Caging a Star: Inside the world’s biggest nuclear fusion experiment; plus, lethal robotics and the artificial intelligence arms race
This month, we travel to the south of France, where the world’s biggest nuclear fusion experiment is underway. Nuclear fusion, the reaction constantly taking place within the sun and the stars, is a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy. Harnessing it, however, is far from easy. Writer Boštjan Videmšek took a tour of the vast construction site and met the people determined to make nuclear fusion a reality.
In the second half of the podcast, we hear from Denise Garcia, professor at Northeastern University in Boston. Denise researches international law and the questions of lethal robotics and artificial intelligence in the arms sphere. She is also a member of the international panel for the regulation of autonomous weapons. Denise tells us why she thinks why increased military spending is not the answer to humanity’s biggest problems.
These stories feature in the April edition of Geographical Magazine. The long-read Caging a Star is narrated here by actor and voice artist Simon Paisley-Day.
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