Tag: Technology

Is This How “Skynet” Begins

I am sure that everyone that reads this blog is familiar with the term “Skynet”…that computer that runs everything on earth and dispatches terminators to do the dirty work….well it had to have a beginning and I think one of the spin-offs covered that…but could there be a “real life” beginning?

There has been some amazing leaps in AI research and it looks like the Penatgon is going to be the first to use it in search of “bad guys”…….

Turning hours of drone video into actionable intelligence is just the start for the fast-moving machine-learning team.

By year’s end, the Pentagon wants computers to be leading the hunt for Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, through turning countless hours of aerial surveillance video into actionable intelligence.

It’s part of Project Maven, a fast-moving effort launched last month by Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work to accelerate, improve, and put to wider use the military’s use of machine learning.

Source: The Pentagon’s New Algorithmic Warfare Cell Gets Its First Mission: Hunt ISIS – Defense One

Of course I am making light of the situation…but it is a good question when machines are starting to do a lot of our tasks and thinking for us…..

I still think that humans are better at making this decision than a machine….the machine can think faster but can it see the “not normal” that may arise from the intel?

I believe that a good analyst can see things that a machine will overlook as “not” important.

I know I am an old fart but I stand by my statement.

Closing Thought–27Mar17

The Coming Warbot Revolution!

Seems the word “BOT” is making a daily visit to the headlines…..

It appears that my major focus today is on war…then this should fit right in….

Our society has embraced the “robots” in manufacturing…..they save lives and work more efficiently and they are nor demanding a raise once a year….plus our military is using these “soldiers” more and more in our endless war scenarios….

As this military technology expands the more we will depend on these machines to do more in our fights in the future.

What will the future of this type of asymmetrical war?

But will it save lives?

We are now on the cusp of a similar revolution in warfare with the opportunity to integrate several current and near term technologies into our concept of how we will conduct military operations in the not-to-distant future. The winner of the next conflict will not likely be determined primarily by the state of their technologies, but by how well a nation’s military thinkers conceptualize future warfare in an integrated manner and then apply robotic systems, or warbots, appropriately to our way of fighting. For purposes of this discussion, warbots can be defined as robotic combat systems that can detect, identify, and apply lethal force to enemy combatants within prescribed parameters and without immediate human intervention. Using the historical lens of the blitzkrieg, we will examine two key trends that can help inform our concept of future warfare and our ability to wage it. They include: the rise of lethal warbots as primary combatants and adapting current leadership methods to a future era of manned-unmanned, or Centaur, teaming.

Source: Blitzkrieg Redux: The Coming Warbot Revolution | RealClearDefense

The idea of losing less soldiers is appealing….but what of all those that are caught between the two warring “bots”?

The lights are off and the staff is headed outside for some fresh air…..IST will return tomorrow with more “shiny” objects….chuq

Closing Thought–02Mar17

Live from the holodeck!

I am not a techno geek but for some reason I keep finding all these technology stories that I feel the urge to share with my readers.  Hopefully this will entertain my regular readers…..and generate comments from those among you who have a handle on this technology thing.

Remember all those Star Trek shows and the elaborate scenarios that were played out on their holodecks?

I bring this up because of something I recently read…..

On February 5, political activist Hugo Poidevin attended a rally in Paris to listen to a speech by the French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, a leftist politician with a penchant for cutting edge technology.

But Melenchon was not actually at the Paris rally – at least not in the flesh. He was delivering a speech in Lyon, nearly 400km away.

Poidevin, along with thousands of others, gathered in the French capital, facing an empty stage, in anticipation of what would be a first in French politics.

“Resistance!” the crowd in Lyon chanted, as Melenchon began to speak there.

“Where am I? In Lyon?” Melenchon said, rousing the Lyon audience. He snapped his fingers. “And now, in Paris.”

Source: The dawn of cyber politicians | France | Al Jazeera

Is this the future?

It could help all those American politicians that are running like scared rabbits from their townhalls….they could do their thing without having to actually face the people.

Closing Thought–22Feb17

I am not by any measure of the imagination a techno geek….I include such posts in my closing thoughts and hope that my readers with more knowledge will find it worthy of comment and correct any mis-statements that may be included….

The buzzword of the year is —-cyber-security….both personal and national…..a new report covers just how it works within the confines of a democracy…..

“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” This 19th-century quip, often attributed to the satirist Ambrose Bierce, deserves a 21st-century update: “Attacks against the U.S. are God’s way of teaching Americans how weaker enemies are stronger than they seem.”

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are the paradigmatic examples of this. On September 11, 2001, they gave Americans, along with the rest of the world, a lesson in “asymmetric warfare”—armed conflict between two sides whose relative military power differs significantly, and in which one party can gain advantage by targeting the other one’s weak points.

