Coming to Grips with the End of Our World

The panic du jour crowd inevitably makes every new threat, from Ebola to climate change, into an "unprecedented crisis." Prior to the 21^st century, there was usually too little data and analytic capability to quantify the most significant threats. But increasingly, big data and advanced computing technologies have extended our ability to understand complex causal relationships and test "what-if" hypotheses. That obviously applies to run-of-the-mill policy decisions like entitlements, taxation, and regulations. It even extends to identifying existential threa.....