Month: December 2024
War and International Politics (John Mearsheimer)
A video from the NDISC Seminar Series. John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He graduated from West Point (1970), has a PhD in political science from Cornell University (1981), and has written extensively about security issues …
Scientists discover a genetic blueprint that could revolutionize global food production: ‘More productive and resilient crops for the future.'(Laurelle Stelle)
To harness the power of the sun and make sugars for energy storage, plants use photosynthesis. But some plants are more efficient at it than others. For the first time, researchers have identified a key step in the transformation between old-fashioned C3 photosynthesis and new and improved C4 photosynthesis — which could lead to the …
Determining America’s Role in the World: Preserving Peace and Freedom (Hoover Institution)
Hoover Institution scholars offered practical and deeply informed policy analyses of international affairs in the turbulent year that was 2024, continuing the Institution’s tradition of advancing the study and practice of national security. The 2024 election brought additional focus to the question of what America’s proper role in the world ought to be, and Hoover …
Montana Supreme Court affirms decision in historic youth climate case (Micah Drew and Blair Miller)
Limit on analysis of greenhouse gas emissions is unconstitutional, court rules.The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a district court ruling in the nation’s first constitutional climate change trial, affirming that the youth plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment” while revoking two Montana statutes. The 70-page decision, authored by Chief Justice …
Generative AI and Political Power (Eugene Volokh)
As people come to rely on AI tools to answer questions, they will likely use those tools to answer political questions as well. The answers that the AI companies choose to provide, the author argues, may thus subtly but substantially influence public attitudes and, therefore, elections—especially to the extent Big Tech has been shifting from …
Misunderstanding AI’s Democracy Problem (Nathaniel Persily)
Undue panic over AI could harm democracy more than AI itself. The author suggests that exaggerating AI’s effects might undermine trust in all media, posing a greater threat than isolated disinformation incidents. He concludes that a democratic future for AI requires transparency, accountability, and significant public investment to guide technological development. Artificial intelligence amplifies the …
AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax (John H. Cochrane)
The author argues that law and regulation have never diagnosed and prevented social, political, and economic ills of new technology. AI is no different. AI regulation poses a greater threat to democracy than AI, as governments are anxious to use regulation to censor information. Free competition in civil society, media, and academia will address any …
Why the Military Can’t Trust AI: Large Language Models Can Make Bad Decisions—and Could Trigger Nuclear War (Max Lamparth and Jacquelyn Schneider)
In 2022, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses large language models to mimic human conversations and to answer users’ questions. The chatbot’s extraordinary abilities sparked a debate about how LLMs might be used to perform other tasks—including fighting a war. Although there is research by some, including Professor Yvonne McDermott Rees at Swansea University, …
Hoover and Stanford HAI Host Emerging Watchdogs At Conference To Confront Challenges Of Regulating Artificial Intelligence (Hoover Institution)
As artificial intelligence (AI) moves into the mainstream, the possibilities it creates—both positive and nefarious—are seemingly limitless. As artificial intelligence (AI) moves into the mainstream, the possibilities it creates—both positive and nefarious—are seemingly limitless. But the growth of AI capabilities comes with risk, from foolish generative fakery swaying elections to the creation of an all-powerful …