Upcoming: César Rodríguez-Garavito, Listening to the more-than-human world: Legal & ethical principles for nonhuman animal communication technologies
February 1 2025, 17:00 GMT/ 12:00 EST/ 09:00 PST (5pm GMT/ 12 pm EST/ 9 am PST)
Listening to the more-than-human world: Legal & ethical principles for nonhuman animal communication technologies
Once the realm of science fiction, studies using nonhuman animal communications technologies (NACTs) are today a dynamic scientific field. Indeed, some experts predict that humans may talk back to nonhuman animals by the end of the decade, if not sooner. But NACTs pose as many serious threats to the well-being of nonhumans – and the nature of human relationships with the more-than-human world – as they do opportunities. A legal and regulatory vacuum exacerbates the risk that these technologies will exponentially increase the scale of existing harms while creating new ones.
This lecture explores the work of the MOTH Program to help fill this gap by developing, in collaboration with experts from a broad range of fields – including animal welfare, human and animal research ethics, environmental law, data governance, and artificial intelligence – a draft set of proposed Legal & Ethical Principles for the Responsible Development of NACTs. Workshopped by leading scientists and practitioners during a November event co-hosted by MOTH and Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), the Principles intend to establish a robust, integrated, and iterative framework capable of guarding against the risks raised by NACTs to the environment, nonhuman animals, and the human communities in longstanding relationships with them.
About the speaker
César Rodríguez-Garavito is an Earth rights scholar, field lawyer, and founding director of the More-Than-Human (MOTH) Life Program at NYU School of Law. He is a Professor of Clinical Law and Director of the Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Clinic at NYU Law. His work has advanced new ideas and legal actions on issues such as climate justice, Indigenous rights, and what he proposes to call “more-than-human rights” (rights of nature).
His ongoing MOTH initiatives include a partnership with Project CETI on the legal implications of AI-assisted translation of sperm whale communication as well as collaborations with the Fungi Foundation and the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks on legal actions to protect the fungal kingdom of life. His recent publications include More-Than-Human Rights: An Ecology of Law, Thought and Narrative for Earthly Flourishing (ed.), and Climate Change on Trial: Mobilizing Human Rights Litigation to Accelerate Climate Action (forthcoming).
This talk will be hosted on Zoom, please register below to receive a calendar invitation including link to join.
