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.”
Biography
Michael Falcone is a historian of the U.S. and the world whose research examines the connections between science, technology, and global power in the twentieth century. His book project, The Rocket's Red Glare: Transatlantic Technology and the Rise of American Global Power, analyzes the role of British knowledge and technology in the U.S.'s rise to hegemony, as well as the ways in which technology came to redefine notions of empire, aid, diplomacy, and development in the twentieth century, both in the Global North and Global South. Michael has previously held fellowships at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College and International Security Studies at Yale University. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2019.
Recent work:
- Roundtable discussion: "Stephen Wertheim’s Tomorrow, the World" H-Diplo, January 17, 2022 https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/9534104/h-diplo-roundtable-xxiii-20-wertheim%C2%A0-tomorrow-world-birth-us
- Op-ed: "What Should the U.S. Do With Its Surplus Vaccines? Follow the Playbook It Used During WWII" Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2021
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-03-31/vaccine-surplus-export-biden
- "A Farewell to Arms: Review of Samuel Zipp's The Idealist" New Rambler Review, October 2020 https://newramblerreview.com/book-reviews/history/a-farewell-to-arms
Last Updated: Sep 5, 2022, 2:41pmAwards
Contact
Email: mfalcone@hks.harvard.edu
Mailing Address:
79 John F Kennedy Street
Mailbox 134
Cambridge, Massachusetts