CSPO Conversations

This workshop will first highlight the issue of social media and AI cases that have attempted to manipulate people and describe various influence campaigns through broadcast or microtargeting strategies. Workshop participants will then consider how governments and organizations are responding to the misuse of online platforms, and evaluate various ways in which AI-based social media might be regulated internationally. The responsibility of social media platform providers will also be brought into the discussion, as algorithms can detect bot-generated and dispersed information. Finally, strategies for preventing and counter-attacking disinformation campaigns will be considered in cases and contexts where such messaging becomes a destabilizing force in communications. Emerging areas of research, such as neuromorphic computing, will be discussed in the context of cyberwarfare and espionage.

Launch event for the Winter 2019 Issues in Science and Technology.

Systemic weaknesses within the US system of higher education and workforce training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been well documented for decades. From overspecialization and elitism to sexual harassment and skewed incentives, these problems continue to sap the vitality and social value of the STEM enterprise—threatening the United States’ global leadership in STEM education.

How can these challenges be addressed? In a series of clear-eyed essays in the Winter 2019 Issues in Science and Technology, Lida Beninson, Frazier Benya, Tom Rudin, and Layne Scherer present compelling pathways toward sustainable, systemic, inclusive, institutional change.

What are the implications of this history for ongoing efforts to deal with Alzheimer’s disease?  What does it say about investments in the study of health services, and innovations in health care delivery? As Congress provides new money to fund research, what lessons can help guide the next generation of public investments?

To celebrate the publication of the Fall 2018 Issues in Science and Technology, ASU professor Robert Cook-Deegan, author of “Progress Against Alzheimer’s Disease?” and an OTA alum,will talk with Zaven Khachaturian, editor-in-chief of Alzheimer’s & Dementia and former director of the Office of Alzheimer Research at the National Institutes of Health. Join us for a fascinating look at the current state of and future opportunities for Alzheimer’s treatment and care.

This workshop seeks to provide a platform for multidisciplinary perspectives on “data”. Digital data has traditionally been defined as “bits and bytes”; it was not information, and it was not knowledge or wisdom. There is no doubt that data drives decision making in corporations; a process of transformation into something other than bits and bytes sheds light on short term and long-term structural objectives. Today there are machine-to-machine communications, without a human in the loop. What are some of the social implications of such systems? What is the role of the human in an increasingly technocratic society? How can we leverage data for human and environmental sustainability? How is narrative important to our future(s)? The Workshop will invite stakeholders of all types to participate in activities, allowing them to return to their workplaces to ask the same questions and the same challenges elicited in the Workshop.

SRM research, with its potential for irreversible changes to a complex global system, is controversial and raises many questions. One of the most critical of these questions is the governance of SRM research: how should decisions governing this research be made, by whom, and with what objectives? CSPO and the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment, within American University’s School of International Service, invites you to a conversation about FCEA’s latest report, “Governing Solar Radiation Management.” Join us to learn about the conclusions of the report and hear members of the Working Group reflect on the process of crafting this consensus document while also providing critical feedback on the report.

“The proper study of mankind is man,” Alexander Pope famously wrote in 1733. But award-winning journalist Lisa Margonelli’s new book, Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology, tells us that the proper study of mankind might very well be termites. In telling this tale of what science is learning about termites, Margonelli is really pursuing deeper questions about science and humanity itself, to ask, “How do we know what we know?” and even “How do we know who we are?” Underbug is a wise, funny, disquieting, and hopeful portrayal of how humanity’s quest for knowledge about the world around us is also a mirror on our inner selves.

Join Lisa Margonelli and National Public Radio science reporter Richard Harris in a discussion of Underbug, followed by a book signing. Books will be available for purchase.

Join us for the launch of the Summer 2018 Issues in Science and Technology!

How can climate adaptation become a national priority?

Bruce Guile, president and cofounder of the New Advisory Group, and Raj Pandya, the founding director of the Thriving Earth Exchange at the American Geophysical Union, will address exactly that question. They will discuss “Adapting to Global Warming: Four National Priorities,” their clear-eyed assessment of the policy steps needed to use human ingenuity to confront climate change.

Please join us as these experts bring decades of experience in climate policy to bear on the urgent question of how best to adapt to a warmer future.

Join us for the launch of the Winter 2018 Issues in Science and Technology!

Charles Herrick and Ana Unruh Cohen will discuss how US greenhouse gas regulations affect the coal industry and other energy sectors. They will look at what other factors have led to a decline in the country’s coal use, and how these forces might shape US energy production in the future.

Please join us as these experts explore past and present environmental regulations in the United States, and what the current situation could mean for the future.