Overview
The Institute for Humane Studies is inviting applications to “Classical Liberalism vs. Doomsday Weapons,” an online discussion series. Few things — if anything at all in our history — threatens human prosperity like the continued existence of “doomsday” nuclear weapons. They are in many ways the ultimate man-made threat to individual life, liberty, rights, and freedom itself, allowing powerful states to cement their existence and dictate much of the course of recent history. In this series, discussants will debate the value and danger of doomsday weapons, explore paths to abolition and destruction of stockpiles, and consider potential or likely future threats at dramatic scales.
Please note that participants are expected to acquire their own readings and will receive an honorarium of $125 plus a $30 book stipend per session.
Schedule
One Thursday a month from, March 23–June 22, 2023, from 2_4 p.m. ET
Reading List
March 23
- “A Case for the Bomb” Mueller, John E. Atomic Obsession Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to al Qaeda. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
April 27
- “Against the Bomb” Ellsberg, Daniel. The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear Planner. Bloomsbury USA, 2017.
May 25
- “Contemporary Attempts at Nuclear Abolition” Acheson, Ray. Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021.
June 22
- “The Future of Doomsday” Hanson, Robin. “The Great Filter: Are We Almost Past It?” September 1998.
- “The Vulnerable World Hypothesis.” Bostrom, Nick. Global Policy 10, Iss. 4, November 2019.
