# A Brittle Civilization Faces a Bumpy Century by Martin Rees > “I think we will have a bumpy ride through this century, and that’s why I think it is helpful to spell out the risks and the opportunities and some recipes. But I don’t see any way in which we can avoid these risks. I think, for instance, the fact that we have a society where social media can spread panic and rumour at the speed of light, literally, where a small group of people can have a big effect, where fake news can have a big effect, and where a biological accident or cyber-attack can have global effects, we’re going to have a bumpy ride. It’s going to be very hard for governments to cope, and there’ll be a growing tension between privacy, security and liberty. This is inevitable. But of course I never really thought we would wipe ourselves out, but I did think and still think there is a serious risk of a setback to civilisation. And that’s because our society is more brittle and fragile.” > **— Martin Rees**, *Martin Rees — On the Future, Prospects for Humanity, ABC Science Show, 2018* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and full context:** [Martin Rees — On the Future, Prospects for Humanity](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/scienceshow/martin-rees---on-the-future,-prospects-for-humanity/10343486) — The linked publication contains the quoted passage and its surrounding argument. - **Master research record:** [[research/Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future|Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future]] — preserves this object inside the open Martin Rees source dossier. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Existential Risk|Existential Risk]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Complex Systems|Complex Systems]] - [[wiki/Civilization|Civilization]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I think we will have a bumpy ride through this century, and that’s why I think it is helpful to spell out the risks and the opportunities and some recipes. But I don’t see any way in which we can avoid these risks. I think, for instance, the fact that we have a society where social media can spread panic and rumour at the speed of light, literally, where a small group of people can have a big effect, where fake news can have a big effect, and where a biological accident or cyber-attack can have global effects, we’re going to have a bumpy ride. It’s going to be very hard for governments to cope, and there’ll be a growing tension between privacy, security and liberty. This is inevitable. But of course I never really thought we would wipe ourselves out, but I did think and still think there is a serious risk of a setback to civilisation. And that’s because our society is more brittle and fragile.” — Martin Rees, Martin Rees — On the Future, Prospects for Humanity, ABC Science Show, 2018 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-martin-rees-brittle-civilization-faces-bumpy-century ```