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Nicholas Agar

Nicholas Agar

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Nicholas Agar is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and the author of How to Be Human in the Digital Economy (MIT Press, 2019). 

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  1. Is AI a Climate Game-Changer?
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    Is AI a Climate Game-Changer?

    Sep 11, 2023 Nicholas Agar, et al. consider what role the technology could play in humanity's response to the climate crisis.

  2. Should Humanities Professors Be Automated?
    agar7_Getty Images_ai teacher Getty Images

    Should Humanities Professors Be Automated?

    Sep 22, 2022 Nicholas Agar considers the implications of recent successes with AI-generated academic research and writing.

  3. Finding Purpose in the Humanities
    agar6_Bernd Weißbrodpicture alliance via Getty Images_university Bernd Weißbrodpicture alliance via Getty Images

    Finding Purpose in the Humanities

    Dec 9, 2021 Nicholas Agar calls for educators to adapt to post-millennial reality by abolishing the traditional term paper.

  4. An Interview with Nicholas Agar
    A man looks at a smartphone Thanasak Wanichpan/Getty Images

    An Interview with Nicholas Agar

    May 26, 2020 Nicholas Agar emphasizes the importance of unchosen social interactions, warns that technology cannot replace them, and wonders whether COVID-19 is enough of a shock to improve the lives of poor people in the long term.

  5. The Horizon Bias in Human Innovation
    agar4_MARK RALSTONAFP via Getty Images_jeffbezosspace Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

    The Horizon Bias in Human Innovation

    May 1, 2020 Nicholas Agar warns against allowing technological advances to inflate our expectations of forthcoming breakthroughs.

  1. nye247_ LEAH MILLISPOOLAFP via Getty Images_blinkenchina Leah Millis/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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    Not Destined for War

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    If the United States maintains its alliances, invests in itself, and avoids unnecessary provocations, it can reduce the probability of falling into either a cold war or a hot war with China. But to formulate an effective strategy, it will have to eschew familiar but misleading historical analogies.

     rejects historical analogies implying that zero-sum conflict between the US and China is inevitable.
  2. james210_KAY NIETFELDPOOLAFP via Getty Images_scholzxi Kay Nietfeld/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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    Is “Peace Through Commerce” Dead?

    Harold James doubts that new conflicts and rivalries justify a full-scale rejection of European-style economic engagement.
  3. khrushcheva171_MIKHAIL METZELPOOLAFP via Getty Images_putinkim Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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    Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit

    Nina L. Khrushcheva thinks that Russia's recent meeting with North Korea was intended primarily as a warning to the South.
  4. haykel18_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_mbs Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
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    Saudi Arabia’s New Nationalism

    Bernard Haykel explains the reasoning behind the Kingdom's ongoing domestic- and foreign-policy transformation.
  5. wagner22_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_pollution Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
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    The Green Growth Mindset

    Gernot Wagner sees doctrinaire debates about capitalism as irrelevant or even deleterious to the decarbonization effort.
  6. mallochbrown17_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAAFP via Getty Images_africawomenpolitics Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images
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    Africa Is the Future of Multilateralism

    Mark Malloch-Brown explains why the continent should be at the forefront of efforts to bring about international reforms.
  7. op_yi2_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_chinahousing Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images
    13

    A Chinese Bubble Long in the Making

    Yi Fuxian traces the long roots of the country's mounting economic and financial problems.
  8. bp industrial policy Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
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    Industrial Policy Is Back

    From semiconductors to electric vehicles, governments are identifying the strategic industries of the future and intervening to support them – abandoning decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in the process. Are industrial policies the key to tackling twenty-first-century economic challenges or a recipe for market distortions and lower efficiency?

  9. fischer208_DrAfter123Getty Images_AIhuman DrAfter123/Getty Images
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    Is AI a Master or Slave?

    Joschka Fischer wonders whether humanity can even hope to maintain control in an era of “mega-crisis.”

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