Key topics: developments on the international disarmament scene with major implications for British Pugwash; Trident and the General Election; the Disarmament Institute (BRINDI); science and ethics, including the military robotics debate; UK and European energy policy. Read or download the report (pdf)
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The ethics of developing technologies
Two lines of work, on the ethics of military robotics and the potential development of autonomous weapons, have developed since 2013. These issues are highly relevant to Pugwash’s concern with ethical and humanitarian constraints on the conduct of warfare.
British Pugwash Annual Report 2013
Key topics: Trident renewal, NPT Reaching Consensus project, the Disarmament Institute (BRINDI), and continued work on verification of disarmament; new science and ethics focus on the military robotics debate; developing work on UK energy policy; International Pugwash 60th conference
Science, Politics and Ethics – Are they compatible?
It is a central purpose of Pugwash to communicate with governments about ethical issues that arise from professional scientific activity. In a talk on 28 November 2007 at UCL, Tony Benn reflected on this from a lifetime of political experience.
Bending the Rules – Morality in the Modern World – From Relationships to Politics and War
Robert Hinde, Bending the Rules: Morality in the Modern World – From Relationships to Politics and War, Oxford University Press, 2007. In this book, Robert Hinde explores a deeper understanding of morality based on the behavioural sciences.
Dark Materials
Nuclear scientist Joseph Rotblat campaigned against the atom bomb he had helped unleash. Is it time for today’s cyber scientists to heed his legacy? Essay by Martin Rees, The Guardian, 10 June 2006