Resources on Existential Risk

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Resources on Existential Risk Resources on Existential Risk For: Catastrophic Risk: Technologies and Policies Berkman Center for Internet and Society Harvard University Bruce Schneier, Instructor Fall 2015 Contents General Scholarly Discussion of Existential Risk ....................................................................................... 1 Nick Bostrom (Mar 2002), "Existential risks: Analyzing human extinction scenarios and related hazards." ................................................................................................................................... 1 Jason Matheney (Oct 2007), "Reducing the risk of human extinction." ............................................... 2 Nick Bostrom and Milan Ćirković (2008), "Introduction." .................................................................... 3 Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom (5 Dec 2008), “Global catastrophic risks survey.” ....................... 5 Nick Bostrom (2009), "The future of humanity." .................................................................................. 6 Nick Bostrom (Feb 2013), "Existential risk prevention as global priority." ........................................... 7 Kira Matus (25 Nov 2014), "Existential risk: challenges for risk regulation." ....................................... 7 Seth Baum (Dec 2014), "The great downside dilemma for risky emerging technologies." ................ 10 Dennis Pamlin and Stuart Armstrong (19 Feb 2015), "Twelve risks that threaten human civilisation: The case for a new risk category." ................................................................................... 11 Seth Baum and Anthony Barrett (5 Feb 2015), "The most extreme risks: Global catastrophes." ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Seth Baum (4 May 2015), "The far future argument for confronting catastrophic threats to humanity: Practical significance and alternatives."........................................................................ 14 Andy Majot and Roman Yampolskiy (13 Apr 2015), "Global catastrophic risk and security implications of quantum computers." ................................................................................................ 14 Philip Doty (Jul 2015), "U.S. homeland security and risk assessment." .............................................. 15 Popular Journalism & Public Speeches on Existential Risk ..................................................................... 16 Bill Joy (Apr 2000), "Why the future doesn't need us." ...................................................................... 16 Stephen Petranek (Feb 2002), "Ten ways the world could end (Video)." .......................................... 33 Lawrence Lessig (Apr 2004), "Insanely destructive devices." ............................................................. 33 Martin Rees (15 Jul 2005), "Is this our final century? (Video)." .......................................................... 35 Huw Price (27 Jan 2013), "Cambridge, cabs and Copenhagen: My route to existential risk." .................................................................................................................................................... 35 Martin Rees (8 Mar 2013), "Denial of catastrophic risks." ................................................................. 39 Bruce Schneier (14 Mar 2013), "Our security models will never work, no matter what we do." ...................................................................................................................................................... 40 Francesco Guerrera (24 Jun, 2013), "Current account: Cyberattacks are banks’ latest ‘existential risk’." ................................................................................................................................. 41 Martin Rees (Jul 2013), "Is this our final century?" ............................................................................ 41 Martin Rees (4 Oct 2013), "Martin Rees on climate change, manned space missions and existential risk." ................................................................................................................................... 42 Andrew Martin (30 Aug 2014), "The scientific A‐Team saving the world from killer viruses, rogue AI and the paperclip apocalypse." ............................................................................... 44 Martin Rees (20 Mar 2014), "Can we prevent the end of the world? (Video)." ................................. 49 Anders Sandberg (11 Jun 2014), "The five biggest threats to human existence." ............................. 49 Paul Kennedy (22 Oct 2014), "How to think about science, Part 5 (Audio)." ..................................... 50 Erin Biba (19 May 2015), "Meet the co‐founder of an apocalypse think tank (Interview with Martin Rees)." ............................................................................................................................. 51 Max Tegmark (16 Apr 2015), "Existential risk: A conversation with Jaan Tallinn." ............................ 51 Tony Ord (17 Jun 2015), "Toby Ord on the likelihood of natural and anthropogenic existential risks (Video)." .................................................................................................................... 51 Daniel Faggella (30 Jun 2015), "On existential risk and individual contribution to the 'good' (Audio).” ................................................................................................................................... 52 Catastrophic Risk Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 53 Richard Posner (2005), "Catastrophic risks, resource allocation, and homeland security." .............. 