Robots, Extinction, and Salvation: on Altruism in Human–Posthuman Interactions
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Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks
journal of international humanitarian legal studies 11 (2020) 295-310 brill.com/ihls Apocalypse Now? Initial Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for the Governance of Existential and Global Catastrophic Risks Hin-Yan Liu, Kristian Lauta and Matthijs Maas Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract This paper explores the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic through the framework of exis- tential risks – a class of extreme risks that threaten the entire future of humanity. In doing so, we tease out three lessons: (1) possible reasons underlying the limits and shortfalls of international law, international institutions and other actors which Covid-19 has revealed, and what they reveal about the resilience or fragility of institu- tional frameworks in the face of existential risks; (2) using Covid-19 to test and refine our prior ‘Boring Apocalypses’ model for understanding the interplay of hazards, vul- nerabilities and exposures in facilitating a particular disaster, or magnifying its effects; and (3) to extrapolate some possible futures for existential risk scholarship and governance. Keywords Covid-19 – pandemics – existential risks – global catastrophic risks – boring apocalypses 1 Introduction: Our First ‘Brush’ with Existential Risk? All too suddenly, yesterday’s ‘impossibilities’ have turned into today’s ‘condi- tions’. The impossible has already happened, and quickly. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both directly and as manifested through the far-reaching global societal responses to it, signal a jarring departure away from even the © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/18781527-01102004Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:13:00AM via free access <UN> 296 Liu, Lauta and Maas recent past, and suggest that our futures will be profoundly different in its af- termath. -
Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare Susan W
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 97 Article 2 Issue 2 Winter Winter 2007 At Light Speed: Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare Susan W. Brenner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Susan W. Brenner, At Light Speed: Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare, 97 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 379 (2006-2007) This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/07/9702-0379 THE JOURNALOF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 97. No. 2 Copyright 0 2007 by NorthwesternUniversity. Schoolof Low Printedin U.S.A. "AT LIGHT SPEED": ATTRIBUTION AND RESPONSE TO CYBERCRIME/TERRORISM/WARFARE SUSAN W. BRENNER* This Article explains why and how computer technology complicates the related processes of identifying internal (crime and terrorism) and external (war) threats to social order of respondingto those threats. First, it divides the process-attribution-intotwo categories: what-attribution (what kind of attack is this?) and who-attribution (who is responsiblefor this attack?). Then, it analyzes, in detail, how and why our adversaries' use of computer technology blurs the distinctions between what is now cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwarfare. The Article goes on to analyze how and why computer technology and the blurring of these distinctions erode our ability to mount an effective response to threats of either type. -
Phillip STILLMAN, the Narrative of Human Extinction and the Logic Of
Phillip Stillman Two Nineteenth- Century Contributions to Climate Change Discourse: The Narra- W e a tive of Hu- t h e r man Extinction S c a and the p e g o Logic of Eco- a t 8 sys- tem Management 92 The Narrative of Human Extinction ... Consider the following passage from Oscar Wilde’s “Decay of Lying” (1891): Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas-lamps and changing the houses into monstrous shadows? [...] The extraordinary change that has taken place in the climate of London during the last ten years is entirely due to a particular school of Art. [...] For what is Nature? Nature is no great mother who has borne us. She is our creation. It is in our brain that she quickens to life. Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us.1 The speaker is Vivian, a self-consciously sophistical aesthete, and his argument is that “Nature” is the causal consequence of “Art.” Not long ago, a literary critic might have quoted such a passage with unmitigated approbation: “Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us.” The post-structural resonance of that kind of claim is strong, and the Jamesonian tradition of treating art as a means through which ideology reproduces itself depends heavily on the conviction that between the knower and the known, there must be some determining symbolic mediation.2 Now, however, it is difficult not to hesitate over the assertion that the “extraordinary change that has taken place in the climate of London during the last ten years is entirely due to a particular school of Art.” Now we tend to take referential 1 Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” in The claims about “Nature” very seriously, especially with regard to Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde, ed. -
The Disappearing Human: Gnostic Dreams in a Transhumanist World