Source: How Democracies Lose in Cyberwar – The Atlantic

This is my swan song for the day….go out and live a bit….be well, be safe…..chuq

Closing Thought–21Feb17

To Bot Or Not To Bot?  That is the question.

If you spend too much time on the ‘net then I am positive that you have run into a bot or something similar…..my Spam folder is usually full of bot replies to my posts….I am sure that everyone that has a blog will have them lurking about….I have even heard that there are bots that reply and almost sound human….but if I think it is a Bot I will reply in some way that will expose it…..

Yes, Bots are a pain in the ass…..I have seen all the “fake news” stuff and all the angst about the MSM….some of it I agree with and others I find just a reach at best….but I read something that I found disturbing….especially when it applies to journalism…..

When Republican Steve King beat back Democratic challenger Kim Weaver in the race for Iowa’s 4th congressional district seat in November, The Washington Post snapped into action, covering both the win and the wider electoral trend. “Republicans retained control of the House and lost only a handful of seats from their commanding majority,” the article read, “a stunning reversal of fortune after many GOP leaders feared double-digit losses.” The dispatch came with the clarity and verve for which Post reporters are known, with one key difference: It was generated by Heliograf, a bot that made its debut on the Post’s website last year and marked the most sophisticated use of artificial intelligence in journalism to date.

When Jeff Bezos bought the Post back in 2013, AI-powered journalism was in its infancy. A handful of companies with automated content-generating systems, like Narrative Science and Automated Insights, were capable of producing the bare-bones, data-heavy news items familiar to sports fans and stock analysts. But strategists at the Post saw the potential for an AI system that could generate explanatory, insightful articles. What’s more, they wanted a system that could foster “a seamless interaction” between human and machine, says Jeremy Gilbert, who joined the Post as director of strategic initiatives in 2014. “What we were interested in doing is looking at whether we can evolve stories over time,” he says.

Source: What News-Writing Bots Mean for the Future of Journalism | WIRED

What will all those op-ed writers do?

Since I am by NO stretch of the imagination a techno geek….I would hope that some of my readers that are more knowledgeable than I chime in here with some techno stuff…..

Any thoughts you would like to share?

Go now…the day is young…see you guys tomorrow….chuq

Closing Thought–20Feb17

Just a FYI piece for my readers

This would be a good post for my more tech oriented readers to reply about….I am not a techno geek….Hell I still hunt and peck with 3 fingers….

Ever get annoyed by those pop-up adverts that appear out of nowhere when you are trying to watch something interesting?

Did you know that many of those advertisers are getting popped by hackers for millions, even billions of dollars?

Computer hackers are a sophisticated system of fake websites and artificial web users to deceive advertisers into thinking that people are clicking on billions of online adverts and videos every day.

The fraudsters create a series of fake websites and use computer programs called “bots” to record the starting and stopping of videos and clicks on adverts, which are then reported to advertising companies as activity by humans on real websites.

In fact, some experts believe that 70% of online advertisements are never even watched or clicked by humans.

This statistic stunned Ron Amram, vice-president of media at Heineken USA, who admitted to Bloomberg in 2014, “It was like we’d been throwing our money to the mob.”

Source: Hackers use ‘bot fraud’ operation to cheat advertisers out of billions every year

I have mixed emotions…..on one hand serves them right for being irritating douches and the other no one deserves that kind of punishment….

Signing off for the day…posting will start again tomorrow….chuq

Closing Thought–14Feb17

I, Robot

I recall many years ago when the news of the first robots being used by the auto industry was all the talk…..of course the pro side was that they would do hazardous work and thus would cut down on injuries and days lost…the co side pointed out that these machines were replacing good paying jobs for workers….

Since those early days the debate has continued to rage on and on….who benefits from all the automation?

We are at a crossroads that will determine our economic future. There is hope, but also the possibility of a turn into a state of oligarchical barbarism, Frase postulates. The following is an excerpt from the introduction to Four Futures.

Why, the reader might ask, is it even necessary to write another book about automation and the postwork future? The topic has become an entire subgenre in recent years; Brynjolfsson and McAfee are just one example. Others include Ford’s Rise of the Robots and articles from the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, Slate’s Farhad Manjoo, and Mother Jones’s Kevin Drum. Each insists that technology is rapidly making work obsolete, but they flail vainly at an answer to the problem of making sure that technology leads to shared prosperity rather than increasing inequality. At best, like Brynjolfsson and McAfee, they fall back on familiar liberal bromides: entrepreneurship and education will allow us all to thrive even if all of our current work is automated away.

Source: Will Automation Benefit Humanity and the Planet, or a Tiny Elite?

And the debate will continue……..

My day is done……I pass on to a more restful stage…..be well, be safe….I shall see everyone tomorrow.

