-
Distrust of Artificial Intelligence: Sources & Responses from Computer Science & Law Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Cynthia Dwork,Martha Minow
Abstract Social distrust of AI stems in part from incomplete and faulty data sources, inappropriate redeployment of data, and frequently exposed errors that reflect and amplify existing social cleavages and failures, such as racial and gender biases. Other sources of distrust include the lack of “ground truth” against which to measure the results of learned algorithms, divergence of interests between
-
Rethinking AI for Good Governance Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Helen Margetts
Abstract This essay examines what AI can dofor government, specifically through three generic tools at the heart of governance: detection, prediction, and data-driven decision-making. Public sector functions, such as resource allocation and the protection of rights, are more normatively loaded than those of firms, and AI poses greater ethical challenges than earlier generations of digital technology
-
“From So Simple a Beginning”: Species of Artificial Intelligence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Nigel Shadbolt
Abstract Artificial intelligence has a decades-long history that exhibits alternating enthusiasm and disillusionment for the field's scientific insights, technical accomplishments, and socioeconomic impact. Recent achievements have seen renewed claims for the transformative and disruptive effects of AI. Reviewing the history and current state of the art reveals a broad repertoire of methods and techniques
-
Non-Human Words: On GPT-3 as a Philosophical Laboratory Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Tobias Rees
Abstract In this essay, I investigate the effect of OpenAI's GPT-3 on the modern concept of the human (as alone capable of reason and language) and of machines (as devoid of reason and language). I show how GPT-3 and other transformer-based language models give rise to a new, structuralist concept of language, implicit in which is a new understanding of human and machine that unfolds far beyond the
-
Toward a Theory of Justice for Artificial Intelligence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Iason Gabriel
Abstract This essay explores the relationship between artificial intelligence and principles of distributive justice. Drawing upon the political philosophy of John Rawls, it holds that the basic structure of society should be understood as a composite of sociotechnical systems, and that the operation of these systems is increasingly shaped and influenced by AI. Consequently, egalitarian norms of justice
-
Searching for Computer Vision North Stars Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Li Fei-Fei,Ranjay Krishna
Abstract Computer vision is one of the most fundamental areas of artificial intelligence research. It has contributed to the tremendous progress in the recent deep learning revolution in AI. In this essay, we provide a perspective of the recent evolution of object recognition in computer vision, a flagship research topic that led to the breakthrough data set of ImageNet and its ensuing algorithm developments
-
The Turing Trap: The Promise & Peril of Human-Like Artificial Intelligence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Erik Brynjolfsson
Abstract In 1950, Alan Turing proposed a test of whether a machine was intelligent: could a machine imitate a human so well that its answers to questions were indistinguishable from a human's? Ever since, creating intelligence that matches human intelligence has implicitly or explicitly been the goal of thousands of researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The benefits of human-like artificial intelligence
-
Signs Taken for Wonders: AI, Art & the Matter of Race Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Michele Elam
Abstract AI shares with earlier socially transformative technologies a reliance on limiting models of the “human” that embed racialized metrics for human achievement, expression, and progress. Many of these fundamental mindsets about what constitutes humanity have become institutionally codified, continuing to mushroom in design practices and research development of devices, applications, and platforms
-
Multi-Agent Systems: Technical & Ethical Challenges of Functioning in a Mixed Group Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Kobi Gal,Barbara J. Grosz
Abstract In today's highly interconnected, open-networked computing world, artificial intelligence computer agents increasingly interact in groups with each other and with people both virtually and in the physical world. AI's current core challenges concern determining ways to build AI systems that function effectively and safely for people and the societies in which they live. To incorporate reasoning
-
I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means: Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Work & Scale Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Kevin Scott
Abstract Over the past decade, AI technologies have advanced by leaps and bounds. Progress has been so fast, voluminous, and varied that it can be a challenge even for experts to make sense of it all. In this essay, I propose a framework for thinking about AI systems, specifically the idea that they are ultimately tools developed by humans to help other humans perform an increasing breadth of their