religions Article The Disappearing Human: Gnostic Dreams in a Transhumanist World Jeffrey C. Pugh Department of Religious Studies, Elon University, Elon, NC 27244-2020, USA; [email protected] Academic Editor: Noreen Herzfeld Received: 25 January 2017; Accepted: 18 April 2017; Published: 3 May 2017 Abstract: Transhumanism is dedicated to freeing humankind from the limitations of biological life, creating new bodies that will carry us into the future. In seeking freedom from the constraints of nature, it resembles ancient Gnosticism, but complicates the question of what the human being is. In contrast to the perspective that we are our brains, I argue that human consciousness and subjectivity originate from complex interactions between the body and the surrounding environment. These qualities emerge from a distinct set of structural couplings embodied within multiple organ systems and the multiplicity of connections within the brain. These connections take on different forms, including structural, chemical, and electrical manifestations within the totality of the human body. This embodiment suggests that human consciousness, and the intricate levels of experience that accompany it, cannot be replicated in non-organic forms such as computers or synaptic implants without a significant loss to human identity. The Gnostic desire to escape our embodiment found in transhumanism carries the danger of dissolving the human being. Keywords: Singularity; transhumanism; Merleau-Ponty; Kurzweil; Gnosticism; AI; emergence; technology 1. Introduction In 1993, the mathematician and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge gave a talk at the Vision 21 symposium sponsored by NASA introducing the idea of the Singularity, an evolutionary moment when we would create the capacity for superhuman intelligence that would transcend the human and take us into the posthuman world (Vinge 1993). -
PDF ( Founders, and Developers at Europe’S Iconic Startup Event
DELPHI – INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEW 2019 | VOLUME 2 | NUMBER 2 OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES CYBERWARFARE Cyberwar and Mediation Theory Nolen Gertz, Peter-Paul Verbeek and David M. Douglas AI AND DEMOCRACY The Impact of Disinformation, Social Bots and Political Targeting Maja Brkan DIGITAL PLATFORMS Why Europe Needs Public Funding for Platform Development Paul Nemitz and Arndt Kwiatkowksi BERLIN December 11–12 Arena Berlin Join thousands of investors, Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) www.lexxion.eu founders, and developers at Europe’s iconic startup event. TechCrunch.com/DisruptBerlin Get 15% OFF Disrupt Berlin Passes DELPHI Delphi 2|2019 Contents I Contents Editorial 63 Cees Zweistra Articles Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: 66 The Impact of Disinformation, Social Bots and Political Targeting Maja Brkan Cyberwar and Mediation Theory 72 Nolen Gertz, Peter-Paul Verbeek and David M. Douglas Steps to Designing AI-Empowered Nanotechnology: 79 A Value Sensitive Design Approach Steven Umbrello OutlOOk What Is the Business Value of Ethical Tech? 84 Contributions by Steffen Augsberg, Siri Beerends, Ida Rust, Paul Nemitz, Nicholas Borsotto and Vuyiswa M’Cwabeni repOrt Understanding ‘AI Made in Germany’: 87 A Report on the German Startup Landscape Jessica Schmeiss and Nicolas Friederici OpiniOn Why Europe Needs Public Funding for Platform Development 95 Paul Nemitz and Arndt Kwiatkowksi stArtup Digest How Ethical Debates Can Enrich Data Science and Artificial Intelligence 99 Interviews with Elena Poughia and Zara Nanu Anna Laesser BOOk reviews Towards -
Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds
#EVANS, W.. (2015). Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds. Revista Teknokultura, Vol. 12(2), 373-384. Recibido: 29-04-2015 Open peer review Aceptado: 12-07-2015 http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/TEKN/pages/view/opr-49072 Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds Derechos posthumanos: Dimensiones de los mundos transhumanos Woody Evans Texas Woman’s University, EEUU [email protected] ABSTRACT There are at least three dimensions to rights. We may have and lack freedom to 1) be, 2) do, and 3) have. These dimensions reformulate Locke’s categories, and are further complicated by placing them within the context of domains such as natural or civil rights. Here the question of the origins of rights is not addressed, but issues concerning how we may contextualize them are discussed. Within the framework developed, this paper makes use of Actor-Network Theory and Enlightenment values to examine the multidimensionality and appropriateness of animal rights and human rights for posthumans. The core position here is that rights may be universal and constant, but they can only be accessed within a matrix of relative cultural dimensions. This will be true for posthumans, and their rights will be relative to human rights and dependent on human and posthuman responsibilities. http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_TK.2015.v12.n2.49072 ISSN: 1549 2230 Revista Teknokultura, (2015), Vol. 12 Núm. 2: 373-384 373 Posthuman Rights: Woody Evans Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds KEYWORDS transhumanism, human rights, natural rights, animal rights, civil rights, technology, political philosophy. RESUMEN Hay por lo menos tres dimensiones de los derechos. -
The Role of Extinction in Evolution DAVID M
Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 91, pp. 6758-6763, July 1994 Colloquium Paper Ths paper was presented at a colloquium entled "Tempo and Mode in Evolution" organized by Walter M. Fitch and Francisco J. Ayala, held January 27-29, 1994, by the National Academy of Sciences, in Irvine, CA. The role of extinction in evolution DAVID M. RAuP Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 ABSTRACT The extinction of species is not normally must remember what has already been said on the probable consideed an important element of neodarwinian theory, in wide intervals of time between our consecutive formations; contrast to the opposite phenomenon, specatlon. This is sur- and in these intervals there may have been much slower prising in view of the special importance Darwin attced to extermination. (pp. 321-322) extinction, and because the number ofspecies extinctions in the Like his geologist colleague Charles Lyell, Darwin was history oflife is almost the same as the number oforiginations; contemptuous ofthose who thought extinctions were caused present-day biodiversity Is the result of a trivial surplus of by great catastrophes. cumulated over millions of years. For an evolu- tions, ... so profound is our ignorance, and so high our presump- tionary biologist to ignore extinction is probably as foolhardy tion, that we marvel when we hear of the extinction of an as for a demographer to ignore mortality. The past decade has organic being; and as we do not see the cause, we invoke seen a resurgence of interest in extinction, yet research on the cataclysms to desolate the world, or invent laws on the topic Is stifl at a reconnaissance level, and our present under- duration of the forms of life! (p. -
Humanizing the Posthuman in Powers, Wallace, Gibson And
HUMANIZING THE POSTHUMAN IN POWERS, WALLACE, GIBSON AND DELILLO A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the Doctor of Philosophy By Ahmad Ghashmari December 2016 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation Written by Ahmad Ghashmari B.A., Yarmouk University, 2006 M.A., Yarmouk University, 2009 M.A., University of Akron, 2015 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2016 Approved by Tammy Clewell_______________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Robert Trogdon_______________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Kevin Floyd__________________ Michael Byron________________ Brian Baer___________________ Accepted by Robert Trogdon_______________, Chair, Department of English James L. Blank________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………..……..ii Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………….….…..1 Chapter 1: Richard Powers’ Galatea 2.2: Love, Companionship and Boundaries between Humans and Machines………………………………..………………....32 Chapter 2: David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest: Entertainment Technology and the Reclaiming of the Human………………….………………………………………….60 Chapter 3: William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition: Finding Human Agency in a Commodified Techno-Culture……….……………………………..……………....89 Chapter 4: The Illusion of Transhuman Immortality and the Importance of the Self…………………………..…………………….………….……………………………….122 Conclusion: Towards a New Understanding of Posthumanism………………………….151 Works Cited…………………………………………….……………….………………………………….156 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am immensely grateful to my dissertation director, Tammy Clewell, for her encouragement and patience. I would not have been able to complete this study without her guidance, valuable feedback and suggestions. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr. Robert Trogdon, Dr. Kevin Floyd and Dr. Michael Byron for their feedback and interesting questions during the defense, the candidacy exams and the prospectus defense. -
One Million Species Face Extinction
IN FOCUS NEWS But the excitement around cancer immuno therapies — two researchers won a Nobel prize last year for pioneering them — has been tempered after several partici- pants in US clinical trials died from side effects. Regulators around the world have moved slowly to approve the treatments for sale. The US Food and Drug Admin- istration has approved only three cancer immunotherapies so far, and the Chinese drug regulator has approved none. THE OCEAN AGENCY/XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY SEAVIEW CATLIN THE OCEAN AGENCY/XL Before 2016, Chinese regulations for the sale of cell therapies were ambiguous, and many hospitals sold the treatments to patients while safety and efficacy testing was still under way. Ren Jun, an oncolo- gist at the Beijing Shijitan Hospital Cancer Center, estimates that roughly one million people paid for such procedures. But the market came under scrutiny when it was revealed that a university student with Habitats such as coral reefs have been hit hard by pollution and climate change. a rare cancer had paid more than 200,000 yuan (US$30,000) for an experimental BIODIVERSITY immunotherapy, after seeing it promoted by a hospital on the Internet. The treatment was unsuccessful, and the student later died. The government cracked down on hospi- One million species tals selling cell therapies — although clinical trials in which participants do not pay for treatment were allowed to continue. face extinction GATHERING EVIDENCE Under the proposed regulations, roughly Landmark United Nations report finds that human activities 1,400 elite hospitals that conduct medical threaten ecosystems around the world. research, known as Grade 3A hospitals, would be able to apply for a licence to sell cell therapies, after proving that they BY JEFF TOLLEFSON in Paris to finalize and approve it. -
