Oxford Events, the new replacement for OxTalks, will launch on 16th March. From now until the launch of Oxford Events, new events cannot be published or edited on OxTalks while all existing records are migrated to the new platform. The existing OxTalks site will remain available to view during this period.
From 16th, Oxford Events will launch on a new website: events.ox.ac.uk, and event submissions will resume. You will need a Halo login to submit events. Full details are available on the Staff Gateway.
Individual human psychology is ill-equipped to responsibly manage extremely powerful technology, such as nuclear weapons, synthetic biology, or advanced artificial intelligence. Our ongoing research explores the psychological tendencies that could lead humans to (accidentally) harm millions of individuals. In particular, we will explore the so-called unilateralist’s curse: situations in which actors can single-handedly impose a (dangerous) outcome on everyone. Many high-stakes decisions share this structure; it only takes one smallpox researcher to publish the virus’ genome, one government to allow radical climate geoengineering, and one policymaker to veto a unanimous motion. In these cases, are people too inclined to impose outcomes on others unilaterally, and if so, why? And how can we design psychologically-informed policies to minimize catastrophic risks from reckless human behavior?
