Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 7, 2024
Posted: 7th November 2024
Tesla CEO Elon Musk with Donald Trump during a campaign rally on October 5. Trump has suggested Musk could lead a government efficiency commission under his administration. Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images/TNS/Alamy Live News
SARA GOUDARZI
Trump’s potential impact on emerging and disruptive technologies
A variety of experts weigh in on how the incoming US presidential administration will affect a slew of tech-related issues—among them artificial intelligence, drones, and cyber-based misinformation and disinformation. Read more.
FRANÇOIS DIAZ-MAURIN
After Trump’s victory, a divided Europe braces for its security without the United States
“In an already divided Europe, diplomats worry that a sharp turn in US policy in Ukraine could tear Europe apart.” Here’s how Europe woke up to Trump’s victory, again. Read more.
JESSICA MCKENZIE
Americans elect a climate change denier (again)
“It was Election Day in America, and as author and climate activist Bill McKibben told me, ‘My guess is that we’ll be able to read last night’s election results in the geological record many millennia hence.’” Read more.
STEVEN FELDSTEIN
Is the reign of tech titans coming to an end?
Are tech titans more powerful than ever before and holding nation-states subservient to their whims? Or is their influence exaggerated? Read more.
FRANÇOIS DIAZ-MAURIN
UN to conduct new study of the broad impacts of nuclear war. Not all countries want to know
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly last week in favor of launching a two-year study on the effects of nuclear war—the first such expert study the UN has pursued since the 1980s. A total of 144 UN member states, including only one nuclear power, China, voted in favor. Read more.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If RFK or others in a Trump administration question or reject this evidence [on vaccines], seek to change this system, or otherwise pressure states to make different decisions, it could sow confusion and doubt, result in reduced requirements, and end up driving down already lowering vaccination rates among kids.”
— Jennifer Kates, director of the Global Health & HIV Policy Program at KFF, “After Trump win, RFK Jr. says he won’t ‘take away anybody’s vaccines,’”NBC
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