Like a Very Big Shiver After the Heatwave

As he prepared for a small solo sailing adventure on the lake, Alexis Favre imagined a stark possibility: could a boat offer an escape if artificial intelligence or another “plague of Egypt” descended on the world?

The question is deliberately theatrical, but Favre says he is serious. His column turns the thought into a series of imagined scenarios, mixing philosophical unease with humor and a reference to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Favre argues that artificial intelligence stands apart from other dangers because leading scientists have identified a possible existential risk to humanity in the years ahead. He goes further, suggesting that a broad consensus among prominent scientists shares that concern.

The column briefly invokes Russia and nuclear winter as another threat, but treats that storyline as one that has continued for a long time. Its central unease remains artificial intelligence, and the possibility that even a solitary boat trip might not offer a way out.