I just came back on to post this story. Scary!
This is the first time it has included climate change as an explicit threat to the future of civilisation.
A less immediate threat, but included in the assessment, is the one posed by emerging life science technologies, such as synthetic biology and genetic modification.
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Both the nuclear menace and a runaway greenhouse effect were the result of technology whose control had slipped from humans' grasp, the BAS directors said. But it was also within our power to pull them back under control, they added.
"We haven't figured out how to do that yet, but the potential is within our institutions and our imaginations," said Dr Benedict.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011707EA.shtml
The potential is there--providing greed doesn't get in the way...