Forbidden Research Part 1
This is the first of a two-part series featuring coverage of the Forbidden Research conference, hosted by the MIT Media Lab earlier this month. According to their website, the conference ‘explores restricted scientific and cultural topics in the face of social and moral constraints - which requires a willingness to buck the rules, to disobey them conscientiously.’ See videos of Forbidden Research presentations here.
Jonas Brunschwig, project leader for academic relations, curated a selection of tweets from the event, which took place July 21, 2016.
#forbiddenML Forbidden Research day at the MIT Media Lab pic.twitter.com/KyT2Ex9Wcl
— Jeffrey Walker (@Walkerjc)
July 21, 2016
At MIT media Lab "Forbidden Research" conference. What"s on your list? geoengineering, crispr, etc #forbiddenml pic.twitter.com/ROHCT5kAIm
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado)
July 21, 2016
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION With Cory Doctorow, journalist and author, and co-editor of Boing Boing, Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, and Ethan Zuckerman, director at MIT Center for Civic Media.
An announcement from @Joi - a $250k disobedience prize funded by Reid Hoffman. #forbiddenML
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ)
July 21, 2016
"Restrictions on what we can research and what we can study are restrictions on an open society." @EthanZ #forbiddenml
— Aviva Hope Rutkin (@realavivahr)
July 21, 2016
"If we make it through today without you feeling uncomfortable then we've done something wrong." - @EthanZ #forbiddenML
— Sean Bonner XⓋX (@seanbonner)
July 21, 2016
Incredible thought provoking day at @medialab #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/EgvUpWc45X
— Viktoria Modesta (@VIKTORIAMODESTA)
July 21, 2016
Basic concept for the day: how to enable expression of personal ethics when they go against institutionalized ethics #forbiddenML
— Sam Weiss Evans (@SAWEvans)
July 21, 2016
.@Doctorow: Denialism--AIDS denial, climate denial--are big issues to hindering knowledge. #forbiddenml @medialab pic.twitter.com/mQ8DDrbuWI
— Matt Carroll (@MattAtMIT)
July 21, 2016
#forbiddenml pic.twitter.com/S9CA5zuRFO
— kim holleman (@Kiminbushwick)
July 21, 2016
“If you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for?”—@doctorow #Ham4ML #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
AGAINST THE LAW: Countering lawful abuses of digital surveillance With Andrew “bunny” Huang, author of Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering, and Edward Snowden.
The FBI argues that universal government access to personal devices is justified by the threat of terrorism, but around the world, digital surveillance is leading to the disappearance of journalists, human-rights workers, and dissidents. History tells us that many jurisdictions can secure easy access to court orders to monitor civil society, particularly those with poor records on human rights. Can researchers provide a means to protect the work of journalists that is more reliable than law, and what are the collateral risks?
.@Snowden: Law is no substitute for conscience. #forbiddenml @medialab pic.twitter.com/VIV0oNTVeA
— Matt Carroll (@MattAtMIT)
July 21, 2016
“The legality of a thing is quite distinct from the morality of it”—@Snowden #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
.@Snowden: Legal frameworks used to justify slavery, torture, surveillance. Lawful abuse. #forbiddenml
— Matt Carroll (@MattAtMIT)
July 21, 2016
.@Snowden: If you have phone in pocket, a long-lived record of your movements has been created. #forbiddenml
— Matt Carroll (@MattAtMIT)
July 21, 2016
.@snowden: advances of tech, diminishment of law – can cause tremendous amount of harm to individuals #forbiddenML
— CSMPasscode (@CSMPasscode)
July 21, 2016
.@Snowden: Why are so many journos getting killed? One good journalist can move the needle – and that makes them a target #forbiddenML
— CSMPasscode (@CSMPasscode)
July 21, 2016
1070 reasons to combat legal surveillance - 1070 journalists imprisoned globally for doing their job - @Snowden at #forbiddenML
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ)
July 21, 2016
.@snowden pointing out the same targeting of journalists that @MSF (and other) hospitals been dealing with in war zones. #ForbiddenML
— Willow Bruhaha (@willowbl00)
July 21, 2016
.@Snowden: Syrian army used electronic direction finding to walk the artillery fire and kill journalist Marie Colvin #forbiddenML
— Madars Virza (@MadarsV)
July 21, 2016
Can we detect if a phone is breaking the rules, sending information even when it says it isn't? @snowden #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
Edward Snowden is doing research on a "canary" for your devices that lets you know when you're being tracked vs truly off #forbiddenml
— Rob Passarella (@robpas)
July 21, 2016
Snowden Designs a Device to Warn If Your iPhone’s Radio Snitches - being announced now #forbiddenML https://t.co/xJO8yMI0sI
— Joi Ito (@Joi)
July 21, 2016
Goal of @Snowden and @bunniestudios's work - ensure you can turn the radios off and not be tracked. #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/1lVzqPslBy
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ)
July 21, 2016
The Introspection Engine, a hardware+software device to warn if the radios in your phone become active without your knowledge. #forbiddenML
— Novy-San (@novysan)
July 21, 2016
MESSING WITH NATURE PART I: Genetics With George Church, professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Kevin Esvelt, director of the Sculpting Evolution Research Group at MIT Media Lab, Megan Palmer, senior research scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, and Ryan Phelan, executive director and co-founder of Revive & Restore of the Long Now Foundation.
