The 4th Open Letter to the Leaders of Mankind

------When the English Version of Saving Humanity is Published in North America

To:

Leaders all round the world, Mr. Secretary General, world top scientists and scholars, heads of global well-known media

Dear Leaders,

Many scientists have come to realize that some developing technologies will have the ability to destroy human beings because science and technology have been developing rapidly in the past over 200 years since the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th Century and have reached a certain height today.

I wrote to the leaders of mankind to call for global action to control the development of science and technology for the first time when the Chinese version of Saving Humanity by me was published in China in 2007. At that time, few people realized that science and technology could destroy mankind. Science and technology have made great progress in the past ten years. Especially the rapid development of artificial intelligence in recent years has made more scientists realize that human beings will fall into the abyss of extinction if we do not take action without delay. As a human, I'm so worried about it. When the English version of my book Saving Humanity is published in North America, I write to respectable leaders of mankind to call on all human beings to be vigilant and united in action as soon as possible because there is not much time left for us.

I. Science and technology have the ability to destroy human beings and it's not far ahead.

Nuclear weapons are unable to destroy human beings. A nuclear war can cause a nuclear winter and kill billions of people, but mankind has the opportunity to start over again because some people will surely survive. However, if human beings were extinct, it would be impossible to start over.

Currently, the technologies that are likely to destroy humans are nanotechnology, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, and a certain technology in the future.

Based on the following problems, many scientists have warned:

Nanotechnology out of control may lead to the infinite replication of nano-robots, which will destroy mankind and the earth completely.

Biological weapon modified by gene technology of bioengineering can create super plague, which will destroy mankind.

The intelligent robots developed through AI technology will destroy mankind if the programs running them are out of control or their self-consciousness awakens.

Science and technology are still developing rapidly. There will be many scientific heights beyond our imagination in the future. It took only more than 200 years for humans to raise science and technology from a very low level to one that makes us worry about the extinction of mankind as a whole. It will never take us another over 200 years for science and technology to be able to destroy human beings. A couple of decades may be enough!

II. Human beings are not able to judge the safety of science and technology comprehensively and accurately.

The science and technology which are often thought good may be precisely harmful due to the uncertainty of science and technology. For example, the ozone layer is destroyed by the use of Freon and DDT had been considered good till it was found very harmful later. Even Newton and Einstein have made great mistakes in scientific research, so it is impossible for human beings to judge the safety of science and technology comprehensively and accurately. Of course, it does not mean that we are not able to make accurate judgments about any science and technology but some of them are difficult to be judged. As long as one technology that can destroy human beings can not be judged and screened out, it will bring the disaster of extinction to human beings.

III. Mankind can not make good use of scientific and technological achievements universally and rationally.

It is a basic fact that mankind can not make good use of scientific and technological achievements universally and rationally. It goes without saying that the most advanced scientific and technological achievements are often first applied to weapons for killing. It should be emphasized that there are people who do extremely bad things at all times.

When science and technology reach a certain height, it is possible for an enterprise or an individual scientist who gains one step ahead of others to have the power of life and death for all mankind. A high-level biologist may be able to independently develop super-killing biological weapons in his own laboratory. Nano-robots and intelligent robots can also get out of control with a programmer. Compared to state behavior, individual human behavior is very difficult to control. When science and technology develop to a level sufficient to destroy human beings, once we lose control to a person (perhaps an enterprise or a country) who holds the right to use the technology, the end of mankind will come.

IV. In summary

The developing science and technology will destroy human beings in the near future, in 200 or 300 years or in the century. I think it is mostly the latter because it is only one step away from the means of extinction.

What really worries me is that the whole world is in a state of numbness of development at present. Any calls and warnings on the safety of science and technology are very weak. I have studied human problems for forty years. It goes without saying that I have been rushing and appealing for this. The warnings of some of the top scientists are not helpful either. People are more intoxicated with the various enjoyments brought to them by science and technology.

Developing numbness is crisis numbness. The sea is often very calm before the great waves come, but the undercurrents are surging on the sea floor. When any scientific and technological research is carried out naturally, any scientific and technological achievements are affirmed naturally, and any scientific and technological products are used naturally, a devastating disaster may not be far ahead.

Every step of us determines our future and determines our final outcome. Though science and technology have developed to such a high level, we are still moving forward. One step further, we will step on the mine. It's a land mine that destroys mankind. When we set foot on it, we can not go back. It is our first time and will be our last.

Hu Jiaqi

Anthropologist, entrepreneur and member of the CPPCC Mentougou District Committee, Beijing

Apr. 2019