Ahead of the Curve // John J. Reilly Center // University of Notre Dame

Ahead Of The Curve: Anticipating Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues Posed by Emerging Weapons Technologies
April 22-23, 2014

University of Notre Dame
Patrick F. McCartan Courtroom, Eck Hall of Law

Click here to see videos from the conference

"Ahead of the Curve" will provide a forum to discuss the "action-oriented" chapters of the soon-to-be-released National Academy of Science's report, "Emerging and Readily Available Technologies and National Security." The report was commissioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in order to begin a discussion about the conduct and applications of research on military technology as well as their unforseen and inadvertant consequences. Speakers will include members of the NAS committee that wrote the report, along with distinguished experts on the ethics, law, and social impacts of new weapons technologies and representatives of agencies and organizations that are home to cutting-edge weapons research. Presentations will address the ethical, legal, and societal issues that policy makers, researchers, and industries need to anticipate as new technologies arise, specifically in fields such as robotics, autonomous systems, prosthetics and human enhancement, cyber weapons, information warfare technologies, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. Our primary goal is to help government agencies, institutions, and researchers grow the expertise necessary for early and continuing engagement with the ethical, legal, and societal implications of new weapons technologies as they are planned and developed. We also aim to generate a broad public audience for the NAS report, this being an area in which public education is necessary, as is elevating the level of factually well-informed, public discourse.

Click here for the conference program.

Featuring:

Dr. Steven H. Walker - Deputy Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff USAF (Ret.) - Committee Member and Adjunct Professor, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values
Dr. Herb Lin - Committee Director and Chief Scientist at the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council of the National Academies

Download the conference poster here.
Purchase or download for free the NAS report here.
E-mail us at aheadofthecurveND@gmail.com with any questions.

The conference is sponsored and hosted by Notre Dame’s Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, with co-sponsorship from the Notre Dame School of Law, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Notre Dame International Security Program.

Conference program

Monday Evening - April 21

Opening Reception (by invitation only)
Location: Morris Inn, Salon A

(All regular sessions will be held in the McCartan Courtroom in the Eck Hall of Law)

Tuesday - April 22

9:00:

Welcome and Official Opening

9:15:

Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff (USAF, Ret.), University of Notre Dame: Opening Keynote Lecture: “The DARPA Sponsored National Academy Study of ELSI and Emerging Technologies: An Opportunity for Historically Important Change”

(Chair: Don Howard, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, Notre Dame)

10:30:

Herb Lin, National Academy of Science: “Where Technology Meets Policy and Ethics: The National Academies as Advisers to the Nation"

(Chair: Michael Desch, Notre Dame International Security Program and Department of Political Science)

12:00 - 13:30: Lunch break

13:30: Panel of Committee Members and Report Consumers

Herb Lin, Robert Latiff, Michael Imperiale, Kenneth Oye, Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, James Moor, Ruth David, Patrick Carrick
Reflections on the Report

(Moderator: Gerard Powers, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame)

15:00: Synthetic Biology

Michael Imperiale, University of Michigan Medical School: “Scientific and Ethical Considerations of Synthetic Biology”
Kenneth Oye, Political Science and Engineering Systems, MIT “Comments”

(Chair: Carolyn Nordstrom, Department of Anthropology, Notre Dame)

16:30: Cyberconflict

Randall Dipert, Philosophy, University at Buffalo: "The Moral Status of 'Hacking Into' a Website, Computer, or Network: Perfidy, Deception, Trespass or...?"
Scott Shackelford, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University: “Cyber Conflict and Cyber Security”

(Chair: Mary Ellen O’Connell, Law School, Notre Dame)

19:00 Banquet for invited conference participants and guests

19:00 PM Cocktails - Hesburgh Dining Room, Morris Inn
19:30 PM Dinner - Joyce Dining Room, Morris Inn

Wednesday - April 23

9:00: Drones

James Moor, Philosophy, Dartmouth University: “The Explosion of Drones and Policy Vacuums”

(Chair: Charles Pence, History and Philosophy of Science, Notre Dame)

10:30:

Britt Holbrook, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech: “Institutionalizing Reflection: Can We Design a Mechanism to Harness Ethics Expertise?”

(Chair: Justin Biddle, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study)

12:00 - 13:30: Lunch break

13:30:

George Lucas, Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School: “Operationalizing Ethics in Military Research & Development: A Review and Critique on the National Academies of Science & Engineering Report”

~~(Chair: Melinda Gormley, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, Notre Dame)~~

Cancelled due to travel issues. A discussion panel will take place during this time slot.

15:00:

Shannon Vallor, Philosophy, Santa Clara University: “The Institution of Practical Wisdom: Cultivating Organizational ELSI Expertise”

(Chair: Edward Jurkowitz, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, Notre Dame)

16:30:

Steven Walker, DARPA - Closing Keynote Address: “DARPA: Fifty-six Years of Creating and Preventing Technological Surprise and Why That Matters to Our Society”