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.”
Speaker
Frances C. Moore is an Associate Professor and the Hurlstone Presidential Chair in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California Davis, working at the intersection of environmental economics and climate science. Her research seeks to improve our knowledge of the economic and social impacts of climate change and to better understand our ability to adapt to those impacts. To do this she combines econometric analysis, climate model output, and structural modeling. Her work has appeared in Nature, Science, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as well as top environmental and agricultural economics journals. From 2022-2023 she served as Senior Economist covering climate and environment issues at the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. Dr. Moore holds a PhD in Environment and Resources and an MA in Economics from Stanford University, a MESc. from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a B.A., summa cum laude, in Earth and Planetary Science from Harvard University.
