The Ethics of Global Catastrophic Risk from Dual-Use Bioengineering

Post Date January 04, 2014
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Category ethics, publications

View the paper “The Ethics of Global Catastrophic Risk from Dual-Use Bioengineering”

Dual-use technologies are technologies that can be used in both beneficial and harmful ways. Some technologies produced through biological engineering (bioengineering) are dual-use. Of all the possible harms from dual-use technologies, global catastrophic risk is a significant concern. Global catastrophic risks (GCRs) are risks of events that could significantly harm or even destroy civilization at the global scale. This paper discusses ethical issues raised by those bioengineered technologies that pose a GCR. The paper …

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Tony Milligan Gives Lecture on Virtue Ethics

Post Date October 08, 2013
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Category astrobiology, ethics, online lectures

On Wednesday 25 September, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Tony Milligan entitled ‘Virtue, Risk and Space Colonization’. Milligan is a Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at the University of Hertfordshire.

Discussions of the ethics of risk and space colonization are often dominated by consequentialist ethics. This includes GCRI’s recent ethics lecture by Nick Beckstead as well as my own writings on the topic (e.g. [1-2]). Milligan’s lecture covers the same risk and space topics but in terms of virtue ethics. Regardless of one’s views (and …

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Beckstead Reprise Lecture Audio Online

Post Date October 04, 2013
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Category ethics, online lectures

The mp3 audio file for Nick Beckstead’s reprise lecture is now online here. The reprise lecture was held 28 Aug 2013, titled On The Overwhelming Importance Of Shaping The Far Future. An online summary for the original lecture is already online here.

The audio file has been edited to remove sections in which the call was temporarily disconnected and other audio issues. However, we left in several stretches in which the audio is inaudible or marginally audible. We want it to be known that while the …

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Nick Beckstead Gives Lecture on Shaping the Far Future

Post Date August 27, 2013
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Category ethics, online lectures, resources

On Thursday 15 August, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Nick Beckstead entitled, ‘On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future’ (see the pre-lecture announcement). Beckstead recently finished a PhD at the Philosophy Department at Rutgers University, where he focused on normative philosophy and normative ethics, applied ethics, and decision theory. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Oxford University Future of Humanity Institute. The lecture is based on Beckstead’s dissertation of the same title, which focuses on the topics of existential risk, …

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Tony Milligan To Deliver Online Lecture On Virtue Ethics 25 September

Post Date August 22, 2013
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Category astrobiology, ethics, online lectures

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Tony Milligan, Lecturer with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire.

Here is the full talk info:

Virtue, Risk and Space Colonization
Wednesday 25 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.

Virtue ethics is one of the key components of contemporary ethical theory. It shifts our focus in the direction of living well and …

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Beckstead Reprise Lecture Scheduled For 28 August

Post Date August 21, 2013
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Category ethics, online lectures

Due to popular demand, we are hosting a reprise of Nick Beckstead’s online lecture ‘On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future’. This lecture will also be recorded and posted online. There currently is space available for this – please email me to RSVP (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org).

Here is the full talk info (title & abstract are same as before):

On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future

Wednesday 28 August, 15:00 GMT (8:00 Los Angeles, 11:00 New York, 16:00 London)
To be held online via Skype. …

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Tim Maher Gives Lecture on Ambient Intelligence

Post Date August 06, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, ethics, governance failure, law & policy, online lectures

On Thursday 1 August, GCRI hosted an online lecture by Tim Maher entitled ‘Ambient Intelligence: Implications for Global Environmental Change and Totalitarianism Risk’ (see the pre-lecture announcement). Maher is a recent graduate of Bard College’s M.S. program in Climate Science and Policy and a GCRI Research Assistant. The lecture is based on Maher’s M.S. thesis ‘Ambient Intelligence and Ambient Persuasive Technology: Sustainability and Threats to Autonomy’ [1]. The lecture included discussants Maurits Kaptein, Assistant Professor of Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Tilburg …

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Nick Beckstead To Deliver Online Lecture On Ethics of Far Future 15 August

Post Date August 01, 2013
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Category ethics, online lectures

This is the pre-event announcement for an online lecture by Nick Beckstead, a Research Fellow at the Oxford University Future of Humanity Institute.

Here is the full talk info:

On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future
Thursday 15 August, 16:00 GMT (9:00 Los Angeles, 12:00 New York, 17:00 London)
To be held online via Skype. RSVP required by email to Seth Baum (seth [at] gcrinstitute.org). Space is limited.

The lecture is based on Beckstead’s recent PhD dissertation of the same title.

Abstract:

In this talk I will argue for two …

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New Magazine Article ‘Making The Universe A Better Place’

Post Date June 28, 2013
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Category astrobiology, ethics, publications

One more quick announcement. I have a short magazine article Making The Universe A Better Place in the new issue of Current Exchange/Technophilic Magazine. (The link is for the full issue. There’s no direct link to my article yet.) The article presents an overview of the ethics of global catastrophic risk as it relates to astrobiology. Technophilic is a magazine for science and engineering students, and so the article tells my personal story of how I transitioned from an engineering grad student to someone active …

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New Paper: Ethics & Dual-Use Bioengineering

Post Date June 28, 2013
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Category emerging technologies, ethics, law & policy, publications

GCRI has a new academic paper out. The ethics of global catastrophic risk from dual-use bioengineering, by Seth Baum and Grant Wilson, has been accepted for publication in Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine. The paper was written for a talk of the same title presented at the 7th Annual International Conference on Ethical Issues In Biomedical Engineering.

The paper discusses ethics and law issues raised by dual-use bioengineering. Dual-use technologies are technologies with both beneficial and harmful applications. Bioengineered technologies can be both very beneficial …

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