What if the sun truly is setting on the Western world’s outsized influence over the rest of the planet? Are we prepared for very different global future?

On 16 October join Dr Samir Puri, author of Westlessness and Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine, in conversation with Professor Teresa Bejan, Fellow in Politics at Oriel College.

Join Dr Samir Puri, author of Westlessness and Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine, in conversation with Professor Teresa Bejan, Fellow in Politics at Oriel College.

Puri is a former UK civil servant. He worked for the Foreign Office (2009–15) — including a year seconded to a ceasefire monitoring mission in Ukraine — and was later a lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London (2015–18). His most recent role was Senior Fellow at IISS-Asia based in Singapore (2020–22). In 2023, he became an Associate Fellow at Chatham House.

In 1951, Alan Turing predicted the eventual loss of human control over machines that exceed human capabilities. I will argue that Turing was right to express concern but wrong to think that doom is inevitable. Instead, we need to develop a new kind of AI that is provably beneficial to humans. I will describe an approach -- assistance games -- that seems promising. On the horizon, however, are a number of open questions, some of them familiar to moral philosophers and government regulators and some of them new.

Join Oxford University International Relations Society for a fascinating talk with Lord William Hague (Magdalen), chairman of the Royal Foundation. Lord Hague will reflect on the future of foreign policy, the prospects for the UK, the implications of rapid advances in science and technology, and the crucial role of Oxford in the next decade.

Join Oxford University International Relations Society for a fascinating talk with Lord Peter Mandelson (St Catherine’s), Co-founder and President of Global Counsel. Lord Mandelson will share valuable insights on topics related to British foreign policy under the Labour government as well as how UK higher education may foster cooperation in contemporary international politics between powers major and minor.

Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 5 (#PhiDisSocCh5) comprises presentations by disabled philosophers whose cutting-edge research challenges members of the philosophical community to (1) think more critically about the metaphysical and epistemological status of disability; (2) closely examine how philosophy of disability is related to the tradition and discipline of philosophy; and (3) seriously consider how philosophy and philosophers contribute to the pervasive inequality and subordination that disabled people confront throughout society.

Join Thomas Hale, Professor in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, and Adam Day, Head of UN University Centre for Policy Research in Geneva, as they discuss Day’s newest book The Forever Crisis.