pmccloskey
Patrick J. McCloskey is the Director of the Social and Ethical Implications of Cyber Sciences at the North Dakota University System and serves as the editor-in-chief of Dakota Digital Review. Previously, he served as the Director of Research and Publications at the University of Mary and editor-in-chief of 360 Review Magazine. He earned an MS in Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. McCloskey has written for many publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Post and City Journal. His books include Open Secrets of Success: The Gary Tharaldson Story; Frank’s Extra Mile: A Gentleman’s Story; and The Street Stops Here: A Year at a Catholic High School in Harlem, published by the University of California Press.
Invasion from Planet Zircon: AI-Powered Threat to Humanity
Opinion
Artificial intelligence (AI) is “an alien invasion,” said Yuval Noah Harari recently in a discussion (hosted by The Economist) with Mustafa Suleyman, the cofounder of DeepMind and Inflection AI. “Like somebody … telling us...
Whangdepootenawah!? Technological Disruption & Demographic Collapse ~Part One~
In Ireland in the 1840s, a potato blight precipitated famine during which millions of Irish emigrated to the Americas or starved to death. Centuries earlier, the English took control of the Emerald Isle, and...
[OPINION] Atoms of the World Unite—Or Split
If transitioning to “green” energy (primarily wind and solar) yields only a 6 percent reduction in global CO2 emissions—as shown in Mark Mill’s article, beginning on page 8—how can the U.S., let alone the...
[OPINION] Dune or Done? COVID’s Avoidable Catastrophe
Imagine someone growing up in a vast desert. One day, this young man or woman leaves home and eventually comes to a river for the first time. Down this person sits and decides to...
Closer to the Robo-Rubicon: Robots, Autonomy and the Future (or Maybe Not) of You
Seven years ago, Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff and I wrote an opinion article for the Wall Street Journal, titled “With Drone Warfare, America Approaches the Robo-Rubicon.” The Week, which reviews newspaper and magazine stories...
The Great Boston Fire & Epizootic of 1872
Disease & Technological Transformation
At 7 p.m. on November 9, 1872, a fire started in the basement of a warehouse at the corner of Kingston and Summer Streets in Boston, Massachusetts. Two hours later, the...
