Pandemics, climate disasters, and AI have made preparedness an increasingly central concern of contemporary governance. But what does it mean to prepare for a fundamentally uncertain future? From nuclear emergencies to biological threats, preparedness has often emphasized identifying particular risks and building targeted technical capacities—surveillance systems, stockpiles, vaccines, response teams, and emergency plans. Yet, as the COVID-19 pandemic vividly demonstrated, societies that appeared highly prepared on paper proved vulnerable in practice. In interrogating this paradox, the course examines the histories and assumptions about risk, prediction, expertise, and intervention that have shaped prevailing approaches to preparedness. Through cases spanning pandemics and global health, biotechnology, and nuclear emergencies, we will examine how ideas of preparedness have evolved across different historical and technological contexts. The course will finally turn to AI. As governments, corporations and global institutions debate how AI should be governed and regulated, how should we think about preparedness for AI-related emergencies whose forms and consequences remain uncertain? What might it mean to build resilience not only to specific threats, but to disruptions that cannot yet be fully anticipated?