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Cyberwarfare ethics, or how Facebook could accidentally make its engineers into targets

If they participate in military cyberoperations—intentionally or not—could employees at Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and many other tech firms be considered “civilians directly participating in hostilities” and therefore legitimate targets of war? 

Nuclear weapons sharing, 2023

This Nuclear Notebook issue examines the current state of global nuclear sharing arrangements, which include non-nuclear countries that possess nuclear-capable delivery systems for employment of a nuclear-armed state's nuclear weapons.

How YouTube was recommending kids’ videos to pedophiles

YouTube’s recommendation engine is an artificial-intelligence-based system designed to automatically push users videos that stand a good chance of keeping them on the platform longer. It’s been in the news a lot this year. In January, for instance, YouTube tweaked its system in response to criticism that the recommendation engine led users to conspiracy videos … Continued
Luddites marching into the future

Rage against the machine owners: Brian Merchant on Luddite lessons for 21st-century technology

The Luddite struggle can help us understand how wealth and power can become concentrated in the hands of a few at the expense of many.

Nuclear Notebook: Israeli nuclear weapons, 2022

This issue of the Nuclear Notebook examines Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which we estimate includes a stockpile of roughly 90 warheads. Israel neither officially confirms nor denies that it possesses nuclear weapons, and our estimate is therefore largely based on calculations of Israel’s stockpile of weapon-grade plutonium and its inventory of operational nuclear-capable delivery systems.
airplane on tarmac

Krypton 85 monitoring: Solution to clandestine reprocessing

One of the many obstacles to reaching an arms-control agreement with North Korea revolves around the risk that undeclared, clandestine nuclear facilities might exist in that country, which—if they remain undetected—would allow the Kim Jong-un regime to maintain and continue its military nuclear ambitions. It is therefore very important that any agreed-upon denuclearization of the … Continued

What would Russia nuke?

  Last week, Reuters reported that a Russian television broadcast had identified five targets in the United States that Moscow would strike if nuclear war broke out. Although a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin denied naming specific sites, the broadcast appeared on Russian state TV and included a video narrated by Dmitry Kiselyov, who … Continued
A satellite image of China's demonstration plutonium reprocessing plant.

Pinpointing China’s new plutonium reprocessing plant

In 2015, China began construction on a new plutonium reprocessing facility. Until now, it’s exact location had not been publicly identified.
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Tech workers revolt

Employees of Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other tech companies are getting vocal about not wanting their work weaponized.

How to respond to science-denial trolls

The subject of climate change always attracts online attacks. Here are a few ways to keep online discussion safe and civil. 

No, we don’t need a “Manhattan Project” to fight the coronavirus pandemic

Comparing today’s coronavirus response with a 75-year-old secret government project probably won’t be a call to action for young people.
An AI system described the Wu-Tang Clan as a baseball players.

How to make AI less racist

A prominent dataset of images that researchers used to train artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to recognize objects was taken down after a scholarly paper revealed that some of the categories it contained were labeled with offensive terms for women and minorities. The story highlights how bias can creep into the AI development cycle at various points.
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The many retrospectives

A look at the many attempts, past and present, to put the atomic bombings into perspective
Great Wall of China, partial silhouette

US-China rivalry: When great power competition endangers global science

Science won’t be able to solve global issues without US-China scientific collaboration.

Will AI make us crazy?

Coverage of the risks and benefits of AI have paid scant attention to how chatbots might affect public health at a time when depression, suicide, anxiety, and mental illness are epidemic in the United States. But mental health experts and the healthcare industry view AI mostly as a promising tool, rather than a potential threat to mental health.

North Korea from 30,000 feet

The first publicly available overhead imagery that suggested North Korea was constructing a new nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon complex appeared on November 4, 2010. Charles L. Pritchard, a former special envoy for negotiations with North Korea and the president of the Korea Economic Institute, along with a delegation from the institute provided the first confirmation of this construction after a visit to Yongbyon that week.
Tiananmen Square.

Censorship 101: China’s young censors first have to learn about forbidden topics 

Li Chengzhi, a young college graduate in Chengdu, China, shows up to each of his work shifts at a bright new office in “the heart of a high-tech” part of town. But Li’s job isn’t to harness the power of new technology to change the world–it’s to maintain the status quo. Li is one of … Continued
DeepMind’s David Silver speaks to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about games, beauty, and AI’s potential to avert human-made disasters. Photo provided by David Silver and used with permission.

DeepMind’s David Silver on games, beauty, and AI’s potential to avert human-made disasters

DeepMind’s David Silver is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society and recipient of the Mensa Foundation Prize for the best scientific discovery in the field of artificial intelligence. In this from-the-heart interview, I talk with Silver about games, the meaning of creativity, and AI’s potential to avert disasters such as climate change, human-made pathogens, mass poverty, and environmental catastrophe.
Boris Johnson

How to trash confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine: Brexit edition

Brexit politics, tabloids, corporate dissembling—and French President Emmanuel Macron—almost tanked confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine.

Lost without you: The Bulletin’s best maps of 2022

Lost without you: The Bulletin’s best maps of 2022 Illustration by Erik English By Erik English | December 27, 2022 The year 2022 brought a lot of change to the global landscape. Armed conflict resurfaced in Europe; natural disasters took lives through flooding, starvation, and heat waves; and old rivalries were reignited. The Bulletin has tried … Continued