Brazil Articles (Resources)

1. The Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training website is the #1 resource I recommend most often to new Foreign Area Officers and one which I highlight in my article: So You've Got Orders, Now Read This Poem hosted at the excellent Africa OSC page.  Most notable are the country readers they have which consist of a chronological series of interviews with various embassy personnel from ambassadors to attaches to public affairs officers to management officers to GSOs.  These are an amazing supplement to studies of a country history as it offers a glimpse into our foreign policy/diplomatic posture at various points in time.   https://adst.org/Readers/Brazil.pdf  

The website also features podcasts and other articles such as the ones highlighted below. 

• Four Days in September — The Kidnapping of the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
• The “Leaky Bucket”—Brazil and the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Brazil’s Long Detour on the Road to Democracy
• CSI: Sao Paulo — The Search for the Angel of Death

2. University of Chicago Revista Vaeranda Program

Academic department with a collection of public essays and experiences that capture a broad span of society, arts and government--such as this short essay: Revolution, not Transition: The Collapse of the Brazilian Military Regime

3. Brasilian Whatsapp Slang (my list)

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/brasilialifeafterdesign/282996878?autoplay=1 

4. In-Betweens of the Forest

Environmental activist, journalist, and National Book Award finalist Eliane Brum considers how governments and corporations destroy the Amazon and disrupt the under-recognized populations who live there, in this excerpt from Banzeiro Òkòtó.

5. https://countrystudies.us/brazil/

Related Brazil Posts:

• Brazil Podcasts
• Brazil Youtube Channels
• Brazil Starter Pack
• Brazil Articles and Resources
• Brazil Think Tanks and University Programs
  
• Brazil Movies, Doc and TV Shows

Kruse's Keys: Read "Burn-In" to See the Implications of AI's Rise

When I read “Ghost Fleet” from writing duo Singer and Cole last year, I found myself saying “this would make a great movie!” (My review of it can be found here). That book, written some five years ago, captured most realistically what a war with China might look like--a subject even more relevant today given the US’ focus on “great power competition.”

With their latest novel/future historical fiction “Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution”, the duo tackles a future in which AI, drones and robotics have continued their current development trajectory to the point where they’ve consumed every aspect of American life. Unfortunately, these “developments” have left gaping vulnerabilities within the US infrastructure that are exploited by a group of homegrown terrorists.

The term “burn-in” was first used in the late 60’s with the rise of computing meaning “the continuous operation of a device (such as a computer) as a test for defects or failure prior to putting it to use.” The authors use AI “to mean the capability of a machine to imitate, match, or surpass an intelligent human behavior or task with “intelligent” defined as able to function appropriately and with foresight in its environment.” These definitions are particularly useful when applied to the convergence of AI and robotics as the authors show with the partnership between the FBI agent and her prototype robot partner as they battle a series of devastating terrorist attacks. From a purely thriller/action perspective, the novel moves quickly and keeps the pages turning but its real intent is to prompt the reader to think through the implications of what this “rise of the machines” really means--after all as the main character notes: “Machines were built on assumptions that meant one thing in a lab and another in a narrow alley reeking of dog shit and gunpowder.” Ultimately, this book shows that similar assumptions are made with regards to AI and robotics that mean one thing when “the good guys” (i.e., the USG) have them but can mean something altogether different when they fall into the hands of maligned actors.

Key Quotes:

She held out her hand, and as the two shook, Richter added with a wry smile, “And thank you for your service.” To another vet, it was as big a “Fuck You” as could be said.
Page: 48

“TAMS,” Modi said. “Tell Agent Noritz what a ‘burn-in’ is.” “A burn-in is defined as ‘the continuous operation of a device, such as a computer, as a test for defects or failure prior to putting it to use,’” answered the machine.
Page: 49

What an AI system can bring to an agent are the very same things it brought to a soldier in the field or a stock trader on Wall Street: machine-speed collection, collation, and analysis of information. It isn’t about replacing, but freeing up the human. Think of it not as artificial intelligence but augmented intelligence.
Page: 54

Automation had always seemed a problem just for truck drivers or factory workers, until suddenly it wasn’t.23 It turned out that not even a Yale Law degree could compete with the algorithms.
Page: 94

“That’s actually it—facing an adversary is not just what makes an AI more useful in the real world, but it’s also how the machine itself becomes more intelligent.” “A revolution from evolution.”
Page: 105

DARPA’s old motto from its days dominating the world of information: Scientia Est Potentia, Latin for “Knowledge Is Power.” Like so much else, they’d actually gotten it wrong. Back in 1655, Hobbes had explained the true intent of the translation: “The end of knowledge is power . . . Lastly, the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action, or thing to be done.”
Page: 109

Machines were built on assumptions that meant one thing in a lab and another in a narrow alley reeking of dog shit and gunpowder.

