Prospicience (Looking Ahead) and Geoengineering

(PEI series Pt 3)
Speaker: Robert Socolow, Co-Director, The Carbon Mitigation Initiative and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
Discussant: Dr. Bennett Foddy, Harold T. Shapiro Postdoctoral Fellow in Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University (Oct 14, 2008 at Princeton University)

Prospicience (The Art and Science of Looking Ahead) and Geoengineering: What If We Can Dial Our Future?

As we gain understanding of the workings of our planet, we are identifying planetary-scale interventions (like injecting reflecting particles into the stratosphere) that might compensate for the unprecedented changes human actions are already creating. Suppose side effects are judged to be tolerable and ground rules for governance are developed that all nations accept. We are still left with questions about objectives: What planetary state should we seek? Should we intervene, even if we can? A textured understanding of our long-term future as a species is needed. Might this be the territory of philosophy?

This is part three of a 5-part "Ethics and Climate Change" series sponsored by the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) and the University Center for Human Values.

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