If You Love This Planet, Dr. Helen Caldicott

Archive for November, 2011

Steve Omohundro on the future of artificial intelligence and its ethical implications

Friday, November 25th, 2011

 

Steve Omohundro

Steve Omohundro

Dr Caldicott interviews Steve Omohundro, a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence. From 1986 to 1988, Omohundro was an Assistant Professor of Computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and cofounder of the Center for Complex Systems Research. He is now President of Self-Aware Systems in Palo Alto, California. Omohundro has been an advisor to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence since April 2007, and has had a wide-ranging career as a scientist, professor, author, (more…)

Robert Koehler on U.S. warmaking, the role of the media and the roots of violence

Friday, November 18th, 2011

 

Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler

This week on If You Love This Planet, Dr. Caldicott talks with journalist Robert Koehler, who writes a nationally syndicated column for the Chicago Tribune. As the Bush administration unleashed its war on terror, Koehler became increasingly focused on current events, and refers to the column as “part political brawl, part secular prayer.” Koehler has won awards for his writing from the National Newspaper Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Chicago Headline Club. He is the author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound (published by Xenos Press), a collection of his essays. (more…)

Arnold Gundersen with another Fukushima report as radiation levels rise in Japan

Friday, November 11th, 2011

 

Arnie Gundersen

Gundersen

This week, Dr. Caldicott once again chats with Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear energy consultant with Fairewinds Associates, about the ongoing situation at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. As background for today’s program, read the recent news articles Nuclear Expert Cites New Concerns about Westinghouse Reactor Design Based on Fukushima Disaster and Women Fight to Save Fukushima’s Children. Read the Fairewinds
report released November 2011, Fukushima and the Westinghouse-Toshiba AP1000. (more…)

Robert Alvarez on the horrific hazards of spent nuclear fuel and the unprecedented Fukushima catastrophe

Friday, November 4th, 2011

 

Robert Alvarez

Robert Alvarez

In this episode, Dr. Caldicott talks with Robert Alvarez, a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C. Alvarez is an award-winning author and has published articles in prominent publications such as Science Magazine, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Technology Review and The Washington Post. He and Dr. Caldicott discuss the tremendous hazards of spent nuclear fuel rods at nuclear power plants, the potential for a catastrophic fire in a fuel pool, and the unprecedented Fukushima disaster. As background, read the May 24 IPS press release Expert Cautions that 30 Million Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods Are Unsafely Stored in United States, (more…)