WHAT'S UP: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BIOSPHERE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

ANNOUNCEMENT: MAJOR NEW BOOK BY DR KEITH SKENE, OUR DIRECTOR, HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE

Artificial Intelligence and the Environmental Crisis: Can Technology Really Save the World? 

Chosen as BOOK OF THE WEEK by Times Higher Education magazine on 11th June, 2020.
Click here to read the review.

HARVARD and MIT praise new book by our director:

Writing a review for the American Library Association, Professor Genereux of the Broad Institute writes:
"In this remarkably cross-disciplinary study, environmental biologist and prolific science communicator Skene (Biosphere Research Institute) challenges the notion that technological advances such as applied artificial intelligence necessarily foster inequity and environmental degradation. Drawing on a wide range of examples from history, political science, ecology, and evolutionary biology, Skene critically argues that this somber (even phobic) view of technology arises from the current practice of training artificial intelligence algorithms on prior human decisions. This practice perpetuates existing human biases and reinforces the prioritization of personal profit. By contrast, when artificial intelligence algorithms are trained on ecosystems ("ecological intelligence") and focused on identifying novel patterns from large, complex data sets, they can help humans escape, rather than perpetuate, social and environmental injustice. The book includes hundreds of compelling examples, among them the success of big data in increasing the efficiency of agriculture while decreasing environmental cost and its potential to promote ethical consumption by supporting consumer alerts with respect to the environmental and social impacts of individual purchases. The book is extensively referenced but reads as a thought-provoking popular science book rather than a strictly academic work. As such, it will engage the general public and inspire lively classroom discussions.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers."

For an overview, free inspection copies and how to order, click HERE.

​To read the first few chapters, check out Look Inside at Amazon, HERE.

 
​LATEST RESEARCH FROM THE BIOSPHERE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
​Major advance in the thermodynamic theory of evolution.

New paper entitled  "In pursuit of the framework behind the Biosphere: S-curves, self-assembly and the genetic entropy paradox" published in the journal BioSystems.  Click HERE for the abstract. Full paper HERE.