Lifeboat Foundation

There is an organization called the Lifeboat Foundation that tries to develop methods for helping humanity survive a variety of dangers that are global and fatal. There is some of the “About” text from there web site,

The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit nongovernmental organization dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics/AI, as we move towards a technological singularity.

There have a number of programs running that look at different areas of concern. Below are some of the more interesting ones.

AI Shield
To protect against unfriendly AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Asteroid Shield
To protect against devastating asteroid strikes

Nano Shield
To protect against ecophages and nonreplicating nanoweapons

Particle Accelerator Shield
To prevent, and also make plans on surviving when possible, particle accelerator mishaps including quantum vacuum collapse, mining the quantum vacuum, formation of a stable strangelet, and the creation of artificial mini-black holes

Some of their long term programs are ambitious. I can’t see anyone being able to do anything about these possible problems?

Alien Shield
To prevent annihilation by an alien race (biological or otherwise)

Antimatter Shield
To prevent antimatter-based annihilation

Black Hole Shield
To protect against black holes that are not manmade. This would include an "eye to the sky" program that would scan for signs of them

Gamma Ray Shield
To protect against gamma ray bursts

Sun Shield
To protect against and/or cope with our sun becoming a red giant and other harmful fluctuations in its output

There are some more down to earth problems that the organization are looking into which seems noble and worth doing. But there are some that are clearly daft.

The web site is lifeboat.com.