53 Charles Meade and Roger Molander (21 Jul 2006), "Considering the effects of a catastrophic terrorist attack." ............................................................................................................. 66 Cass Sunstein (21 Feb 2007), "The catastrophic harm precautionary principle." .............................. 68 Leonie A. Marks, et al. (Apr 2007), "Mass media framing of biotechnology news." .......................... 69 Anders Sandberg, Jason Matheny, and Milan M. Ćirković (9 Sep 2008), "How can we reduce the risk of human extinction?" ............................................................................................... 70 Toby Ord, Rafaela Hillerbrand, and Anders Sandberg (30 Oct 2008), "Probing the improbable: Methodological challenges for risks with low probability and high stakes." ................. 73 Martin Weitzman (Feb 2009), "On modeling and interpreting the economics of catastrophic climate change." ............................................................................................................ 75 Mark Jablonowski (14 Jun 2009), "Increasing uncertainty about high‐stakes risks: The impetus for radical change?" .............................................................................................................. 76 Bruce Tonn and Dorian Stiefel (Nov 2014), "Human extinction risk and uncertainty: Assessing conditions for action." ....................................................................................................... 78 Milan Ćirković, Anders Sandberg, and Nick Bostom (Oct 2010), "Anthropic shadow: Observation selection effects and human extinction risks." .............................................................. 79 Nick Bostrom, Anders Sandberg, and Tom Douglas (28 Feb 2013), "The Unilateralist’s Curse: The case for a principle of conformity." .................................................................................. 81 Stuart Armstrong (14 Dec 2012), "Nash equilibrium of identical agents facing the Unilateralist's Curse." .......................................................................................................................... 84 Bruce Tonn and Dorian Stiefel (Oct 2013), "Evaluating methods for estimating existential risks." ................................................................................................................................................... 84 Owen Cotton‐Barratt and Toby Ord (9 Jan 2015), "Existential risk and existential hope: Definitions." ........................................................................................................................................ 85 Seth Baum (Jun 2015), "Risk and resilience for unknown, unquantifiable, systemic, and unlikely/catastrophic threats." ........................................................................................................... 86 Risk Posed by Nuclear Weapons ............................................................................................................. 90 E.J. Konopinski, C. Marvin, and Edward Teller (1946), "Ignition of the atmosphere with nuclear bombs." .................................................................................................................................. 90 Herman Kahn (20 Jan 1960), "The nature and feasibility of war and deterrence." ........................... 90 Philip Quarles (26 Oct 2012), “Herman Kahn on world annihilation (Audio)." .................................. 90 Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, Sandia Base (1957), "Acceptable premature probabilities for nuclear weapons." .................................................................................................... 91 Martin E. Hellman (2014),
Recommended publications
  • SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES and RESPONSIBLE AQUACULTURE: a Guide for USAID Staff and Partners
    SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES AND RESPONSIBLE AQUACULTURE: A Guide for USAID Staff and Partners June 2013 ABOUT THIS GUIDE GOAL This guide provides basic information on how to design programs to reform capture fisheries (also referred to as “wild” fisheries) and aquaculture sectors to ensure sound and effective development, environmental sustainability, economic profitability, and social responsibility. To achieve these objectives, this document focuses on ways to reduce the threats to biodiversity and ecosystem productivity through improved governance and more integrated planning and management practices. In the face of food insecurity, global climate change, and increasing population pressures, it is imperative that development programs help to maintain ecosystem resilience and the multiple goods and services that ecosystems provide. Conserving biodiversity and ecosystem functions are central to maintaining ecosystem integrity, health, and productivity. The intent of the guide is not to suggest that fisheries and aquaculture are interchangeable: these sectors are unique although linked. The world cannot afford to neglect global fisheries and expect aquaculture to fill that void. Global food security will not be achievable without reversing the decline of fisheries, restoring fisheries productivity, and moving towards more environmentally friendly and responsible aquaculture. There is a need for reform in both fisheries and aquaculture to reduce their environmental and social impacts. USAID’s experience has shown that well-designed programs can reform capture fisheries management, reducing threats to biodiversity while leading to increased productivity, incomes, and livelihoods. Agency programs have focused on an ecosystem-based approach to management in conjunction with improved governance, secure tenure and access to resources, and the application of modern management practices.
