All at CSER are saddened to hear of the unexpected passing of our Affiliate, Pablo Suarez. Over the past three years, Pablo has been a generous collaborator, teaching us to think and work differently by sharing his engaging and creative approaches to communicating risk.
The wealth of experience he brought to his work, from systems modelling to humanitarian response and acrobatics, led him to innovations that we will keep with us for a long time. He explained complex ideas about governing AI through a handful of cartoons. He designed an acrobatic performance, where researchers and professional artists explored the complexities of catastrophic risk by demonstrating them with their bodies.
More than this, we will miss Pablo’s gentle humour. He took extreme global risk seriously, but helped us see that this did not mean that we always had to be serious. At his recent seminar with the team, Pablo reminded us of his work in forecast-based financing, where imagining scenarios for a disaster helped release funds for affected communities much earlier. He knew first-hand the importance of making and sharing models for the future. But he also knew that to be more effective, these needed to be living models that drew people in and got them deeply thinking about their relationships with complex systems. And he taught us that these can be delivered with a light touch. This insight will continue to shape and stretch how we work.
Pablo has left us unexpectedly, and our thoughts are with his friends and family at this difficult time. He leaves a hole in our community, but his influence will live on.