-
Human Language Understanding & Reasoning Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Christopher D. Manning
Abstract The last decade has yielded dramatic and quite surprising breakthroughs in natural language processing through the use of simple artificial neural network computations, replicated on a very large scale and trained over exceedingly large amounts of data. The resulting pretrained language models, such as BERT and GPT-3, have provided a powerful universal language understanding and generation
-
The Curious Case of Commonsense Intelligence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Yejin Choi
Abstract Commonsense intelligence is a long-standing puzzle in AI. Despite considerable advances in deep learning, AI continues to be narrow and brittle due to its lack of common sense. Why is common sense so trivial for humans but so hard for machines? In this essay, I map the twists and turns in recent research adventures toward commonsense AI. As we will see, the latest advances on common sense
-
Getting AI Right: Introductory Notes on AI & Society Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 James Manyika
-
The Moral Dimension of AI-Assisted Decision-Making: Some Practical Perspectives from the Front Lines Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Ash Carter
Abstract This essay takes an engineering approach to ensuring that the deployment of artificial intelligence does not confound ethical principles, even in sensitive applications like national security. There are design techniques in all three parts of the AI architecture-algorithms, data sets, and applications-that can be used to incorporate important moral considerations. The newness and complexity
-
Do Large Language Models Understand Us? Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Blaise Agüera y Arcas
Abstract Large language models (LLMs) represent a major advance in artificial intelligence and, in particular, toward the goal of human-like artificial general intelligence. It is sometimes claimed, though, that machine learning is “just statistics,” hence that, in this grander ambition, progress in AI is illusory. Here I take the contrary view that LLMs have a great deal to teach us about the nature
-
The Machines from Our Future Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Daniela Rus
Abstract While the last sixty years have defined the field of industrial robots and empowered hard-bodied robots to execute complex assembly tasks in constrained industrial settings, the next sixty years will usher in our time with pervasive robots that come in a diversity of forms and materials and help people with physical tasks. The past sixty years have mostly been inspired by the human form, but
-
A Golden Decade of Deep Learning: Computing Systems & Applications Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Jeffrey Dean
Abstract The past decade has seen tremendous progress in the field of artificial intelligence thanks to the resurgence of neural networks through deep learning. This has helped improve the ability for computers to see, hear, and understand the world around them, leading to dramatic advances in the application of AI to many fields of science and other areas of human endeavor. In this essay, I examine
-
Automation, Augmentation, Value Creation & the Distribution of Income & Wealth Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Michael Spence
Abstract Digital technologies are transforming the economy and society. The dimensionality and scope of the impacts are bewildering and too numerous to cover in a single essay. But of all the concerns around digital technology (and there are many), perhaps none has attracted more attention, and generated deeper anxiety, than the impact of various types of automation on work and on the structure of
-
Democracy & Distrust in an Era of Artificial Intelligence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Sonia K. Katyal
Abstract Our legal system has historically operated under the general view that courts should defer to the legislature. There is one significant exception to this view: cases in which it appears that the political process has failed to recognize the rights or interests of minorities. This basic approach provides much of the foundational justifications for the role of judicial review in protecting minorities
-
Due Process & the Theater of Racial Degradation: The Evolving Notion of Pretrial Punishment in the Criminal Courts Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
Abstract Most theorists assume that the criminal courts are neutral arbiters of justice, protected by the Constitution, the rule of law, and court records. This essay challenges those assumptions and examines the courts as a place of punitive excess and the normalization of racial abuse and punishment. The essay explains the historic origins of these trends and examines how the categories of “hardened”
-
Violence, Criminalization & Punitive Excess Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Bruce Western,Sukyi McMahon
How can police, courts, and prisons in the United States be transformed to eliminate mass incarceration and produce a new kind of community safety that strengthens social bonds and reckons with a history of racial injustice? Over the last three years, from 2018 to 2021, the Justice Lab at Columbia University hosted a series of meetings for the Square One Project. Square One brings together leading
