Technology Archives - Polycrisis

Reboot Development : The Economics of a Livable Planet

This report explores how economic growth has historically been linked to rising pollution and environmental degradation. It argues that new data and technologies now enable more informed policymaking and make it possible to decouple growth from environmental harm. It examines the economic stakes of planetary health, the environmental impacts of two defining twenty-first-century trends and […]

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Public Attitudes to Responding to Global Catastrophic Risks: A New Zealand Case Study

This paper examines public opinion on the New Zealand government’s potential role in planning for global catastrophic risks. Based on a representative survey, 66% of respondents supported the government developing specific plans to address catastrophic risks, and 60% supported establishing a dedicated commission or agency. Support was positively associated with age, education, income, and trust

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Dimensional characterization and Pathway Modeling for Catastrophic AI Risks

This paper examines catastrophic AI risks using a framework that combines seven risk dimensions: intent, competency, entity, polarity, linearity, reach, and order, along with risk pathway modelling to link hazards to harms. It analyzes six major risk types: Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN); cyber offence; sudden and gradual loss of control; environmental; and geopolitical.

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Generative AI as intellectual augmentation for the polycrisis/metacrisis

In this webinar, Simon Buckingham Shum explores how generative AI intersects with the escalating global polycrisis, discussing how AI is both part of the problem and potentially part of the solution in addressing systemic challenges, while showcasing emerging examples particularly relevant to higher education.

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Artificial Intelligence in the Polycrisis: Fueling or Fighting Flames?

The authors explore how artificial intelligence is increasingly entangled with the polycrisis. Using the Anthropocene Traps framework, they examine 14 self-reinforcing structural dynamics to reveal how artificial intelligence can both exacerbate and help address these crises. While artificial intelligence supports data collection, efficiency, and ecological research, it also fuels unsustainable growth imperatives, infrastructure lock-ins, and

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Top Risk 2024

The report presents an annual forecast of the political risks that are most likely to play out over the course of 2024.

Global Catastrophic Risk Assessment

This report summarizes what is known about the risks associated with six threats and hazards: artificial intelligence, asteroid and comet impacts, sudden and severe changes to Earth’s climate, nuclear war, severe pandemics, and supervolcanoes.

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