I have the most responsibility to those who are closest in proximity in time and space to me. That isn't because people further away or existing in a different time are less valuable, but because I have the greatest ability to impact those existing closest to me.
If a climate scientist says that is the #1 existential threat to humanity, that may be due to their ignorance of the other threats due to the myopic nature of being expert in 1 field at the expense of an infinite other number of things in which to be expert in.
I'm sure experts in pathogens would say that pathogens are the #1 existential threat to humanity. That isn't en vogue to talk about these days, though.
Should we ask those who are expert in nuclear warfare strategy and cold war diplomacy what the biggest existential threat to humanity is?
I'm not suspect of the expertise of any of these people; only suspect of what level of "worry" to assign each of them.
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