Scientific American: Should We Let Uploaded Brains Take Over?

Post Date October 21, 2016
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GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum has guest blog post in Scientific American on whether we should “upload” our brains to electronic computers. He argues that while there might be substantial benefits to uploading our brains this way, the technology would create new risks as well. While it may be decades or even centuries before we have the technical ability to emulate human brains, we should begin to consider those risks now.

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Seth Baum at The Story Collider October 18

Post Date October 11, 2016
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If you are in New York, you can hear GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum speak in Brooklyn on October 18 at the Story Collider, an event for personal stories about science. The event has a pre-Halloween theme of fear. Baum will talk about his experience of the heated debate he sparked last year about winter-safe deterrence.

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Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: Tackling AI Threats

Post Date October 06, 2016
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GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum has a new article in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on how we can tackle near and far AI threats at once. The article describes the disagreement among AI experts over whether near-term or long-term AI issues are more important. It argues that the disagreement can be resolved by focusing on opportunities to address both sets of issues at the same time. The article looks specifically at ways we can address both sets of issues through social norms, technical research, and public …

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GCR News Summary August/September 2016

Post Date October 04, 2016
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EU Parliament in Strasbourg image courtesy of  David Iliff under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license

By Matthijs Maas

In the early hours of September 9, North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test, its biggest ever at an estimated 10 kilotons. The test, which was first detected as a magnitude 5.3-earthquake, was condemned by the UN Security Council, as well as leaders from across the world. In a statement, North Korea said it had tested a “nuclear warhead… standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets”. …

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October Newsletter: Society for Risk Analysis Symposium

Post Date October 03, 2016
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2016 Society for Risk Analysis Meeting

GCRI will lead a symposium on global catastrophic risk at the 2016 meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), December 11-15 in San Diego. SRA is the premier academic and professional society for risk analysis. GCRI has led symposiums at SRA meetings since 2010. The 2016 GCRI symposium features five talks focused on risks from artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons.

Artificial Intelligence

GCRI Executive Director Seth Baum’s paper, “On the promotion of safe and socially beneficial artificial intelligence” has been accepted for publication …

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GCRI Symposium on Global Catastrophic Risk at SRA 2016

Post Date September 30, 2016
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GCRI will lead a symposium on global catastrophic risk at the 2016 meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), December 11-15 in San Diego. SRA is the premier academic and professional society for risk analysis. GCRI has led symposiums at SRA meetings since 2010. The 2016 GCRI symposium features five talks focused on risks from artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons.

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September Newsletter: Media Internship Opportunity

Post Date September 02, 2016
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Dear friends,

GCRI is currently recruiting for a volunteer/intern position on media engagement. We aim both to improve the quality of global catastrophic risk media coverage—including coverage of GCRI—and to help someone launch their career. The ideal fit would be a college student or recent graduate who seeks a career in global catastrophic risk in something media-related such as journalism or social science. Details can be found on GCRI’s website. We would be grateful if you would share the announcement with anyone who might be interested or apply …

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Seth Baum Appointed to Advisory Board of AI & Society

Post Date August 31, 2016
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GCRI’s Seth Baum has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the journal AI & Society. AI & Society is an interdisciplinary journal focused on societal issues related to artificial intelligence including the design, use, management, and policy of information, communications and new media technologies, with a particular emphasis on cultural, social, cognitive, economic, ethical, and philosophical implications.

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Volunteer/Intern Position: Media Engagement on Global Catastrophic Risk

Post Date August 22, 2016
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The Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI) seeks a volunteer/intern to contribute on the topic of media engagement on global catastrophic risk, which is the risk of events that could harm or destroy global human civilization. The work would include two parts: (1) analysis of existing media coverage of global catastrophic risk and (2) formulation of strategy for media engagement by GCRI and our colleagues. The intern may also have opportunities to get involved in other aspects of GCRI.

All aspects of global catastrophic risk would be …

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GCR News Summary June/July 2016

Post Date August 11, 2016
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B-61 nuclear bomb, the same model as stored at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey; Image courtesy of Phil Schmitten / United States Department of Defense

by Matthijs Maas

A failed coup attempt against the Turkish government raised fears over the safety of the US nuclear stockpile stored at Incirlik Air Base after authorities temporarily locked down the base and arrested the base commander for supporting the mutineers’ air operations. Under NATO’s nuclear sharing agreement, Incirlik Air Base plays host to an estimated 50 US B61 hydrogen bombs–over a …

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