How can we educate for existential threats?

How should we educate for existential threats?
Wednesday, 26 November. 17:00-18.30. FREE.

Our children are growing up in a deeply interdependent global system that is also at risk of collapse. The climate crisis, runaway technology, future pandemics, biosecurity threats and the prospect of nuclear conflict are just some of the potential catastrophes that threaten human progress for the remainder of the 21st century. Together, they and other challenges may form a ‘polycrisis’: a convergence of risks that could trigger global societal breakdown, or even human extinction.

But is this inevitable? Could there be a more hopeful future? How can we equip young people with the knowledge, capabilities and qualities that give them hope of confronting such challenges successfully? Are education systems fit for an uncertain future? Or do we need to rethink education itself and our assumptions about its purpose?

In the first in a series of interactive discussions inspired by her book, Rewilding Education, Professor Hilary Cremin, Head of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, explores how education might need to change in the face of existential threat, and what lessons we can draw from the past and present to prepare for what lies ahead.

Her guest will be Dr Luke Kemp, research affiliate with the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, whose work examines past civilisational collapse and future risk. Luke’s new book, Goliath’s Curse, offers a radical retelling of human history, asking why societies fail, and how we might avoid a similar fate.

These discussions are a dialogue with the audience. Hilary and Luke will begin by exploring the threats education must address and what we might need from education systems that rise to this challenge, before inviting participants to share their own thoughts, feelings, points of disagreement, and ideas.

Join us for a fascinating, challenging and – despite everything – optimistic evening!

(Please note that this event, including audience contributions, will be audio-recorded for subsequent release as a podcast. If you would like to contribute but would rather not appear in the final recording, please inform the organisers in advance or on the night: Email: tdk25@cam.ac.uk)

(Image: Javier Miranda, via Unsplash)