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?

Ah my weekend begins….time to step away from the keyboard and live a bit….

It is 5:30 am or if you prefer 0530 hrs (my preference) and if you are a Trump supporter then Mickey’s little hand is on the 5 and the big is on the 6……let’s get started shall we?

Speaking of time……

You know to be stylish and a man about town one must invest in a Rolex…a magnificent timepiece….I have one and NO I did not buy it it was my late father’s….he did not buy it either it was given to him as a present by a friend when we lived in Spain….. and NO I do not wear it out in public for you see I am an old fart and time is all I have left so I really do not want to watch it fly by for any reason….but I digress…..

But this post is for all those suckers that buy a Rolex…..I know what the Hell am I going on about, right?

Could the end be near for luxury watch brands like Rolex? Probably not anytime soon, but the explosion of smartwatches represents the biggest threat to Swiss watchmakers since Seiko introduced its landmark Quartz watch in 1969, Business Insider reports. Classic analog watches can’t match the technology of wrist computers that do everything from play music to turn on your air-conditioning. Contenders such as the Apple Watch represent the new battleground for watch makers, and Swiss brands “may soon see a large portion of their business threatened,” says Andrea Squatrito. A report by his company, RE Analytics, says high-end makers like Rolex have a lot to lose, with 45% of the company’s business coming from their “lower end” watches with a starting price point of about $2,700.

With those upmarket customers in mind, Apple turned up the heat when it teamed up with Hermes to introduce a sleeker version of the Apple Watch with a choice of stylish leather bands, starting at $1,500. But the future of the smartwatch hasn’t always looked so rosy. A steep drop in sales late last year had analysts questioning the future of do-it-all timepieces, per CNN. Consumers surveyed called smartwatches too expensive, big, and ugly, per Computer World. Still, the new year began with a flood of new smartwatches in stores—and more on the horizon—ranging from upmarket versions by Tag to old standbys like Casio, per Wareable. Countering the “ugly” rap, upmarket brands like Kate Spade and Michael Kors introduced hybrid versions blending the look of traditional analogs with smartwatch features

Really?  A smartwatch will replace a Rolex?  Next you will tell me a driver-less car will replace a Ferrari….NOT IN MY WORLD!

Maybe one of IST more tech savvy visitors could explain just why this is so to us old farts….makes little sense to us.

But smile the weekend has begun…..a little music from the past…..when music was about the sound not the glitz…..enjoy.

“When Will They Ever Learn?”

For years I have been trying to inform the American people, especially my regular visitors, that whatever news source you use that is nothing more than propaganda….that’s right CNN, NBC, FOX, etc…they all work as a tool of propaganda…..

There is a way to spot propaganda……a few posts that I wrote trying to help people understand the issue……

Source: What Is Propaganda? – In Saner Thought

Or if that one was not to your liking……

Source: Propaganda 2.0 – In Saner Thought

This began in full blown necessity with the Gulf War of 1990…..the government could NOT allow full access to the military as they did during Vietnam….they, the government, had to control the flow of information…..

It is getting worse today……..

Military’s ‘sock puppet’ software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda

The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an “online persona management service” that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.

Source: Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media | Technology | The Guardian

Not only are the intel services gathering info on the individual but they are also making sure that we have the “right” mindset……I guess the idea of “thought police” did have its contemporaries….

Is that report propaganda?

Take the IST posts I referenced and check out if it falls into the categories listed….if they do then you can be fairly certain that….It is PROPAGANDA!

 

 

 

Can We Live On?

Morning my friends….it is a Sunday and my final day of rest and relaxation….I shall spend some time in the orchard and the garden today….a back to nature sort of thing….

We all have seen the movies where our “essence” is downloaded into an android or some such and in the movie things go horribly wrong and the world ends….and then is resurrected as a zombie movie of some sort…..

Some of us scoff at the idea of such a download…..but is it ever going to be a thing?

“Imagine scanning your Grandma’s brain in sufficient detail to build a mental duplicate. When she passes away, the duplicate is turned on and lives in a simulated video-game universe …. herself as the same person that she always was, with the same memories and personality — the same consciousness — transferred to a well regulated nursing home and able to offer her wisdom to her offspring forever after. And why stop with Granny? You could have the same afterlife for yourself in any simulated environment you like. But even if that kind of technology is possible, and even if that digital entity thought of itself as existing in continuity with your previous self, would you really be the same person?” (07/14/16)

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/what-a-digital-afterlife-would-be-like/491105/

Personally, I would like to have my essence downloaded….for no other reason than it would be time spent with my granddaughter and possibly her granddaughter…..

How about you?

That is my post for the day….please go out and enjoy the rest of your weekend….we can return to our normal stuff tomorrow…..