Recommended reading

• Reducing global catastrophic biological risks § Tentative career advice (10 mins.)
• Biotechnology and existential risk (15 min at ×2 speed)
• Comparative advantage does not mean doing the thing you're best at (5 mins.)
• Reducing Global Catastrophic Biological Risks Problem Profile - 80,000 Hours (60 mins.)
• Global Catastrophic Risks Chapter 20 - Biotechnology and Biosecurity Biotechnological power is increasing exponentially, at a rate as fast or faster than that of Moore's law, as measured by the time needed to synthesise a certain sequence of DNA. This has important implications for biosecurity. (60 mins.)
• Existential Risk and Cost-Effective Biosecurity (nih.gov)

More to explore

• Open until dangerous: the case for reforming research to reduce global catastrophic risk (Video - 50 mins.)
• Dr Greg Lewis on COVID-19 & the importance of reducing global catastrophic biological risks

Related Newsletters:

• Global Catastrophic Risk Institute

Biosecurity

• Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology - Volume 424, Chapter 7 - Does Biotechnology Pose New Catastrophic Risks? - A description of the challenges of managing dual-use capabilities enabled by modern biotechnology. (60 mins.)
• Explaining Our Bet on Sherlock Biosciences' Innovations in Viral Diagnostics - Open Philanthropy Project - The Open Philanthropy Project report on their investment in Sherlock Biosciences to support the development of a diagnostic platform to quickly, easily, and inexpensively identify any human virus present in a sample. (15 mins.)

If you’re open to working on biosecurity with your career:

• Apply for career advising from 80,000 Hours (though you might want to wait until later in the program, after you’ve learned more about other causes too)
• If you’d like fill out this Google Form to stay up to date with longtermist biosecurity projects (from the post Concrete Biosecurity Projects)
• Apply to relevant positions from the EA Internships board
• Gain experience to pursue a relevant career – message Reethika Digumarthy on Slack for recommendations!