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]