Cosmic Threats: A Planetary Response

Cosmic Threats: A Planetary Perspective calls for the progressive creation of supra-national institutions intended to protect life on Earth against natural threats, be these terrestrial (pandemics, super-volcanoes, major earthquakes.) or celestial (comets, asteroids, meteor storms). The protection proffered would need to be pre-emptive, though also responsive, reducing the number of adverse events but also their specific consequences. Rancid though the world scene currently looks, this may actually be a good time to look towards a planetary security programme that can build up over a century or more. It would need special international institutions that are sufficiently integrated to cope with the celestial and terrestrial contingencies anticipated, yet not so much a class apart as to be a law unto themselves or a military regime able to ride roughshod over general world opinion. Such an holistic approach to planetary security might prove to be a definitive substitute for war between nations. Professor Brown was the Academic Consultant in a small task force specifically created to advise the government of the day apropos of what British policy to Strategic Ballistic Missile Defence should be. A declassified rendering of his 90,000-word report (published by Mansfield College, Oxford, in 1998) argued firmly against our going down this path because it could lead to a catastrophic arms race."For more than half a century, Professor Brown has shared his visionary insights - on strategy, history, deterrence, geopolitics and cosmology - both within academia and beyond. This elegantly written and attractively produced volume shows that, in his mid-eighties, he has lost none of his flair for weaving the lessons of history into original blueprints for the future betterment of mankind. Long may he continue to broaden our horizons " Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP, Chairman, Defence Select Committee House of Commons Subject: Disaster Management, Security Studies, History of Science, Planetary Defense]

• | Author: Neville Brown
• | Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• | Publication Date: Aug 12, 2022
• | Number of Pages: 160 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1845197712
• | ISBN-13: 9781845197711