Key References (basically many of the author's footnotes arranged by three subjects):

History/Foreign Policy/Culture
Robotics/Drone/Weapons
AI/ General Technology

History/Foreign Policy/Culture:

Deep Dream Generator. Accessed July 23, 2019. https://deepdreamgenerator.com/#gallery

David T. Zabecki, “The Greatest German General No One Ever Heard Of.” Historynet, May 12, 2008. https://www.historynet.com/the-greatest-german-general-no-one-ever-heard-of.htm

Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” The Atlantic, July/August 2012. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/

John Ismay, “Stargazing in a War Zone.” New York Times, September 12, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/magazine/stargazing-war-zone.html

Leela Jacinto, “Turkey’s Coup Brought to You via Plotters’ WhatsApp Posts.” France24, July 25, 2016. https://www.france24.com/en/20160725-turkey-coup-whatsapp-plotters-erdogan-media

Fathali M. Moghaddam, “The Staircase to Terrorism: A Psychological Exploration.” American Psychologist 60(2) (February–March 2005): 161–69. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.60.2.161

Jeffrey Lewis, “The EMPire Strikes Back.” Foreign Policy, May 24, 2013. https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/24/the-empire-strikes-back/

Adam Janofsky, “Federal Researchers Simulate Power Grid Cyberattack, Find Holes in Response Plan.” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-researchers-simulate-power-grid-cyberattack-find-holes-in-response-plan-1541785202

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager, interview by Peter W. Singer, Washington, DC, April 30, 2019 7. Shane Harris, “New Zealand Attack Exposes How Little the U.S. and Its Allies Share Intelligence on Domestic Terrorism Threats.” Washington Post, March 16, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-zealand-attack-exposes-how-little-the-us-and-its-allies-share-intelligence-on-domestic-terror-threats/2019/03/16/42c14d9c-4744-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html

Peter W. Singer, “National Security Pros, It’s Time to Talk About Right-Wing Extremism.” Defense One, February 28, 2018. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2018/02/national-security-pros-its-time-talk-about-right-wing-extremism/146319/

Steve Haruch, “Why Corporate Executives Talk About ‘Opening Their Kimonos.’” NPR.org, November 2, 2014. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/11/02/360479744/why-corporate-executives-talk-about-opening-their-kimonos

Ghiselaine Vu-Han, “Perfecting the Phosphorus Process.” MIT-The Tech, March 8, 2018. https://chemistry.mit.edu/chemistry-news/perfecting-the-phosphorus-process/

Paul Reynolds, “White Phosphorous: Weapon on the Edge.” BBC, November 16, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4442988.stm

P. W. Singer and August Cole, “How to Write About World War III.” The Atlantic, June 30, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/ghost-fleet-world-war-III/397301/

See also J. Furman Daniel III and Paul Musgrave, “Synthetic Experiences: How Popular Culture Matters for Images of International Relations.” International Studies Quarterly, Volume 61, Issue 3, September 2017 (pages 503–16). https://academic.oup.com/isq/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/isq/sqx053/4616603

“Why It’s Worth Reading Crazy-Sounding Scenarios About the Future,” The Economist, July 6, 2019. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/07/06/why-its-worth-reading-crazy-sounding-scenarios-about-the-future

Jade Fell, “Hacking Through the Years: A Brief History of Cyber Crime.” Engineering and Technology, March 13, 2017. https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2017/03/hacking-through-the-years-a-brief-history-of-cyber-crime/

P. W. Singer and Allan Friedman, CyberSecurity and CyberWar: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 47–49. Panayotis Vryonis, “Explaining Public-Key Cryptography to Non-Geeks.” Medium.com, August 27, 2013. https://medium.com/@vrypan/explaining-public-key-cryptography-to-non-geeks-f0994b3c2d5

