Our Final Hour - Humanity's Fate and Recommendations For Survival

Humanity's Fate and Recommendations For Survival

In Our Final Hour, Rees predicts that one of the two following outcomes is inevitable for humanity:

• Human extinction, as a result of the runaway effects of new technology (e.g. nanotechnology) or uncontrolled scientific research; terrorist or fundamentalist violence; or destruction of the biosphere; or
• Human expansion throughout space, by minimising, avoiding or overcoming these problems.

In order to avoid human extinction, Rees advocates control of scientific research worldwide, and control of open access to such research. He states that in the 1990s Aum Shinrikyo tried unsuccessfully to obtain an Ebola virus sample, which they could now create in their Mount Fuji lab, using ingredients and instructions from the Internet.

Rees has long been active in disarmament campaigns, and although he now sees nuclear warfare as a less probable cause of extinction, he advocates arms control as much as control of science and technology (see also World government). More concerning to him now is the possibility of major bioterrorist attacks, as evidenced by his outstanding bet (registered with the Long Bet Project) that such events will occur within the next twenty years.

In terms of space exploration and survival through colonization, Rees is an advocate of the free market solution, and believes that the wealthy will push back the frontiers of space.