    [Show full text]
  • Infinite Ethics
    INFINITE ETHICS Nick Bostrom Faculty of Philosophy Oxford University [Published in Analysis and Metaphysics, Vol. 10 (2011): pp. 9-59] [This is the final version. Earlier versions: 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009] www.nickbostrom.com ABSTRACT Aggregative consequentialism and several other popular moral theories are threatened with paralysis: when coupled with some plausible assumptions, they seem to imply that it is always ethically indifferent what you do. Modern cosmology teaches that the world might well contain an infinite number of happy and sad people and other candidate value-bearing locations. Aggregative ethics implies that such a world contains an infinite amount of positive value and an infinite amount of negative value. You can affect only a finite amount of good or bad. In standard cardinal arithmetic, an infinite quantity is unchanged by the addition or subtraction of any finite quantity. So it appears you cannot change the value of the world. Modifications of aggregationism aimed at resolving the paralysis are only partially effective and cause severe side effects, including problems of “fanaticism”, “distortion”, and erosion of the intuitions that originally motivated the theory. Is the infinitarian challenge fatal? 1. The challenge 1.1. The threat of infinitarian paralysis When we gaze at the starry sky at night and try to think of humanity from a “cosmic point of view”, we feel small. Human history, with all its earnest strivings, triumphs, and tragedies can remind us of a colony of ants, laboring frantically to rearrange the needles of their little ephemeral stack. We brush such late-night rumination aside in our daily life and analytic 1 philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • SPACE and DEFENSE
    SPACE and DEFENSE Volume Three Number One Summer 2009 Space Deterrence: The Delicate Balance of Risk by Ambassador Roger G. Harrison, Collins G. Shackelford and Deron R. Jackson with commentaries by Dean Cheng Pete Hays John Sheldon Mike Manor and Kurt Neuman Dwight Rauhala and Jonty Kasku-Jackson EISENHOWER CENTER FOR SPACE AND DEFENSE STUDIES Space and Defense Scholarly Journal of the United States Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Editor-in-Chief: Ambassador Roger Harrison, [email protected] Director, Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Academic Editor: Dr. Eligar Sadeh, [email protected] Associate Academic Editors: Dr. Damon Coletta U.S. Air Force Academy, USA Dr. Michael Gleason U.S. Air Force Academy, USA Dr. Peter Hays National Security Space Office, USA Major Deron Jackson U.S. Air Force Academy, USA Dr. Collins Shackelford U.S. Air Force Academy, USA Colonel Michael Smith U.S. Air Force, USA Reviewers: Andrew Aldrin John Logsdon United Launch Alliance, USA George Washington University, USA James Armor Agnieszka Lukaszczyk ATK, USA Space Generation Advisory Council, Austria William Barry Molly Macauley NASA, France Resources for the Future, USA Frans von der Dunk Scott Pace University of Nebraska, USA George Washington University, USA Paul Eckart Xavier Pasco Boeing, USA Foundation for Strategic Research, France Andrew Erickson Wolfgang Rathbeger Naval War College, USA European Space Policy Institute, Austria Joanne Gabrynowicz Scott Trimboli University of Mississippi, USA University
    [Show full text]
  • BSD – Alternativen Zu Linux
    ∗BSD { Alternativen zu Linux Karl Lockhoff March 19, 2015 Inhaltsverzeichnis I Woher kommt BSD? I Was ist BSD? I Was ist sind die Unterschiede zwischen FreeBSD, NetBSD und OpenBSD? I Warum soll ich *BSD statt Linux einsetzen? I Chuck Haley und Bill Joy entwickeln den vi in Berkeley I Bill Joy erstellt eine Sammlung von Tools, 1BSD I Unix Version 7 erscheint I 2BSD erscheint (Basis f¨urdie Weiterentwicklung PDP-11) I 3BSD erscheint (erstmalig mit einen eigenen Kernel) I 4BSD erscheint (enth¨altdas fast file system (ffs)) I Bill Joy wechselt zu Sun Microsystems I Kirk McKusick ¨ubernimmt die Entwicklung von BSD I 1978 I 1979 I 1980 I 1981 Woher kommt BSD? I 1976 I Unix Version 6 erscheint I 2BSD erscheint (Basis f¨urdie Weiterentwicklung PDP-11) I 3BSD erscheint (erstmalig mit einen eigenen Kernel) I 4BSD erscheint (enth¨altdas fast file system (ffs)) I Bill Joy wechselt zu Sun Microsystems I Kirk McKusick ¨ubernimmt die Entwicklung von BSD I Bill Joy erstellt eine Sammlung von Tools, 1BSD I Unix Version 7 erscheint I 1979 I 1980 I 1981 Woher kommt BSD? I 1976 I Unix Version 6 erscheint I 1978 I Chuck Haley und Bill Joy entwickeln den vi in Berkeley I 2BSD erscheint (Basis f¨urdie Weiterentwicklung PDP-11) I 3BSD erscheint (erstmalig mit einen eigenen Kernel) I 4BSD erscheint (enth¨altdas fast file system (ffs)) I Bill Joy wechselt zu Sun Microsystems I Kirk McKusick ¨ubernimmt die Entwicklung von BSD I Unix Version 7 erscheint I 1979 I 1980 I 1981 Woher kommt BSD? I 1976 I Unix Version 6 erscheint I 1978 I Chuck Haley und Bill Joy entwickeln den