Global Catastrophic Risks Survey
GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC RISKS SURVEY (2008) Technical Report 2008/1 Published by Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom At the Global Catastrophic Risk Conference in Oxford (17‐20 July, 2008) an informal survey was circulated among participants, asking them to make their best guess at the chance that there will be disasters of different types before 2100. This report summarizes the main results. The median extinction risk estimates were: Risk At least 1 million At least 1 billion Human extinction dead dead Number killed by 25% 10% 5% molecular nanotech weapons. Total killed by 10% 5% 5% superintelligent AI. Total killed in all 98% 30% 4% wars (including civil wars). Number killed in 30% 10% 2% the single biggest engineered pandemic. Total killed in all 30% 10% 1% nuclear wars. Number killed in 5% 1% 0.5% the single biggest nanotech accident. Number killed in 60% 5% 0.05% the single biggest natural pandemic. Total killed in all 15% 1% 0.03% acts of nuclear terrorism. Overall risk of n/a n/a 19% extinction prior to 2100 These results should be taken with a grain of salt. Non‐responses have been omitted, although some might represent a statement of zero probability rather than no opinion. 1 There are likely to be many cognitive biases that affect the result, such as unpacking bias and the availability heuristic‒‐well as old‐fashioned optimism and pessimism. In appendix A the results are plotted with individual response distributions visible. Other Risks The list of risks was not intended to be inclusive of all the biggest risks. -
118 Reviews of Books Does, the Book Is a Pleasure. He Roots It in Feminist, Race, and Sf Scholarship, Just As He Grounds Butler
118 Reviews of Books does, the book is a pleasure. He roots it in feminist, race, and sf scholarship, just as he grounds Butler in black American women’s writing traditions and sf tropes. Moreover, he stays focused on his literary argument and doesn’t get lost in the weeds of debates about agency, humanism, and the problematic legacy of the Enlightenment. Ultimately, Of Bodies, Communities, and Voices is indispensable for any Butler scholar, primarily because of the ways he connects so many of her work’s central concerns without reducing its complexity or variety. It will function more as a source of research than pedagogy, except maybe in upper-level classes centered on Butler. I recommend it not only to scholars of Butler but sf in general, especially in terms of afrofuturism, posthumanism, or any of Bast’s focal points (agency, bodies, community, voice). Biopunk SF in Liquid Modernity. Lars Schmeink. Biopunk Dystopias: Genetic Engineering, Society and Science Fiction. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016. 288 pp. ISBN 978-1-78-138376-6. £75 hc. Reviewed by D. Harlan Wilson Biopunk is among the more recent sf subgenres to emerge from the virtual citadel of 1980s cyberpunk. There have been others—most prominently steampunk, but also splatterpunk, nanopunk, dieselpunk, bugpunk, even elfpunk and monkpunk—but biopunk narratives are perhaps the first truly authentic descendant of the cyberpunks, featuring gritty dystopian settings, beat characters, corporate terrorism, techno-pathology, and body invasion. Instead of hacking computers, however, biopunks hack DNA and operate in worlds where the processes and products of genetic engineering are brought to bear by various forms of mad scientism. -
Modern Technology and Human Extinction
Proceedings of Informing Science & IT Education Conference (InSITE) 2016 Cite as: Schultz, R. A. (2016). Modern technology and human extinction. Proceedings of Informing Science & IT Edu- cation Conference (InSITE) 2016, 131-145. Retrieved from http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3433 Modern Technology and Human Extinction Robert A. Schultz Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA [email protected] Abstract [Note: Portions of this paper were previously published in Schultz, 2014.] The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain a central property of modern technology that makes it an important potential contributor to human extinction. This view may seem strange to those who regard technology as an instrument of human growth. After discussing modern tech- nology and two important candidates for extinction, other technological candidates for serious contribution to human extinction will be examined. The saving contribution of information tech- nology is also discussed. Keywords: technology, classical technology, modern technology, information technology, gradu- al extinction, sudden extinction. Introduction Helping to further human extinction is not a feature of all technology, but rather of technology we can call modern. In this paper, modern technology is considered to be technology since the in- dustrial revolution. Its distinctive feature is that it regards everything as resources for its own processes. Serious conflicts with the ecosystems that support all life are inevitable and not easily preventable. A Very Brief History of Technology Technology can be thought of as having four stages: >> Proto-technology, early tool development before civilization, one million, possibly 2 million years old. >> The classical technology of agriculture and cities that enabled the rise of civilization, roughly 10,000 years old.