Goin' to California for a pair of conferences

Later this week I'll be off to Mountain View CA for a pair of conferences: the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies' symposium on Global Catastrophic Risks: Building a Resilient Civilization, followed by Humanity+'s Convergence08.

I'll be giving a talk at the IEET event on Friday November 14 titled, "Democracy in danger: Catastrophic threats and the rise of political extremism." The purpose of my presentation will be to examine the role that existential and catastrophic threats will have in influencing the rise of political extremism and the potential for extremism to:

emerge and play a pivotal role in future geopolitics and human organization

erode democratic institutions and ideals

facilitate or instigate catastrophes (either through influence, action or inaction)

prevent catastrophes and help with disaster recovery

represent existential risks unto themselves

Other speakers at the Global Catastrophic Risks conference will include:

Anders Sandberg PhD, Oxford University: “Global Catastrophic Risks: An Overview, and Caution about Risk Assessments”

Eliezer Yudkowsky, Research Associate. Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence: “Cognitive Biases in the Assessment of Risk”

Feng Hsu PhD, Head, Integrated Risk Management, NASA: “Critical Issues of Global Catastrophic Risks - a Worst Case Scenario Assessment”

Martin Hellman PhD, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University: “Risk Analysis of Nuclear Deterrence”

Bruce Damer, CEO, DigitalSpace & Director, Contact Consortium: “Asteroids and Comets: Mitigating Impact Risks and Stepping Stones to a Sustainable Space Program”

Mike Treder, Executive Director, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology: “Nanotechnology’s Global Risk and Promises of Resilience”

Kattesh V. Katti PhD, Director, Cancer Nanotechnology Platform, Professor of Radiology, University of Missouri: “Green Nanotechnology: An Economic And Scientific Initiative For the Future Of Human Civilization”

Alan Goldstein PhD, CEO of Industrial Nanobiotechnology: “The A-Prize: Tracking The Global Race To Break The Carbon Barrier”

J. Storrs Hall PhD, author Beyond AI: “The Weather Machine: Nano-enabled Climate Control for the Earth”

Jamais Cascio, IEET Fellow, and research affiliate, Institute for the Future: “Building Civilizational Resilience”

James J. Hughes PhD, Exec. Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies: “Strengthening Transnational Governance to Mitigate Risks”

I hope to see you there!