How do you innovate in a field of massive potential and risk? When it comes to genetically engineering living things, most of the technology being developed happens behind closed doors. How do we change the perception of science and genetic engineering with an emphasis on openness for the sake of safety, ethics, and cautionary vigilance - but continue to move forward? Who should be responsible for making “god-like” decisions that will ultimately affect our entire future as a society?
"Are we playing god or becoming as gods?" --- nice intro film for @geochurch and @kesvelt and @Ryanphelan6 #forbiddenml
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado)
July 21, 2016
The "Messing With Nature" panel at #forbiddenML asking e.g. should we eliminate all mosquitos that carry #malaria? pic.twitter.com/Umk55de50Q
— Sands Fish (@sandsfish)
July 21, 2016
@meganjpalmer notes the Half pipe of doom: we are simultaneously saving and destroying the world. Remember you’re doing both! #forbiddenML
— Sam Weiss Evans (@SAWEvans)
July 21, 2016
“When we engineer life, what does that say to other people? And what are the repercussions?”—@kesvelt #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
There's a difference between engineering a single organism in a laboratory, and altering many. @kesvelt #forbiddenML #crispr
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
“We are working to ensure that all work is done in the open… In medical research, we demand informed consent.”—@kesvelt #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
Theres nothing stopping me from building a gene drive system that alters entire populations right now. Thats a problem @kesvelt #forbiddenML
— Erin Brodwin (@erbrod)
July 21, 2016
What questions must we ask before releasing Lyme-resistant mice on Martha's Vineyard asks @medialab's Kevin Esvelt at #forbiddenML
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ)
July 21, 2016
is #extinction forever? Should it be? #DNA #deextinction #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/gHuqxZVFse
— Sands Fish (@sandsfish)
July 21, 2016
100 years ago, nobody believed we could eliminate a species forever. Can we use recoverable DNA for de-extinction? @Ryanphelan6 #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
the moral hazard: we might unleash a problem that ends of being an issue for future generations @Ryanphelan6 on deextinction #forbiddenML
— Erin Brodwin (@erbrod)
July 21, 2016
Ryan Phelan of https://t.co/N9TUN4o4iY explains & welcomes moral hazard arguments around De-extinction #forbiddenML
— Daphne Strassmann (@birdrobot)
July 21, 2016
George Church on gene therapy. How can we do good and be open? Who decides what is #good anyway? #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/e7gSs4Kp87
— Beth Zonis (@bethzonis)
July 21, 2016
And here comes the wooly Mammoth. God bless George Church. #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/AYYkidOdWe
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ)
July 21, 2016
"Genetics are perfectly reversible. Culture, that's much harder to change. Try to pry these [phones] away from us." @geochurch #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
This #forbiddenML conference is blowing my mind.
