From AI for People to AI for the World and the Universe

Post Date December 01, 2021
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Category articles, artificial intelligence, blogs and newsfeeds, environmental change, ethics, publications, Uncategorized

View the paper “From AI for People to AI for the World and the Universe”

Work on the ethics of artificial intelligence often focuses on the value of AI to human populations. This is seen, for example, in initiatives on AI for People. These initiatives do well to identify some important AI ethics issues, but they fall short by neglecting the ethical importance of nonhumans. This short paper calls for AI ethics to better account for nonhumans, such as by giving initiatives names like “AI for …

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Presentation About GCRI At Climate-Friendly Climate Research Conference

Post Date September 27, 2013
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Category environmental change

A quick fyi, I’ll be presenting about GCRI at the upcoming Climate-Friendly Climate Research conference (11-15 November), hosted by Klimaforschungsnetzwerk Österreich/Climate Change Centre Austria. The conference is of note because it’s being held 100% online. It’s thus “climate friendly” because it avoids the considerable greenhouse gas emissions associated with the travel required for in-person conferences. I think it’s a great idea. For all of GCRI’s online lectures, discussion groups, etc, we’ve never attempted something as ambitious as a whole online conference. I’m excited to attend …

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Grant Wilson Gives Lecture on International Law for Geoengineering

Post Date September 25, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, environmental change, law & policy, online lectures

On Wednesday 18 September, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Grant Wilson entitled ‘Murky Waters: Ambiguous International Law for Ocean Fertilization and Other Geoengineering’. Wilson is GCRI’s Deputy Director and a recent graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School, where he specialized in international law regarding emerging technologies and the environment. The lecture is based on a draft paper of the same title.

Emphasis on geoengineering comes from increasingly dire projections of climate change, amounting to a significant global catastrophic risk. The international community’s failure to …

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Grant Wilson To Deliver Online Lecture On Geoengineering International Law 18 September

Post Date August 21, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, environmental change, law & policy, online lectures

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Grant Wilson, GCRI’s Deputy Director. The lecture is based on a draft paper of the same title.

Here is the full talk info:

Murky Waters: Ambiguous International Law for Ocean Fertilization and Other Geoengineering
Wednesday, 18 September 2013, 17:00 GMT (10:00 Los Angeles, 13:00 New York, 18:00 London)
To be held online via Skype. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

Abstract:

In July 2012, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation (HSRC) dumped about 100 tons …

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Itsuki Handoh Gives Online Lecture On Phosphorus and Chemical Pollution

Post Date July 03, 2013
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Category environmental change, online lectures

On Tuesday-Wednesday 25-26 June, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Itsuki Handoh titled ‘Phosphorus and Chemical Pollution as Global Catastrophic Risks’. (See the pre-lecture announcement.) Handoh is an Associate Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto.

A starting point for the talk is recent research on planetary boundaries, describing nine global-scale environmental thresholds that, if crossed, could have very harmful effects.[1] The planetary boundaries paradigm has grown influential, especially in international environmental governance. For example, it was featured prominently in the report …

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Tim Maher To Deliver Online Lecture On Ambient Intelligence & GCR 11 July With Discussants Howe, Kaptein & Rowell

Post Date June 28, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, environmental change, ethics, governance failure, law & policy, online lectures

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Tim Maher, GCRI Research Assistant and recent graduate of Bard College’s M.S. program in Climate Science and Policy

Here is the full talk info:

Ambient Intelligence: Implications for Global Environmental Change and Totalitarianism Risk
Thursday 11 July, 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.

The lecture will feature three discussants:
Peter Howe, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Yale Project on …

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Itsuki Handoh To Deliver Online Lecture On Phosphorus And Chemical Pollution As GCRs 25-26 June

Post Date June 05, 2013
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Category environmental change, online lectures

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Itsuki Handoh, Associate Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto.

Here is the full talk info:

Phosphorus and Chemical Pollution as Global Catastrophic Risks
Tuesday-Wednesday 25-26 June, midnight GMT (Wednesday 9:00AM JST/Tokyo; Tuesday 20:00 New York; Tuesday 17:00 Los Angeles)
To be held online via Skype or equivalent. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

Abstract:

The so-called global environmental problems are a manifestation of adverse effects of the interactions between humanity …

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Double Catastrophe Article At Scientific American

Post Date February 06, 2013
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Category articles, emerging technologies, environmental change

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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New Paper: Geoengineering Double Catastrophe

Post Date January 04, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, environmental change, publications

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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GCRI Welcomes Research Assistant Kaitlin Butler

Post Date December 05, 2012
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Category environmental change, law & policy, new affiliate

We’re pleased to announce our newest affiliate, Research Assistant Kaitlin Butler. Here’s her bio from the GCRI People page.

Kaitlin is a Research Assistant for the Consortium for Climate Risks in the Urban Northeast, a NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments project. Kaitlin holds an M.A. in Climate and Society from Columbia University (2011) and a B.A. in Sociology from Vassar College (2007). As a GCRI Research Assistant, Kaitlin contributes to GCRI research on environmental change, law & policy, and psychology & communications.

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