Science Alert April 23, 2023
Researchers from around the world have embarked on an effort to try to build a system allowing humanity to anticipate violent conflicts before they erupt – and thus potentially prevent them. Looking decades ahead project is backed by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Foundation (GESDA), the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP), and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). The initial workshop was focused essentially on identifying ways that this kind of anticipation could happen. Future workshops to be held in New York and Geneva later this year could zero in more on specific developments with the potential to dramatically change the course of human history. Among other things they pointed to the swelling concentration of power among companies that manage our data and decisions that could be taken to regulate them, highlighted a myriad of possibilities and risks linked to swiftly developing artificial intelligence, including the emergence of killer robots and possibly AI sentience. According to their study to understand what developments might lie ahead, it is vital to identify shifting power structures such as big data companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have now acquired more power than many states… read more.