Press release:

Ethics Group Joins Military Technology Consortium
Policy issues arising from cyberweapons, robotics, neuroscience, and more

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—April 4, 2011—The Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at Cal Poly announced that it is now an institutional member of the Consortium for Emerging Technologies, Military Operations, and National Security (CETMONS).

CETMONS is focused on military and national security issues arising in this era of unprecedented and complex technological evolution. Some of the technologies of interest include nanotechnology, neurotechnology, human enhancements, robotics, cyberweapons, nonlethal weapons, and others.

With the institutional membership, Dr. Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, will join the consortium’s executive board, which has responsibility for CETMONS programs and activities, such as research, teaching, outreach, public service, and policy development. Dr. Lin has been active in CETMONS as a group associate since 2009, as an ethics fellow at the US Naval Academy.

“We’re excited about our expanded role in CETMONS,” said Dr. Lin. “Our collaborative work has already resulted in, for instance, a (forthcoming) journal paper in Columbia Science and Technology Law Review on military robots and a grant from The Greenwall Foundation to study military human enhancements—so we expect more great things from this relationship. The need for an organization like CETMONS has never been more urgent, given the difficult times and the accelerating progress of critical, game-changing technologies.”

Founded by ethics centers at Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, and US Naval Academy, CETMONS includes researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame, Rutgers University, US Naval Postgraduate School, US Air Force Academy, and Australian National Defence University. Beyond academia, CETMONS also includes senior personnel from General Dynamics, US Navy Office of Strategic Systems Programs, and the Pentagon. For more information about the consortium, please visit http://www.cetmons.org.

ABOUT US
Based at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group is a non-partisan research and educational organization focused on the risk, ethical, and social impacts of emerging technologies. Current projects and interests are related to issues in robotics, human enhancement, nanotechnology, space development, geoengineering, and other areas. Please visit us at http://ethics.calpoly.edu or http://www.emergingethics.com.

Patrick Lin, Ph.D., Director
palin [at] calpoly.edu