Patrick Sawer, “The Unsung Genius Who Secured Britain’s Computer Defences and Paved the Way for Safe Online Shopping”. The Telegraph, March 11, 2016. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/12191473/The-unsung-genius-who-secured-Britains-computer-defences-and-paved-the-way-for-safe-online-shopping.html

Danny Yadron, “Iranian Hackers Infiltrated New York Dam in 2013.” Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2015. https://www.wsj.com/articles/iranian-hackers-infiltrated-new-york-dam-in-2013-1450662559

Sarah Wynn, “Water Turns Purple Overnight in Ohio Town.” ABC6onyourside.com, June 4, 2019. https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/water-turns-purple-overnight-in-ohio-town

Merrit Kennedy, “A Siberian River Has Mysteriously Turned Blood Red.” NPR, September 8, 2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/08/493139519/a-siberian-river-has-mysteriously-turned-blood-red

Alison Gopnik, “A Generational Divide in the Uncanny Valley.” Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2019. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-generational-divide-in-the-uncanny-valley-1154713871

Freegan.info, “Freegan Philosophy.” Accessed May 23, 2019. https://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-philosophy/

Tom Bateman, “Police Warning After Drug Traffickers’ Cyber-Attack.” BBC News, October 16, 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24539417

Heather Pemberton Levy, “Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Predictions for 2017 and Beyond: Surviving the Storm Winds of Digital Disruption https://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2016/11/15/gartners-top-10-strategic-predictions-for-2017-and-beyond/

P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/LikeWar-Weaponization-P-W-Singer/dp/1328695743

Ritika Trikha, “The History of ‘Hello, World.’” HackerRank, April 21, 2015. https://blog.hackerrank.com/the-history-of-hello-world/

History.com, “1932: Bonus Marchers Evicted by U.S. Army.” February 9, 2010. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bonus-marchers-evicted-by-u-s-army

Lara Seligman, “In Overflowing Syrian Refugee Camps, Extremism Takes Root.” Foreign Policy, July 29, 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/29/in-overflowing-syrian-refugee-camps-extremism-takes-root-syria-bashar-assad-islamic-state-isis/


See also Maria Konnikova, “Lessons from Sherlock Holmes Pt. I: Paying Attention to What Isn’t There.” Big Think, July 21, 2011. https://bigthink.com/artful-choice/lessons-from-sherlock-holmes-pti-paying-attention-to-what-isnt-there

Robotics/Drone/Weapons:

Selfdefense.com, “Stun Gun Batons.” Accessed July 27, 2019. https://www.srselfdefense.com/stun-gun-batons/

Adam Clark Estes, “The 3D Printed Gun Threat Is Getting Weird and Scary.” Gizmodo, June 20, 2019. https://gizmodo.com/the-3d-printed-gun-threat-is-getting-weird-and-scary-1835694478

Kathy Fessler, “What You Need to Know About Gunshot Detection Technology.” Security101 blog, November 28, 2018. https://www.security101.com/blog/gunshot-detection-technology

Andrew Liszewski, “This Clip-on Handgun Attachment Makes Bullets Non-Lethal.” Gizmodo, September 12, 2015. https://gizmodo.com/this-clip-on-handgun-attachment-makes-bullets-non-letha-1730039256

Noah Shachtman, “Israeli ‘Auto Kill Zone’ Towers Locked and Loaded.” Wired, December 5, 2008. https://www.wired.com/2008/12/israeli-auto-ki/

Paul Scharre, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. New York: W. W. Norton, 2019 2. US Army Mad Scientist Laboratory, “An Appropriate Level of Trust. . . .” May 29, 2018. https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil/56-an-appropriate-level-of-trust/

George Leopold, “Air Force Tests ‘Attritable’ Weapons.” Electronic Engineering Times, March 22, 2019. https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334456#

Donovan Alexander, “New Self-Aware Robotic Arm Can Recognize and Repair Itself.” Interesting Engineering, February 3, 2019. https://interestingengineering.com/new-self-aware-robotic-arm-can-recognize-and-repair-itself

Leon Cook, “New Full-Color Night Vision could revolutionize how troops operate in the dark. https://www.stripes.com/news/us/new-full-color-night-vision-could-revolutionize-troops-ability-to-operate-in-dark-1.564782