-
The Problem of State Violence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Paul Butler
Abstract When violence occurs, the state has an obligation to respond to and reduce the impacts of it; yet often the state originates, or at least contributes to, the violence. This may occur in a variety of ways, including through the use of force by police, pretrial incarceration at local jails, long periods of incarceration in prisons, or abuse and neglect of people who are incarcerated. This essay
-
Recognition, Repair & the Reconstruction of “Square One” Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Geoff K. Ward
Abstract The concept of a “square one” in societal organization is a curious thing, and challenging analytic, given the stubborn presence of the past. Even if not meant literally, the Square One Project, like much of the polity, envisions a new starting point, where social policy and practice might turn in a more equitable and inclusive direction. Yet we must grapple with what this restarting point
-
Criminal Law & Migration Control: Recent History & Future Possibilities Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Jennifer M. Chacón
Abstract Immigration enforcement in the United States has undergone a revolutionary transformation over the past three decades. Once episodic, border-focused, and generally confined to the efforts of a relatively small federal agency, immigration enforcement is now exceedingly well-funded and integrated deeply into the everyday policing of the interior United States. Not only are federal immigration
-
The Effects of Violence on Communities: The Violence Matrix as a Tool for Advancing More Just Policies Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Beth E. Richie
Abstract In this essay, I illustrate how discussions of the effects of violence on communities are enhanced by the use of a critical framework that links various microvariables with macro-institutional processes. Drawing upon my work on the issue of violent victimization toward African American women and how conventional justice policies have failed to bring effective remedy in situations of extreme
-
Developmental & Ecological Perspective on the Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma & Violence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Micere Keels
Abstract The focus of this essay is on understanding the development and maintenance of patterns of violent behavior for the purpose of identifying points of prevention and intervention. Close attention is paid to using person-centered language that does not conflate exhibiting violent behaviors with being a violent person. There is a meaningful perceptual difference between discussing the behaviors
-
Seeing Guns to See Urban Violence: Racial Inequality & Neighborhood Context Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 David M. Hureau
Abstract Guns are central to the comprehension of the racial inequalities in neighborhood violence. This may sound simple when presented so plainly. However, its significance derives from the limited consideration that the neighborhood research paradigm has given guns: they are typically conceived of as a background condition of disadvantaged neighborhoods where violence is concentrated. Instead, I
-
Public Health Approaches to Reducing Community Gun Violence Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Daniel W. Webster
Abstract Successful public health efforts are data-driven, focused on unhealthy or unsafe environments as well as risky behaviors, and often intentional about reforming systems that are unjust and harm public safety. While laws and their enforcement can be important to advance public health and safety, including reducing gun violence, minimizing harms of exposure to the criminal justice system is also
-
The Story of Violence in America Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Kellie Carter Jackson
Abstract American history is characterized by its exceptional levels of violence. It was founded by colonial occupation and sustained by an economy of enslaved people who were emancipated by a Civil War with casualties rivaling any conflict of nineteenth-century Western Europe. Collective violence continued against African Americans following Reconstruction, and high levels of lethal violence emerged
-
Knowing What We Want: A Decent Society, A Civilized System of Justice & A Condition of Dignity Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Jonathan Simon
Abstract Human dignity as a value to guide criminal justice reform emerged strikingly in the 2011 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Plata. But with Justice Kennedy retired and courts generally reluctant to go far down the road to practical reforms, its future lies in the political realm shaping policy at the local, state, and national levels. For human dignity to be effective politically and in forming
-
