The Spectator reviews a gloomy book by an eminent scientist which gives humankind around 50-50 odds of surviving the next century. While the nuclear threat has receded, he claims (and I am not certain it has), it will be overshadowed by equally destructive but far less controllable threats which

may come not primarily from national governments, not even from ‘rogue states’, but from individuals or small groups with access to ever more advanced technology. There are alarmingly many ways in which individuals will be able to trigger catastrophe.

But fear not; there’s a chance an errant asteroid or comet will finish us off, mercifully, first.