    [Show full text]
  • UC Santa Barbara Other Recent Work
    UC Santa Barbara Other Recent Work Title Geopolitics, History, and International Relations Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/29z457nf Author Robinson, William I. Publication Date 2009 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE ASSOCIATION • NEW YORK Geopolitics, History, and International Relations VOLUME 1(2) • 2009 ADDLETON ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS • NEW YORK Geopolitics, History, and International Relations 1(2) 2009 An international peer-reviewed academic journal Copyright © 2009 by the Contemporary Science Association, New York Geopolitics, History, and International Relations seeks to explore the theoretical implications of contemporary geopolitics with particular reference to territorial problems and issues of state sovereignty, and publishes papers on contemporary world politics and the global political economy from a variety of methodologies and approaches. Interdisciplinary and wide-ranging in scope, Geopolitics, History, and International Relations also provides a forum for discussion on the latest developments in the theory of international relations and aims to promote an understanding of the breadth, depth and policy relevance of international history. Its purpose is to stimulate and disseminate theory-aware research and scholarship in international relations throughout the international academic community. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations offers important original contributions by outstanding scholars and has the potential to become one of the leading journals in the field, embracing all aspects of the history of relations between states and societies. Journal ranking: A on a seven-point scale (A+, A, B+, B, C+, C, D). Geopolitics, History, and International Relations is published twice a year by Addleton Academic Publishers, 30-18 50th Street, Woodside, New York, 11377.
    [Show full text]
  • FROM LONGITUDE to ALTITUDE: INDUCEMENT PRIZE CONTESTS AS INSTRUMENTS of PUBLIC POLICY in SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY Clayton Stallbau
    FROM LONGITUDE TO ALTITUDE: INDUCEMENT PRIZE CONTESTS AS INSTRUMENTS OF PUBLIC POLICY IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Clayton Stallbaumer* I. INTRODUCTION On a foggy October night in 1707, a fleet of Royal Navy warships ran aground on the Isles of Scilly, some twenty miles southwest of England.1 Believing themselves to be safely west of any navigational hazards, two thousand sailors discovered too late that they had fatally misjudged their position.2 Although the search for an accurate method to determine longitude had bedeviled Europe for several centuries, the “sudden loss of so many lives, so many ships, and so much honor all at once” elevated the discovery of a solution to a top national priority in England.3 In 1714, Parliament issued the Longitude Act,4 promising as much as £20,0005 for a “Practicable and Useful” method of determining longitude at sea; fifty-nine years later, clockmaker John Harrison claimed the prize.6 Nearly three centuries after the fleet’s tragic demise, another accident, also fatal but far removed from longitude’s terrestrial reach, struck a nation deeply. Just four days after its crew observed a moment’s silence in memory of the Challenger astronauts, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry, killing all on board.7 Although * J.D., University of Illinois College of Law, 2006; M.B.A., University of Illinois College of Business, 2006; B.A., Economics, B.A., History, Lake Forest College, 2001. 1. DAVA SOBEL, LONGITUDE: THE TRUE STORY OF A LONE GENIUS WHO SOLVED THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM OF HIS TIME 12 (1995).
