Reflections on science and society

This page collect some reflections about science and society.

Will we continue scientific research?

My english translation of Alexander Grothendieck's 1972 seminar at the CERN entitled "Will we continue scientific research?"

Robotics and international peace and security

Is open robotics innovation a threat to international peace and security? is an article written with Vincent Boulanin at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and published in the Robotics and Automation Magazine's special issue on Robot Ethics. It discusses challenges arising when open robotics research leads to unexpected dual-use or misuse. We propose a few avenues for action to mitigate risks while preserving open research.

Epstein, Project Maven, and Some Reasons to Think About Where We Get Our Funding is an article written with Tim Bretl and Raj Madhavan and published in the Robotics and Automation Magazine that talks about funding sources and why we should care about it. This also succindtly lays out some of the reasons why I do not pursue defense-based funding (a euphemism for military). There is of course so much more to say about this!

This article is an introduction to autonomous weapon systems and why we should be worried about them. It was published in the Robotics and Automation Magazine and written with Quang-Cuong Pham, Raj Madhavan and Raja Chatila.

Other topics

This article is an introduction to bias in AI and especially in robotics. It was published in the Robotics and Automation Magazine and was written with Raj Madhavan and Raja Chatila.