Here are the academic publications I have produced thus far in my academic career. Non-technical summaries are available for most of the longer papers.
6 papers currently under review. Details available upon request.
Schienke, Erich W., Seth D. Baum, Nancy Tuana, Ken J. Davis, and Klaus Keller. "Intrinsic ethics regarding integrated assessment models for climate management". Science and Engineering Ethics, forthcoming.
An argument for teaching ethical issues found within the content of research, and an example of how to teach this based on climate management research.
Baum, Seth D. and William E. Easterling, 2010. "Space-time discounting in climate change adaptation". Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, vol. 15, no. 6 (August), pages 591-609.
New theory showing that costs and benefits should be discounted across space as well as time is applied to three cases of how humans adapt to climate change.
Baum, Seth D., 2010. "Is humanity doomed? Insights from astrobiology". Sustainability, vol. 2, no. 2 (February), pages 591-603.
A discussion of several connections between astrobiology (life in the universe) and sustainability: limits to where and when life can exist, observations of extraterrestrials, and the fate of Earth and the universe.
Baum, Seth D., 2010. "Universalist ethics in extraterrestrial encounter". Acta Astronautica, vol. 66, no. 3-4 (February-March), pages 617-623.
If humanity encounters an extraterrestrial civilization, then the outcome can depend on the ethics of each civilization.
Baum, Seth D., 2009. "District 9" (film review). Journal of Evolution and Technology, vol. 20, no. 2 (December), pages 86-89. pdf version
A discussion of transhumanism, ethics, and astrobiology themes in the film.
Schienke, Erich W., Nancy Tuana, Donald A. Brown, Kenneth J. Davis, Klaus Keller, James S. Shortle, Michelle Stickler, and Seth D. Baum, 2009. "The role of the NSF Broader Impacts Criterion in enhancing research ethics pedagogy". Social Epistemology, vol. 23, no. 3-4 (July-December), pages 317-336.
An argument for teaching ethical issues in how research impacts the rest of the world.
Baum, Seth D., 2009. "Description, prescription and the choice of discount rates". Ecological Economics, vol. 69, no. 1 (15 November), pages 197-205.
An analysis of ethical judgments in descriptions of how society discounts, including which individuals are included in "society", how their discounting is described, and how the individual descriptions are aggregated.
Baum, Seth D., 2009. "Cost-benefit analysis of space exploration: Some ethical considerations". Space Policy, vol. 25, no. 2 (May), pages 75-80.
Space exploration CBA raises some important ethical issues related to how costs and benefits are defined and counted, including costs and benefits to future humans and to extraterrestrials
Haqq-Misra, Jacob D. and Seth D. Baum, 2009. "The 'Sustainability Solution' to the Fermi Paradox". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, vol. 62, no. 2 (February), pages 47-51.
The challenges of sustainability may explain the paradox of why we have never observed an extraterrestrial civilization.
Hunt, Colin and Seth Baum, 2009. "The 'Hidden' Social Costs of Forestry Offsets". Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, vol. 14, no. 2 (February), pages 107-120.
An evaluation of carbon offsets in forestry accounting for the (commonly-neglected) amount of time it takes trees to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Baum, Seth D., 2009. "Global Catastrophic Risks" (book review, pdf). Risk Analysis, vol. 29, no. 1 (January), pages 155-156.
A review of an edited volume discussing a broad range of GCRs and related issues.
Baum, Seth D., 2008. "Better to exist: A reply to Benatar" (pdf). Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 34, no. 12 (December), pages 875-876.
An analysis and rejection of David Benatar's argument that we should not bring new humans into existence.
Baum, Seth, 2007. "Beyond the Ramsey model for climate change assessments". Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, vol. 2007, pages 15-21.
A critique of the Ramsey model used in the "economics" of climate change, and proposals for improved models.
Baum, Seth, 2006. "Response to Quality Science Teachers: Essential to America's Future" (pdf). The Science Teacher, December, pages 8-9. Reprinted in Journal of College Science Teaching, vol. 36, no. 4 (January/February), 2007, pages 6-7.
A critique of NSTA President Linda Froschauer's nationalist arguments for improving science education.
Baum, Seth, 2006. User and Developer Interface Improvements to a Finite Difference Time Domain Code. Masters Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University. Available at http://sethbaum.com/research/nufdtd
Enhancements to an electromagnetic wave propagation simulation package making it easier to use and modify.
Created 15 Jun 2007 * Updated 8 Jul 2010