The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Arnulf Grubler’s research and teaching interests focus on the interplay between energy and technology systems and their implications on the environment, in particular on climate change. Both his research and teaching embrace a truly long-term view. He has studied major transitions in energy and technology systems that occurred during the last 300 years and is also an energy/environment futurist serving as lead author for the two major 100-year scenario studies available to date: The World Energy Council (WEC) study on Global Energy Perspectives and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Other recent books include Technology and Global Change, and Technological Change and the Environment. Prof. Grubler is a resident faculty member every fall term at Yale University. The remainder of the year he is senior research scholar at IIASA, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.
This event is part of the Energy Technology Innovation Project Speaker Series and the Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Prosperity seminar, jointly sponsored by BCSIA’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and CID’s Science, Environment, and Development Program. All events are open to the public.