Ethiopia this week became the 135th country to ratify the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT), which prohibits the explosive testing of nuclear weapons.
To enter into force, the CTBT must be ratified by 44 States listed in Annex 2 of the Treaty. So far, 34 of those States have done so.
See “Ethiopia ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,” CTBT Organization news release, August 9.
Background, history and current status of the proposed test ban may be found in “Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty” (pdf), Congressional Research Service, updated June 21, 2006.
“One thing became increasingly clear: AI doesn’t simply introduce a new category of risk. It changes the speed, scale, complexity, and interaction of risks that already exist.”
In an ideal world, we would not have state or federal climate intervention research bans. We would have researchers and institutions that would not shy away from revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly of these technologies and doing so responsibly.
“What excites me is that it’s very tempting to be very discouraged, and say, ‘Oh, we’ve got these archaic institutions that are calcified and you could never change them.’ But I think we’re in the middle of a technological revolution that will upend lots of things, and does provide a window.”
Ask people what worries them most right now, and they’ll say the cost of living and their livelihoods, not climate change. But those concerns are not separate.