    [Show full text]
  • An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement
    18 TheWisdomofNature: An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg∗ Abstract Human beings are a marvel of evolved complexity. Such systems can be difficult to enhance. When we manipulate complex evolved systems, which are poorly understood, our interventions often fail or backfire. It can appear as if there is a ‘‘wisdom of nature’’ which we ignore at our peril. Sometimes the belief in nature’s wisdom—and corresponding doubts about the prudence of tampering with nature, especially human nature—manifest as diffusely moral objections against enhancement. Such objections may be expressed as intuitions about the superiority of the natural or the troublesomeness of hubris, or as an evaluative bias in favor of the status quo. This chapter explores the extent to which such prudence-derived anti-enhancement sentiments are justified. We develop a heuristic, inspired by the field of evolutionary medicine, for identifying promising human enhancement interventions. The heuristic incorporates the grains of truth contained in ‘‘nature knows best’’ attitudes while providing criteria for the special cases where we have reason to believe that it is feasible for us to improve on nature. 1.Introduction 1.1. The wisdom of nature, and the special problem of enhancement We marvel at the complexity of the human organism, how its various parts have evolved to solve intricate problems: the eye to collect and pre-process ∗ Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, Faculty of Philosophy and James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University. Forthcoming in Enhancing Humans, ed. Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 376 visual information, the immune system to fight infection and cancer, the lungs to oxygenate the blood.
    [Show full text]
  • PITAC Report to the President Information Technology Information Research: Investing in Our Future PITAC to the President Report
    PITAC Report to the PresidentPITAC Research: Investing in Our Future Information Technology PRESIDENT’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT Information Technology Research: Investing in Our Future February 1999 PRESIDENT’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT Information Technology Research: Investing in Our Future February 1999 P RESIDENT’ S I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGY A DVISORY C OMMITTEE February 24, 1999 The President of the United States The White House Dear Mr. President: We are pleased to present our final report, “Information Technology Research: Investing in Our Future,” on future directions for Federal support of research and development for information tech- nology. This report adds detail to the findings and recommendations in our interim report dated August 1998, and strengthens our previous recommendations regarding the importance of social and economic research on the impacts of information technology to inform key policy decisions. PITAC members are strongly encouraged by and enthusiastically supportive of the Administration’s Information Technology for the Twenty-First Century (IT2) initiative. This initiative is a vital first step in increasing funding for long-term, high-risk information technology research and develop- ment. Increased Federal support is critical to meeting the challenge of capturing the opportunities available from information technology in the 21st Century through appropriate research and development. The economic and strategic importance of information technology and the unique role of the Federal Government in sponsoring information technology research make it necessary to increase Federal support over a period of years to ensure our Nation’s future well-being. We hope that our recommendations will be helpful as you consider the priorities for Federal invest- ments.
