
For nuclear, depending on the trigger, this could include nuclear weapon states plus the rest of NATO.