Eric Talbot Jensen Gives Online Lecture on Future Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

On Wednesday 19 June, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Eric Talbot Jensen entitled ‘The Future of the Law of Armed Conflict: Ostriches, Butterflies, and Nanobots’. Jensen is an Associate Professor at the Brigham Young University School of Law and formerly spent two decades in the US Army as a Cavalry Officer and a Judge Advocate, including a position as Chief of the Army’s International Law Branch. His lecture is based on a forthcoming paper he wrote of the same name [1].

The law of armed …

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Aladdin Diakun Gives Public Lecture On Geoengineering And IP Law

On Thursday 16 May, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Aladdin Diakun entitled ‘Towards the Effective Governance of Geoengineering: What Role for Intellectual Property?’ Aladdin is an MA Candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs who is researching how IP law can serve as a form of de facto governance of geoengineering.

The UK Royal Society defines geoengineering as “the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change.” With the atmospheric concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere recently having reached 400ppm—higher than …

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Miles Brundage To Deliver Online Lecture On Social Science And Artificial General Intelligence 25 July

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Miles Brundage, a PhD student in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University.

Here is the full talk info:

A Social Science Perspective on Global Catastrophic Risk Debates: The Case of Artificial General Intelligence
Thursday 25 July 2013, 17:00 GMT (10:00 Los Angeles, 13:00 New York, 18:00 London)
To be held online via Skype or equivalent. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

Abstract: Researchers at institutions such as …

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Eric Talbot Jensen To Deliver Online Lecture On Law For Emerging Weapons Technologies 19 June

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Eric Talbot Jensen, Associate Professor of Law at Brigham Young University.

Here is the full talk info:

The Future of the Law of Armed Conflict: Ostriches, Butterflies, and Nanobots
Based on a paper of the same title.
Wednesday 19 June, 18:00 GMT (11:00 Los Angeles, 12:00 Utah, 14:00 New York, 19:00 London).
To be held online via Skype. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

Abstract: The law has consistently lagged behind technological …

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New IEET Article On International Treaties For Emerging Technologies

Quick FYI – Grant Wilson and I have a new article up at IEET: How to create an international treaty for emerging technologies. The article discusses several options for the institutions that can support such a treaty, mainly institutions within the United Nations. The article was produced for our crowdfunding campaign Preventing Technological Disaster Through International Treaties. We had hoped to raise $8000 and write a full academic journal article, but we only raised $300, so we wrote this instead. I still think it provides …

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Double Catastrophe Article At Scientific American

Another quick FYI: I have a new article up at Scientific American blogs, When global catastrophes collide: The climate engineering double catastrophe. This article summarizes my recent journal article with Tim Maher and Jacob Haqq-Misra, Double catastrophe: Intermittent stratospheric geoengineering induced by societal collapse.

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Emerging Tech Governance Article At IEET

Quick FYI: I have a new article at IEET, Seven Reasons For Integrated Emerging Technologies Governance. The article discusses advantages of handling all emerging technologies within one governance regime instead of treating each technology in separate piecemeal fashion. The seven reasons are forecasting, politics, relationships, dual-use technology, risk driven by research and development, lab transparency, and whistleblowing.

Not all emerging technologies pose risk of global catastrophe. An integrated governance regime would help with the global catastrophic risks from emerging technologies, but it would help with the …

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New Paper: Geoengineering Double Catastrophe

GCRI has a new academic paper out. Double catastrophe: Intermittent stratospheric geoengineering induced by societal collapse, by Seth Baum, Timothy Maher, and Jacob Haqq-Misra, has been accepted for publication in Environment, Systems and Decisions.

The paper discusses a global catastrophe scenario involving climate change, geoengineering, and a separate catastrophe. In the scenario, stratospheric geoengineering is conducted to cool the warming temperatures associated with climate change. Then, an initial catastrophe separate from climate change prevents humanity from continuing the geoengineering, causing a rapid temperature increase. The initial …

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Grant Wilson On Emerging Tech Treaties At IEET

Quick FYI: Grant Wilson has a new article at IEET: Emerging Technologies: Should They Be Internationally Regulated? The article discusses existing and possible treaties for a range of emerging technologies, including bioengineering, geoengineering, and artificial intelligence. The article summarizes Grant’s recent law paper Minimizing global catastrophic and existential risks from emerging technologies through international law.

Note that the IEET article lists me as an author on this. My name is only listed because I was the one with existing IEET status. Grant wrote the article. I …

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GCRI Crowdfunding Campaign: International Treaties For Emerging Technologies

Grant Wilson and Seth Baum (myself) have just launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign Preventing Technological Disaster Through International Treaties. The campaign is raising funds to write a new paper extending Grant’s recent publication Minimizing global catastrophic and existential risks from emerging technologies through international law.

Crowdfunding is raising funds via large numbers of people. Websites like Indiegogo let people post projects for funding, and then anyone interested can contribute funds. Crowdfunding has been used to raise often quite large amounts of funding for a wide range …

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