The Next 100 Years: George Friedman

New book released by George Friedman, CEO of Stratfor.

Broad Use of Brain Boosters?

Adderall

Off-label use of stimulants, such as Ritalin, is on the rise among college students. Studies show that 5 percent to 15 percent of students use prescription drugs as study aids, and surveys suggest the practice may be common among academics as well. The trend has sparked debates over how and when these cognitive enhancers should be used. Military personnel routinely use stimulants while on active duty, but should that practice also be permitted among surgeons working long shifts? What about scientists working late nights in the lab? Or students taking exams?

Source: Technology Review. See also “Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy” in Nature.

Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers that ‘won’t commit war crimes’

The American military is planning to build robot soldiers that will not be able to commit war crimes like their human comrades in arms.

The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately.

By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into “autonomous systems”, the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.

Source: The Telegraph.