In October 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Michael Mastanduno, Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and Dr Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.

Artificial Intelligence is not only a generational technology, but also a general purpose technology—one that has outsized potential to transform societies and economies globally.

In this talk based on her new book, Mirca Madianou will argue that digital innovations such as biometrics and chatbots engender new forms of violence and entrench power asymmetries between the global south and north.

Conversations around AI tend to focus on the future dangers, but what about the damage AI is inflicting on people right now?

Birch's new book, The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI, constructs a precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty.

Across the world, populist agendas on both the left and right threaten to undermine fundamental principles that underpin liberal democracies, what were previously seen as virtues of the ‘Open Society’ are now, seen as vices, dangers, or threats.

Decarbonisation of the transportation sector is a vital component in achieving the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. Consequently, governments around the world are pushing forward the transition away from combustion engine to electric vehicles.

Public anxiety about children’s digital lives and wellbeing is reaching a fever pitch, marking a notable turnaround from the decades-long efforts to ensure children are fully digitally included, literate and empowered.

What is hypnosis? Can everyone be hypnotised? Does being able to hypnotise other people change how you see the world?

African cities are under construction. Beyond the urban redevelopment schemes and large-scale infrastructure projects reconfiguring central city skylines, urban residents are putting their resources into finding land and building homes on city edges.