Science & Technology

A future where A.I.s interpret, apply, and enforce most laws at societal scale like this will exponentially magnify problems around fairness, transparency, and freedom, warn Jonathon W. Penney and Bruce Schneier.

As inventions go, the Internet stacks up with the best of them: the lightbulb, the automobile, even fire. In its first thirty years, the Internet’s worldwide adoption and breadth of application has exceeded any other technological advance in history. It expands our reach by bringing people, experiences, and things to us with the click of a mouse. It connects us to an increasing number of gadgets, from smartphones to voice kiosks and soon self-driving vehicles that will no doubt converse with us while we commute, happily oblivious to the traffic around us. We revel in our newfound agility and versatility. Importantly, our precious network kept us sane during a worldwide pandemic and enabled the world to work remotely while most of its population was frozen at home. For resilience against catastrophes alone, the Internet has become indispensable.

On December 1st, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project hosted its third and last panel Policymaking in Web3 as part of a three-part Perspectives in Web3 Virtual Series. It was joined by legal scholars, lawyers and policy researchers who work at the forefront of this domain, including Primavera De Filippi, Research Director at the National Center of Scientific Research and Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society; Connor Spelliscy, Executive Director of the DAO Research Collective; Miles Jennings, General Counsel and Head of Decentralization of a16z Crypto; David Kerr, Principal of Cowrie LLC; and Lindsey Kelleher, Senior Policy Manager at Blockchain Association.

On November 17th, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project hosted its second panel Investing in Web3 as part of a three-part Perspectives in Web3 Virtual Series. It was an especially timely discussion given the series of events which have unfolded over the last few weeks surrounding the collapse of FTX, formerly the second largest centralized crypto exchange platform. Joining the conversation wereNick Ducoff of G20 Ventures,Lauren Stephanianof Pantera Capital, andBrandon Hoffmanof Sunset Ventures. This blog serves as an event recap and outlines some key takeaways from the event.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speak with political scientist Erica Chenoweth, who studies civil resistance movements, about the protests China and Iran.

Ivan Arreguin-Toft analyzes the West's information technology asymmetry of capability, which has given way to asymmetry of vulnerability. While democracies worldwide remain threatened, they also contain the means to restore themselves.

While the buzzwords and acronyms related to web3 have received a lot of attention and hype, in this piece, we look at what they really mean and why they matter. We start with a macro-lens on the societal trends that have contributed to the growth in this space, dive into “web3” and decentralized autonomous organizations, or "DAOs," and identify a few areas for further research.  

The Gazette spoke with Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Kennedy School and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Chenoweth studies mass protest movements, civil resistance, and political violence, and is the author of "Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know." 

The global demand for desalinated water is increasing at a remarkable rate. In a future with increasing demand for water and low-carbon electricity, an interesting ecological dilemma emerges. In a decarbonized world, providing desalinated water for domestic use and aquatic ecological restoration could increasingly come at the expense of open space lost to renewables such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines. In this article we examine the environmental tradeoffs of providing freshwater from desalination under a solar photovoltaic-based decarbonization strategy, using Israel as an example.

Joel Clement writes that because the Biden administration  has moved to repair the damage done by the Trump administration, colleagues from around the global Arctic are optimistic once again about partnering with America on solutions to regional crises .