Module 5 / Lesson 14.1

What to Do, What Not to Do

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This lesson builds on Toby Ord’s The Precipice (2020), focusing on pages 181-183 and pages 212–216. It also revisits the ITN framework (Importance, Tractability, Neglectedness) to provide tools for prioritizing action.

Purpose: This chapter marks a shift from understanding the risks (the “landscape”) to asking: What should we actually do about them? Ord closes the book by discussing practical and ethical principles for protecting humanity’s long-term future, identifying both wise actions and common mistakes to avoid.

14.1.1: ITN Framework

Learning: Read Ord, pp. 181–183.
Reflection: As you read, think about why might an individual or small group, looking to maximize impact, choose to focus all their effort on a single risk, rather than spreading their resources proportionally?

14.1.2: What you can't do & what you can do?

Learning: Read Ord, pp. 212–214.
Reflection: As you read, think of why does this specific piece of advice pose a challenge? Reflect on the underlying behavioral, philosophical, or practical reason why they find that "do" or "don't" hard to implement

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