Braden Allenby
Professor of Law
President's Professor and Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics
Department: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in Civil Engineering
Colleges / Universities: Arizona State University
Braden R. Allenby is Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University. He is also Professor of Law and President's Professor of Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering. His principal areas of teaching and research are design for environment; earth systems engineering and management; industrial ecology; technological evolution; and the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information and communication technology, and cognitive sciences.
In addition to his position in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Professor Allenby is also the founding director of the Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management, and the founding chair of the Consortium for Emerging Technologies, Military Operations, and National Security at ASU. He entered academia after a 20-year career as senior environmental counsel, research vice president for technology and environment, and environment, health and safety vice president for AT&T.
Professor Allenby’s work has been published in many journals, such as Slate, Issues in Science and Technology, Jurimetrics, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He has written several books including The Techno-Human Condition (co-authored with Dan Sarewitz) and The Rightful Place of Science: Future Conflict & Emerging Technologies.
Degrees
Ph.D. Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, 1992
M.S. Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, 1989
J.D. University of Viriginia Law School, 1978
B.A. Environmental Studies, Yale University, 1972
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Soft Law: New Tools for Governing Emerging Technologies
Traditionally, nations harmonized their own regulation of new technologies with the rules of other nations through negotiation of international treaties. "Soft law" tools such as private standards and codes of conduct are less resource-intensive than treaties.
Private standards and informal discussions among regulators offer an alternative to traditional regulation.
Weaponized Narrative is The New Battlespace
Weaponized narrative, the use of disinformation to undermine opponents, is increasingly important to national security. The United States lags behind Russia, China, and other powers in using weaponized narrative.
Conventional military dominance is no longer enough to protect United States security.
The Age of Weaponized Narrative
Technology and advances in psychology make it possible for other nations and groups to use “weaponized” narratives to undermine their adversaries. Increasingly, Russia and China are using these methods against the United States.
Western nations have trouble responding to “weaponized narrative.” The United States should rely on private firms and local government to adapt to this threat.
What Is “Military Artificial Intelligence”?
Nations like Russia now use “hybrid warfare” to weaken opponents without using conventional military methods. The rise of new methods of attack make “military artificial intelligence” hard to define. Rules based on traditional ideas of what is “military” will be obsolete.
Bans on “military” technology will have little effect on cyberattacks.
The Self-Driving Car Generation Gap
For older people, cars are an important symbol of personal freedom, and they are unlikely to embrace self-driving cars; commercial services and millennials will adopt autonomous vehicles first.
The shift to self-driving vehicles will disrupt the transportation industry. This shift may come quickly.
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