The Foundational Lawlessness of the Law Itself: Racial Criminalization & the Punitive Roots of Punishment in America Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Abstract Empirical researchers and criminal justice practitioners have generally set aside history in exchange for behavioral models and methodologies that focus primarily on crime itself as the most measurable and verifiable driver of American punitiveness. There are innumerable legal and political questions that have arisen out of these approaches. Everything from the social construction of illegality
-
Faces of the Aftermath of Visible & Invisible Violence & Loss: Radical Resiliency of Justice & Healing Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2022-01-01 Barbara L. Jones
Abstract As a victim/cosurvivor, my experiences with the criminal justice system have called me to confront hard truths and the brutal facts of coming to terms with death, life, meaning, responsibility, and healing in innumerable ways. The real and tangible balance as a practitioner, victim, and healer are oftentimes disconnected from theory, practice, and life and death experiences. What does it mean
-
Everyday Experiences of Water Insecurity: Insights from Underserved Areas of Accra, Ghana Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Leila M. Harris
Abstract At least half of Accra's residents do not enjoy safe, secure, and affordable access to water on a regular basis. Focused on underserved communities in and around urban Accra, this essay highlights the meanings and importance of water insecurity for residents' daily lives. In particular, this essay extends beyond the well-established ways that the lack of safe and affordable access conditions
-
Water Scarcity & Health in Urban Africa Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Julie Livingston
Abstract Water is the cornerstone of public health. Yet many people living in Africa's cities face serious challenges obtaining an adequate supply of clean water. This situation, which poses significant public health concerns, promises only to grow in magnitude in the coming years as rapid urbanization and climate change meet head-on to further constrain urban water provision. This essay explores the
-
Is the Failed Pandemic Response a Symptom of a Diseased Administrative State? Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 David E. Lewis
Abstract David E. Lewis is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Law (by courtesy) at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Presidents and the Politics of Agency Design (2003) and The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance (2008).
-
The Hedgehog & the Fox in Administrative Law Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Neomi Rao
Abstract This essay examines the constitutional muddle of the administrative state with reference to how agencies operate–it looks at a hedgehog's problem from the fox's perspective. Not only does the structure and delegated authority of administrative agencies often exist in substantial tension with the Constitution, but agencies regularly fail to act in a manner that promotes “constitutional values
-
Constraining Bureaucracy Beyond Judicial Review Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Christopher J. Walker
Abstract The modern regulatory state–and the field of administrative law that studies it–is in need of “deconstruction.” That does not mean that it should be dismantled entirely. This essay does not embrace the reformers' fixation on courts as the bulwark against agency overreach. Rather, this essay develops the concept of bureaucracy beyond judicial review: not only agency actions that statute or
-
Some Costs & Benefits of Cost-Benefit Analysis Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Cass R. Sunstein
Abstract The American administrative state has become a cost-benefit state, at least in the sense that prevailing executive orders require agencies to proceed only if the benefits justify the costs. Some people celebrate this development; others abhor it. For defenders of the cost-benefit state, the antonym of their ideal is, alternately, regulation based on dogmas, intuitions, pure expressivism, political
-
Replacing Bureaucrats with Automated Sorcerers? Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Bernard W. Bell
Abstract Increasingly, federal agencies employ artificial intelligence to help direct their enforcement efforts, adjudicate claims and other matters, and craft regulations or regulatory approaches. Theoretically, artificial intelligence could enable agencies to address endemic problems, most notably 1) the inconsistent decision-making and departure from policy attributable to low-level officials' exercise
-
Status Threat: Moving the Right Further to the Right? Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Christopher Sebastian Parker
Abstract Over the last few years, right-wing movements have proliferated among Western democracies. Although much of the growth has taken place across the “pond” in Europe, this phenomenon is not confined to that continent. As recent events make clear, the United States is another major case. In this essay, I offer a theory of the emergence of reactionary movements, fueled by status threat, using the
-
“Trauma Makes You Grow Up Quicker”: The Financial & Emotional Burdens of Deportation & Incarceration Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Yajaira Ceciliano-Navarro,Tanya Maria Golash-Boza
