October 10, 2025
The Program on Science and Global Security held the Bruce Blair Memorial Lecture 2025 on 9 October at Princeton University.
The 2025 Lecture “Nuclear Weapons in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Five Principles for Minimizing Catastrophic Risks” was delivered by Herbert Lin, senior research scholar, and Hank J. Holland Fellow at Stanford University.
The speaker Herbert Lin received his doctorate in physics from MIT and has worked for many decades at the intersection of national security and emerging technologies. He is Chief Scientist Emeritus for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He was a member of President Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and previously served as a professional staff member and staff scientist for the US Congress House Armed Services Committee, where his portfolio included defense policy and arms control issues. He is author of “Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons” and co-editor of “Three Tweets to Midnight: Effects of the Global Information Ecosystem on the Risk of Nuclear Conflict”, among other books.
The Lecture was hosted by Alexander Glaser, co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security.
The Memorial Lecture, inaugurated in 2023, honors the life and work of Bruce Blair (1947-2020), a Program member, distinguished scholar, and a leader of the global nuclear disarmament movement. The lecture series aims to advance understanding of the risks of nuclear weapons and policies to end them.