Friday, March 28th
Recent advances in technology have made it possible to understand some of the communication of a few animal species. Leading interdisciplinary initiatives such as Project CETI (the Cetacean Translation Initiative) are developing cutting-edge advancements in machine learning, robotics, natural language processing, linguistics, cryptography, complexity science, and marine biology to record and begin to understand the fundamental elements of some nonhuman animal communication, beginning with that of sperm whales. While these technologies hold significant promise for enhancing the well-being and rights of nonhuman animals, they also present serious risks of further manipulation and exploitation of animals. This conversation will delve into the innovative collaboration between the NYU More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program and Project CETI to establish ethical and legal guardrails that can permit us to harness the potential of these technologies while minimizing their risks. With David Gruber and César Rodríguez-Garavito. Moderated by Teo Grossman, President of Bioneers.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Freight & Salvage
Panelists
César Rodríguez-Garavito
More Than Human Life (MOTH) Program | Founding Director
César Rodríguez-Garavito, a Professor of Clinical Law, Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and founding Director of the More Than Human Life (MOTH) Program and the Earth Rights Advocacy Program (all based at NYU School of Law), is a human rights and environmental justice scholar and practitioner whose work and publications focus on climate change, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and the human rights movement. Editor-in-Chief of Open Global Rights, César has been an expert witness of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an Adjunct Judge of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, a member of the Science Panel for the Amazon, and a lead litigator in climate change, socio-economic and Indigenous rights cases. He has conducted field research and environmental and human rights investigations around the world.
David Gruber
Founder and President | Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)
David Gruber is the founder and President of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a nonprofit organization and interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative that is applying advanced machine learning and state-of-the-art gentle robotics to translate the communication of sperm whales. David is also Distinguished Professor of Biology at the City University of New York and a National Geographic Explorer.
Teo Grossman
President | Bioneers
Teo Grossman, President of Bioneers, previously worked on a range of projects from federal range management to state-level assessments of long-range planning to applied research on topics including climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and ecological networks. A Doris Duke Conservation Fellow during graduate school, Teo holds an MS in Environmental Science & Management from UC-Santa Barbara.
Saturday, March 29th
3:00 pm: The Vegetal Mind: From Plant Neurobiology to Panpsychism?
Co-sponsored by Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School
Cutting edge research is radically expanding our understanding of plants’ and fungi’s capacities to perceive their environments and make complex decisions in response. The groundbreaking cross-disciplinary Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative at Harvard was recently founded to draw from biology, ecology and the humanities to explore how inquiry into plant and fungal life could illuminate the nature of mind and matter and humans’ relationships to the more-than-human world. This session will delve into some of the most recent scientific findings on plant cognition and their implications for our own species as well as venture into more philosophical terrain, exploring such topics as the nature of intelligence and traditions that speculate about whether consciousness in some latent form might permeate the universe (i.e., “Panpsychism”). Hosted by Rachael Petersen, program lead for the Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School. With Luke Roelofs, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, working on the ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology of consciousness; and Kristi Onzik, anthropologist of science, currently researching the field of PNCB (Plant Neurobiology, Cognition, and Behavior).
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center
Panelists
Rachael Petersen
Program Lead | Harvard's Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative
Rachael Petersen, MDiv, Program Lead for Harvard's Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, an interdisciplinary exploration into how cutting-edge science on plants is challenging our notions of mind and matter, previously worked for a decade in environmental policy, with expertise in climate mitigation, forest protection, and Indigenous rights, conducting fieldwork in the Amazon, Borneo, and Arctic Canada. She served as Senior Advisor to National Geographic Society and founding Deputy Director of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute. A writer and translator, her work has been published in many publications, including Aeon, The Sun, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tricycle Magazine, Peripheries Poetry Journal, The Rumpus, The Outline.
Luke Roelofs
Assistant Professor | University of Texas at Arlington
Luke Roelofs is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, working on the ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology of consciousness. Their first book, Combining Minds (2019), explores the possibility that minds in general, and the human mind in particular, might be collectives of many mental parts. Their more recent work has explored the possibility of conscious minds outside humans and animals, the mechanisms of imagination, and the role of empathy in morality.
Kristi Onzik
Anthropologist
Kristi Onzik, Ph.D., a student of plants and an anthropologist of science, is currently doing ethnographic research exploring a small, interdisciplinary community of cutting-edge scientists working in the emerging and controversial field of Plant Neurobiology, Cognition, and Behavior (PNCB).
