Politicians need to pay attention to existential risks

At several points in human history, there have been great transitions that accelerated our progress and shaped everything that would follow. Ten thousand years ago, the first Agricultural Revolution allowed us to establish cities and civilisation. Four hundred years ago, the Scientific Revolution gave us a reliable method for understanding the laws of nature. Two hundred years ago, the Industrial Revolution launched us on a new trajectory of rapid economic growth. But there has recently been another transition more important than any that has come before.