Abstract Research on the impacts of incarceration and deportation describes the negative consequences for children and young people. But how these events impact adults and members of extended families has not been broadly considered. And no study has directly compared incarceration with deportation. The study described in this essay, based on interviews with 111 adult individuals with a family member
-
Latinos & Racism in the Trump Era Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Stephanie L. Canizales,Jody Agius Vallejo
Abstract This essay examines the roots, causes, and effects of racism experienced by Latinos in the Trump era. We argue that Trump and his administration were not the origin of Latinos' experiences of racism, but his rise to power was, in part, derived from Latino racialization. Preexisting politics of Latino immigration, Whites' fear of loss of status due to demographic shifts, and historical and
-
The Unceasing Significance of Colorism: Skin Tone Stratification in the United States Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Ellis P. Monk
Abstract For many decades now, social scientists have documented immense ethnoracial inequalities in the United States. Much of this work is rooted in comparing the life chances, trajectories, and outcomes of African Americans to White Americans. From health to wealth and nearly every measure of well-being, success, and thriving one can find, White Americans remain ahead of Black Americans. What this
-
Immigration & the Origins of White Backlash Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Zoltan Hajnal
Abstract The success of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant campaign surprised many. But I show that it was actually a continuation of a long-standing Republican strategy that has targeted immigrants and minorities for over five decades. It is not only a long-term strategy but also a widely successful one. Analysis of the vote over time shows clearly that White Americans with anti-immigrant views have been
-
The Bipartisan Origins of White Nationalism Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Douglas S. Massey
Abstract Dysfunctional immigration and border policies implemented in recent decades have accelerated growth of the Latino population and racialized its members around the trope of illegality. Since the 1960s, Republicans have cultivated White fears and resentments toward African Americans, and over time these efforts broadened to target Hispanics as well. Until 2016, this cultivation relied on a dog
-
Climate & Water in a Changing Africa: Uncertainty, Adaptation & the Social Construction of Fragile Environments Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Harry Verhoeven
Abstract Discussions of climate change and water security in Africa are often simplistic and indeed deterministic. They overlook not only ecological complexities but also the multitude of ways in which various population groups across the continent approach climatological variability, thereby challenging positivist modeling and external adaptation agendas. The current state of affairs for many often-silenced
-
Africa's Living Rivers: Managing for Sustainability Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Jackie King,Cate Brown
Abstract Africa's human population is growing rapidly and is set to account for 40 percent of global numbers by 2100. Further development of its inland waters, to enhance water and energy security, is inevitable. Will it follow the development pathway of industrialized countries, often destructive of ecosystems, biodiversity, and river-dependent social structures, or can it chart a new way into the
-
Between Principles & Power: Water Law Principles & the Governance of Water in Post-Apartheid South Africa Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Heinz Klug
Abstract Debates over the management and allocation of water in the postcolonial era, and in post-apartheid South Africa in particular, reveal that struggles over water resources in Southern Africa occur within three broad frames: the institutional, the hydrological, and the ideological. Each of these realms reflects tensions in the relationship between power and principle that continue to mark the
-
Hydropolitics versus Human Security: Implications of South Africa's Appropriation of Lesotho's Highlands Water Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Oscar Gakuo Mwangi
Abstract The Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which exports water to South Africa, has enhanced the unequal structural relationship that exists between both states. Lesotho, one of the few countries in the world that exports water, has transformed from one of the largest sources of labor for South Africa to a water reservoir for South Africa. Though the project provides mutual strategic economic and
-
The Dammed Body: Thinking Historically about Water Security & Public Health Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Jennifer L. Derr
Abstract This essay traces the historical relationship between the construction of the Nile River and the prevalence of disease in Egypt in the long twentieth century, with an eye to the relevance of this history to other regions on the African continent impacted by the construction of large dams. Beginning in the second decade of the nineteenth century and stretching through the 1970s, the Nile River
-
Ghana's Akosombo Dam, Volta Lake Fisheries & Climate Change Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Stephan F. Miescher
