Resultats from a SATW expert workshop.
In the future (and perhaps to an increasing extent) we expect to continue to be confronted with developments and issues presenting truly serious risks for society, but longstanding methods and approaches examining potential risks will no longer be sufficient to deal with or respond to them.
These challenges (some old, some new) and touted opportunities were the subject of a workshop in November 2013. The aim of the discussion paper published here is to present a collection of selected articles to interested parties.
Establishing "good" handling (managing) of risk requires ongoing effort. The answer to the "old" question "How safe is safe enough?" – and thus in particular the level to which damage is tolerable – must ultimately be decided by society, which must also understand that there is no such thing as "zero risk". The most that scholarship can do is provide the basis for the assessment.
Wolfgang Kröger (ETH Zürich) et.al.