• we face serious existential threats that must be carefully thought through to achieve workable solutions before our technology produces devastating and irreversible consequences.
• We flirt with disaster as we ignore the problems that could change life on Earth forever.
• an isolationist position or a strict policy of non-intervention may have been entirely appropriate during George Washington’s time, such a position now could lead to the worst possible outcome for humanity.
• Countless different substantial threats can now effortlessly emanate from anywhere on Earth.
• not to say intervention is appropriate or justified in most cases. We should never forcefully interfere with another person or group merely because they violate the MP. Indeed, we should always support the legal rights of people who violate the MP as we encourage and attempt to inspire them to act differently.
• justified in neutralizing the threat. Whether to act and how best to neutralize the danger are other questions we must resolve separately and carefully.
• top priorities worthy of our immediate attention. It is not too severe to declare that the future of most or all of human existence may be at stake. We need to urgently redirect our time, efforts, and resources to resolving these most serious and pressing threats in a way entirely consistent with the 3LP.

Nuclear War

• Our utter vulnerability to a single imperfect human deciding to use nuclear weapons intentionally is entirely unacceptable.
• [one of the 10,000 nukes intentionally or accidentally… i.e. entirely unacceptable]
• reduce the overall number of these weapons with the end goal of entirely and responsibly eliminating them from the planet. Given their destructive force, we cannot use these weapons without violating the LP, as they are guaranteed to kill innocent people with every use.
• There exists the possible exception of responsibly using nuclear weapons to avert an object from space otherwise likely to collide with Earth.  See Caitlin Uttley,  “Could we really blow up an incoming asteroid with a nuclear bomb?” (Jun. 9, 2023), https://science.howstuffworks.com/asteroid-nuclear-bomb.htm.
• begin with honest and professional discussions between leaders committed to the same goals.
• must rebuild the trust sufficiently to engage seriously in these discussions.  If we are not trustworthy in the first place, we cannot expect to achieve the required trusting relationship to make real progress.  However, with such a critically important issue, trust but verify should be the rule.
• technological advances will eventually increase the likelihood that manufacturing nuclear weapons could become accessible to anyone who desires to obtain one.
• To this point in human history, we have not been successful in keeping new technologies from spreading into the hands of people who would use them to violate the LP. We must urgently find a way to succeed in this area.
• we need to reform ourselves to improve our politics and priorities and attract people of high character to positions where they can achieve our critically essential goals in this area. A genuine commitment to achieving a peaceful world would be a good start.

Synthetic Biology