Abstract In Ghana, the Pwalugu Dam in the Upper East is in the final planning stage. Whereas promoters of Ghana's first dams emphasized the need for generating electricity to modernize and industrialize the new nation, the planners of Pwalugu have focused on water issues. Due to climate change, droughts have had a devastating impact on local agriculture. The dam's primary purpose is an irrigation scheme
-
Urban Struggles over Water Scarcity in Harare Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Muchaparara Musemwa
Abstract This essay counters the growing tendency in current scholarship to attribute nearly all the enduring water scarcity problems to climate change. Focusing on Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, this essay contends that recurrent water crises can only really be understood within the contentious, long, and complex history of water politics in the capital city from the colonial to the postcolonial
-
Asian Americans, Affirmative Action & the Rise in Anti-Asian Hate Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Jennifer Lee
Abstract No court case in recent history has propelled Asian Americans into the political sphere like Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and no issue has galvanized them like affirmative action. Asian Americans have taken center stage in the latest battle over affirmative action, yet their voices have been muted in favor of narratives that paint them as victims of affirmative action who ardently
-
The Legal Status Divide among the Children of Immigrants Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Roberto G. Gonzales,Stephen P. Ruszczyk
Abstract Over the past thirty-five years, federal immigration policy has brightened the boundaries of the category of undocumented status. For undocumented young people who move into adulthood, the predominance of immigration status to their everyday experiences and social position has been amplified. This process of trying to continue schooling, find work, and participate in public life has become
-
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Africa's Water Tower, Environmental Justice & Infrastructural Power Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Harry Verhoeven
Abstract Global environmental imaginaries such as “the climate crisis” and “water wars” dominate the discussion on African states and their predicament in the face of global warming and unmet demands for sustainable livelihoods. I argue that the intersecting challenges of water, energy, and food insecurity are providing impetus for the articulation of ambitious state-building projects, in the Nile
-
Water Security in Africa in the Age of Global Climate Change Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Allen Isaacman,Muchaparara Musemwa
Abstract This essay explores the multiple ways in which the nexuses between water scarcity and climate change are socially and historically grounded in ordinary people's lived experiences and are embedded in specific fields of power. Here we specifically delineate four critical dimensions in which the water crises confronting the African continent in an age of climate change are clearly expressed:
-
Cahora Bassa Dam & the Delusion of Development Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Allen Isaacman
Abstract On December 6, 1974, two pressure-driven steel gates of the Cahora Bassa Dam, each weighing 220 tons, stopped the mighty Zambezi River in its course. After five years of toil by more than five thousand workers, the construction of Mozambique's Cahora Bassa was complete. At the time, it was the fifth-largest dam in the world. The hydroelectric dam was the last megaproject constructed in Africa
-
Water for Bongo: Creative Adaptation, Resilience & Dar es Salaam's Water Supply Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Matthew V. Bender
Abstract Global climate change poses a serious threat to the water supplies of the world's cities. This is perhaps no truer than for Dar es Salaam, the largest city and commercial capital of Tanzania. What was eighty years ago a small town of a mere forty thousand residents is today the world's second-fastest growing city, with a population of more than six million. This growth has come despite a history
-
Legislative Capacity & Administrative Power Under Divided Polarization Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Sean Farhang
Abstract Conventional wisdom holds that party polarization leads to legislative gridlock, which in turn disables congressional oversight of agencies and thus erodes their constitutional legitimacy and democratic accountability. At the root of this argument is an empirical claim that higher levels of polarization materially reduce legislative productivity as measured by the number of laws passed or
-
Administrative Law in the Automated State Daedalus (IF 2.1) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Cary Coglianese
Abstract In the future, administrative agencies will rely increasingly on digital automation powered by machine learning algorithms. Can U.S. administrative law accommodate such a future? Not only might a highly automated state readily meet long-standing administrative law principles, but the responsible use of machine learning algorithms might perform even better than the status quo in terms of fulfilling