Carnegie Council Audio Podcast

Heather M. Roff, senior research analyst at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, thinks some researchers are having the wrong conversations about AI. Instead of wondering whether AI will ever be a moral agent, we should be focused on how to program the technology to be "morally safe, right, correct, justifiable." What are some practical uses for AI today? How can it be used responsibly in the military realm?

University of Washington's Professor Stephen Gardiner discusses the ethics of climate change from intergenerational, political, and personal perspectives. Should individuals feel bad for using plastic straws or eating meat? What should the UN and its member states do? And how can older generations make up for "a massive failure in leadership" that has led, in part, to the current crisis?

Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), gives an update on his team's work after a busy week in New York. In the wake of troubling IPCC reports on climate change's effect on the oceans and land use, what more can the UN do? What are the challenges of nature-based solutions? And how should we handle climate change fatigue, individually and on a societal level?

University of Hawaii's Professor Maxine Burkett discusses climate change from a legal perspective in this timely conversation. What are some strategies that island nations like Kiribati can pursue? How can we work to protect climate migrants? And, as the UN General Assembly meets in New York, what should international organizations be doing?

Can new developments in solar technology put the United States on track to produce 50 percent of its energy with renewables by 2030? What global citizen actions need to be undertaken to help reach this goal? Eban Goodstein, director of Bard Center for Environmental Policy, answers these questions and more in this hopeful and informative talk.

Despite progress over the last year, Donald Trump effectively ended the latest round of U.S.-Taliban negotiations with a tweet earlier this month. Will talks continue in a more understated way? Does this change anything on the ground in Afghanistan? And what is the Taliban doing in Moscow? Jonathan Cristol, author of "The United States and the Taliban before and after 9/11," discusses all this and more.

During the "Red Summer" of 1919 dozens of race riots flared up across the U.S., but the anti-African American violence in Chicago stood out because of scale and social and political significance. University of Chicago's Professor Adam Green details the causes, the tragic events, and the aftermath in this riveting discussion. How did the riot affect the city's development for decades to come? How does it tie into questions about democracy and the end of World War I?

Ahead of the Climate Strike rallies on September 20, Bard College's Brian Mateo discusses the Climate Reality Project, founded by Vice President Al Gore, and how it has informed his work regarding environmental activism and education. Why has Greta Thunberg's Climate Strike been so successful? How can protests turn into concrete policies?

In this timely talk, SIPA's Professor Michael Doyle details the Model International Mobility Convention, a "hypothetical ideal convention" developed to define a "comprehensive and coherent" set of regulations for the movement of people across borders. Why was it so important to account for tourists alongside refugees and migrant workers? How does this document represent a "realistic utopia"?

Chennai, one of India's largest cities, is facing an ongoing water crisis due to drought and mismanagement. Senior Fellow Kavitha Rajagopalan explains how it got to this point and gives some important background on the city and the state of Tamil Nadu. Is climate change to blame? How does it connect to Indian politics and culture? And, beyond water trucks and desalination, how can Chennai solve this existential problem?

As the 2020 election begins to come into focus, Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev details the foreign policy cleavages in the Democratic Party. Plus, referencing Nahal Toosi's recent article in "Politico," he discusses the worries that many in Europe have about a Trump reelection or a progressive candidate who also questions the status quo. What's the view from abroad on this turbulent time in American politics?

What role should ethics play in the U.S.-China trade war? Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev looks at these economic tensions in the context of the Uyghur detention and the Hong Kong protests, different theories on integrating China into the world economy, and what it could mean to "lose" in this conflict. Is there a breaking point in terms of China's human rights policies? What's the view in Africa and Europe?

Mathias Risse, director of Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, discusses the many connections between artificial intelligence and human rights. From practical applications in the criminal justice system to unanswered philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness, how should we talk about the ethics of this ever-changing technology?

Catherine Stihler, CEO of Open Knowledge Foundation, talks about how she is working toward an "open world where all non-personal information is free for everyone to use, build on, and share." As a former member of European Parliament, she also details the role that governments can play. What would a "fair, free, and open future" look like? What effect is today's divisive political atmosphere having on this goal?

When the United States launched a massive cyberattack against Iran last month, it heralded "a new age of Internet warfare," says cybersecurity expert Arun Vishwanath. How could cyber-based conflicts change the nature of the Internet? Why is the U.S. especially vulnerable to these threats? And what would a "digital Geneva Convention" look like?

Is China becoming an immigrant society? Why do foreigners move to the country? What can we learn by studying Shanghai's international community? James Farrer, a professor at Tokyo's Sophia University, has interviewed over 400 migrants to China looking to answer these questions. He and Senior Fellow Devin Stewart discuss immigration's impact on Chinese culture and whether foreigners can ever really fit in.

Hamilton College's Maurice Isserman and historian Ted Widmer discuss American socialism in the early 1900s and the influence of Eugene Debs, a politician and trade unionist who received nearly a million votes for president in 1912. How did this movement influence Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement? What's the difference between Debs and Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

Historian Ted Widmer tells the fascinating story of the United States Census, from its pre-Declaration of Independence origins up to the citizenship question controversy of the 2020 edition. As the Civil War, westward expansion, and new technology changed America, how did it change the Census? And with the Trump administration politicizing the count, what are the stakes for all U.S. residents and future versions?

King's College's Giulio Pugliese and Senior Fellow Devin Stewart discuss the political climate in Italy, with the Northern League and the Five Star Movement representing various types of dissatisfaction with the status quo, and China's increasing interest in the nation via its Belt and Road Initiative. What could Italy get out of this relationship? What kinds of concerns do Italians have about Xi Jinping's China?

Washington State's Matthew Avery Sutton tells the story of a Minneapolis pastor named William Belly Riley and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the post-World War I years. From concerns about FDR and the New Deal to the Trump administration's anti-Obamacare rhetoric--and a consistently "apocalyptic worldview"--Sutton and historian Ted Widmer trace the influence of this movement over the past century.