— harper (@harper)
July 21, 2016
George church mentions people giving selves gene therapy ahead of FDA approval #forbiddenml like this lady: https://t.co/c9LnhZ6UvM
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado)
July 21, 2016
If not today then by the end of the week you owe it to yourself to read about gene editing & the CRSPR #forbiddenML https://t.co/PToFH0uxyY
— Rob Passarella (@robpas)
July 21, 2016
Even the best experts working in their field can't reliably interpret the consequences of their work; the world is too complex #forbiddenML
— Robin Ruttle (@robinruttle)
July 21, 2016
"DIY Bio should be the ultimate in citizen science. It’s about yourself, your immediate environment” - @geochurch #forbiddenML
— Kipp Bradford (@kippworks)
July 21, 2016
"Who decides on the ideal human form?" Great questions about neural/ecological/biological #diversity and what we may preclude. #forbiddenML
— Sands Fish (@sandsfish)
July 21, 2016
Amazing question at #forbiddenml on eugenic possibility of genetic hacking. If we "fix" less prominent expressions, do we delete diversity?
— Josh Levinger (@jlev)
July 21, 2016
From the panel "80% of gender selection in the US by couples is female" I truly will be extinct 😉 #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/kIwX9jSQMH
— Rob Passarella (@robpas)
July 21, 2016
"Evolution is amoral. And it hasn't optimized for human or animal flourishing. Should *we* do that?" @kesvelt #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
Evolution didn't optimize for well-being. Should we now do that? (paraphrase) @kesvelt @medialab #forbiddenML
— Brady L. Hurlburt (@aninternetof)
July 21, 2016
MESSING WITH NATURE PART II: Climate With Stewart Brand, editor of Whole Earth Catalog and founder, the Long Now Foundation, David Keith, professor of Applied Physics at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Gernot Wagner, research associate at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and co-author of Climate Shock.
Geoengineering, or using technological interventions to address climate change, is much on the minds of scientists, policy makers and citizen groups. As our ability to “mess” with nature evolves from science fiction to reality, we are faced with serious questions about whether the possibility of success is worth the massive potential risks. Technologies for reflecting solar radiation back into space are being researched, but what will happen if we deploy them? Who should decide? Who will?
Totally a missed opportunity to call the Geo-Engineering Panel "Hack the Planet." h/t @andy_sellars #forbiddenML
— Kendra Albert (@KendraSerra)
July 21, 2016
Amusing start to geoengineering section of #forbiddenML gives a[n unintentional?] nod to Cold War military origins pic.twitter.com/O1LtPa9hcj
— Sam Weiss Evans (@SAWEvans)
July 21, 2016
"I'm an ex-environmentalist at this point thanks to how far they have gone with the precautionary principal" - @stewartbrand #ForbiddenML
— Sean Bonner XⓋX (@seanbonner)
July 21, 2016
"It's like a junkie, figuring out how to steal from his children." @stewartbrand quotes a critic of geoengineering #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
Precautionary principle:if you can think of anything bad that might happen, don't do it. Stewart Brand #forbiddenML pic.twitter.com/bpL1VoLw2I
— Walter De Brouwer (@walterdebrouwer)
July 21, 2016
“We have collectively decided we prefer ignorance, we have no active research programs.” David Keith on geoengineering. #forbiddenml
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado)
July 21, 2016
It is technically possible to make the earth more reflective should we solar geo engineer our planet—David Keith #forbiddenML and @medialab
— Will Carey (@VVillCarey)
July 21, 2016
adding sulfur to upper atmosphere, increase reflectivity, could restore preindustrial temperatures "for sure" -- David Keith #forbiddenml
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado)
July 21, 2016
“Solar geonengineering doesn’t get us out of the need to bring emissions to 0… it complements those efforts” @DKeithClimate #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
There is no question that we mess w/ nature, the question is whether we do it intentionally, in a way that is democratic + open #forbiddenML
— Robin Ruttle (@robinruttle)
July 21, 2016
“This is going to stand or fall based not just on the science, but on the social science”—@GernotWagner #forbiddenML
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab)
July 21, 2016
"We go to meetings and talk about whether it's okay to talk about it, rather than actually talking about it." @GernotWagner #forbiddenML
— Rachel Kalmar (@grapealope)
July 21, 2016
talk on using vaporized diamond to control the temperature of the planet. @KendraSerra: "Make America Sparkly Again" 😂 #forbiddenML
— Sands Fish (@sandsfish)
July 21, 2016
How do we couple human governance with planetary management? We're already altering the planet - can we do so intelligently? #ForbiddenML
— Willow Bruhaha (@willowbl00)
July 21, 2016