    [Show full text]
  • Pathogens As Weapons Gregory Koblentz the International Security Implications of Biological Warfare
    Pathogens as Weapons Pathogens as Weapons Gregory Koblentz The International Security Implications of Biological Warfare Biological weapons have become one of the key security issues of the twenty-ªrst century.1 Three factors that ªrst emerged in the 1990s have contributed to this phenomenon. First, revelations regarding the size, scope, and sophistication of the Soviet and Iraqi biological warfare programs focused renewed attention on the prolifera- tion of these weapons.2 Second, the catastrophic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the anthrax letters sent to media outlets and Senate ofªces in the United States during the following month, demonstrated the desire of terror- ists to cause massive casualties and heightened concern over their ability to employ biological weapons.3 Third, signiªcant advances in the life sciences have increased concerns about how the biotechnology revolution could be ex- ploited to develop new or improved biological weapons.4 These trends suggest that there is a greater need than ever to answer several fundamental questions about biological warfare: What is the nature of the threat? What are the poten- tial strategic consequences of the proliferation of biological weapons? How ef- Gregory Koblentz is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I would like to thank Robert Art, Thomas Christensen, Linda Fu, Jeanne Guillemin, Kendall Hoyt, Milton Leitenberg, John Ellis van Courtland Moon, Julian Perry Robinson, Harvey Sapolsky, Mar- garet Sloane, Jonathan Tucker, and Stephen Van Evera for their support and discussion of previous drafts. I am also grateful for comments from the participants in seminars at the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology’s Security Studies Program, Harvard University’s John M.
    [Show full text]
  • Mitchell & Kilner
    THE NEWSLETTER VOLUME 9 OF THE CENTER NUMBER 3 FOR BIOETHICS AND SUMMER 2003 HUMAN DIGNITY Inside: Remaking Humans: The New Utopians Versus a Truly Human Future1 Remaking Humans: The New Utopians Versus a Truly Human C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D., Senior FeIIow,The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity 1 John F. Kilner, Ph.D., President,The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity Future If the nineteenth century was the age of the mentally by making use of reason, science, The Genetics of Mice and Men: machine and the twentieth century the infor and technology. In addition, respect for the Can—and Should—We mation age, this century is, by most accounts, rights of the individual and a belief in the 2 the age of biotechnology. In this biotech cen power of human ingenuity are important ele Intervene? tury we may witness the invention of cures for ments of transhumanism. Transhumanists genetically linked diseases, including also repudiate belief in the existence of super Movie Review natural powers that guide us. These things 4 Alzheimer’s, cancer, and a host of maladies News from the Field that cause tremendous human suffering. We together represent the core of our philosophy. may see amazing developments in food pro The critical and rational approach which duction with genetically modified foods that transhumanists support is at the service of the 6 Book Review actually carry therapeutic drugs inside them. desire to improve humankind and humanity in all their facets.” Bioterrorism and high-tech weaponry may 7 Center Resources also be in our future. Some researchers are even suggesting that our future might include Again, the idea of improving society through the remaking of the human species.
    [Show full text]
  • 31 Nuclear Weapons—Use, Probabilities and History
    1 ROTARY DISTRICT 5440 PEACEBUILDER NEWSLETTER MARCH 2020 NUMBER 31 NUCLEAR WEAPONS—USE, PROBABILITIES AND HISTORY William M. Timpson, Robert Meroney, Lloyd Thomas, Sharyn Selman and Del Benson Fort Collins Rotary Club Lindsey Pointer, 2017 Rotary Global Grant Scholarship Recipient In these newsletters of the Rotary District Peacebuilders, we want to invite readers for contributions and ideas, suggestions and possibilities for our efforts to promote the foundational skills for promoting peace, i.e., nonviolent conflict resolution, improved communication and cooperation, successful negotiation and mediation as well as the critical and creative thinking that can help communities move through obstacles and difficulties. HOW THE MOST VIOLENT OF HUMAN ACTIVITY, A NCLEAR WWIII, HAS BEEN AVOIDED, SO FAR Robert Lawrence, Ph.D. is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University who has written extensively on this issue of nuclear weapons Let’s play a mind game. Think back in time and pick an actual war, any war. Now imagine you are the leader who began the war. Would you have ordered the attack if you knew for certain that 30 minutes later you, your family, and your people would all be killed. Probably not. Your logic led Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev to jointly declare “a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.” This is the sine qua non of American and Russian nuclear deterrence policy. Always before wars made sense to some because they could be won, and there were many winners. How then has this no-win war situation---the first in history-- happened? Because the U.S.
    [Show full text]