Department of Homeland Security, “Radar Systems for Through-the-Wall Surveillance.” July 22, 2016. https://www.dhs.gov/publication/radar-systems-through-wall-surveillance

The 500-Volt Shotgun. Photograph, 600 x 373. Accessed June 26, 2019. https://d1w116sruyx1mf.cloudfront.net/ee-assets/channels/cdd_default/130808image2.jpg

Patrick Tucker, “This Formula Predicts Soldier Firepower in 2050.” Defense One, September 17, 2019. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/09/formula-predicts-soldier-firepower-2050/159931/

Zeo Kleinman, “Ocado Trials Fruit-picking Robot.” BBC, January 31, 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38808925

“Strawberry Robots Forever.” @Mashable, July, 1, 2019. https://twitter.com/mashable/status/1145725499806760962

Sticky Foam Gun. Photograph, 460 x 318. Accessed June 26, 2019. https://futures.armyscitech.com/ex4/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/STICKY-FOAM-1_v2.jpg

“This Is What Your Next MOPP Suit Could Look Like.” We Are The Mighty, September 19, 2016. https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/this-is-what-your-next-mopp-suit-could-look-like

Kashmir Hill, “Jamming GPS Signals Is Illegal, Dangerous, Cheap, and Easy.” Gizmodo, July 24, 2017. https://gizmodo.com/jamming-gps-signals-is-illegal-dangerous-cheap-and-e-1796778955

“Industry Day for the Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS) Program—W909MY-19-R-C004.” Federal Contract Opportunity, February 11, 2019. https://govtribe.com/opportunity/federal-contract-opportunity/industry-day-for-the-advanced-targeting-and-lethality-automated-system-atlas-program-w909my19rc004

Patrick Howell O’Neill, “Drones Emerge as New Dimension in Cyberwar.” CyberScoop, February 5, 2018. https://www.cyberscoop.com/apolloshield-septier-drones-uav-cyberwar-hacking/

“Teenager Hacks Drone to Prove Cyber Attack Risk.” Reuters, May 3, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/video/2019/05/03/teenager-hacks-drone-to-prove-cyber-atta-id5454689

Fortune Magazine, “Drone Swarms Are the New Fireworks in China.” YouTube, June 14, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbCR8mOPkuo

Jeffrey Lin and Peter W. Singer, “This People-Moving Drone Has Completed More Than 1,000 Test Flights.” Popular Science, February 8, 2018. https://www.popsci.com/ehang-passenger-carrying-drone/

IRobot 510 PackBot. Photograph, 800 x 550. Accessed June 26, 2019. https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/imgs/irobot-510-packbot.jpg

Alistair M. C. Isaac and Will Bridewell, “White Lies on Silver Tongues: Why Robots Need to Be Able to Deceive (And How).” In Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith Abney (eds.), Robot Ethics 2.0, New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Available at https://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/aic/sites/www.nrl.navy.mil.itd.aic/files/pdfs/chapter_oso-9780190652951-chapter-11.pdf

Kak, “A Three-Stage Quantum Cryptography Protocol.” Foundations of Physics Letters, vol. 19 (3) (2006): 293–96 17. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1. Zachary Tomlinson, “15 Medical Robots That Are Changing the World.” Interesting Engineering, October 11, 2018. https://interestingengineering.com/15-medical-robots-that-are-changing-the-world

“Oldest Literary Reference to Automata, Computers, Robots.” Abcdunlimited.com. Accessed July 23, 2019. http://abcdunlimited.com/liberty/refs/aristotle.html

As quoted in Sarah Kessler, “The Optimist’s Guide to the Robot Apocalypse.” Nextgov, March 9, 2017. http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2017/03/optimists-guide-robot-apocalypse/136028/?oref=nextgov_today_nl

Peter Holley, “Baristas Beware: A Robot That Makes Gourmet Cups of Coffee Has Arrived.” Washington Post, March 22, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/03/22/baristas-beware-robot-that-makes-gourmet-cups-coffee-has-arrived/

Kirstin Korosec, “In Ford’s Future Two-Legged Robots and Self-Driving Cars Could Team Up on Deliveries.” TechCrunch, May 22, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/21/in-fords-future-two-legged-robots-and-self-driving-cars-could-team-up-on-deliveries/

Peter Holley, “The Technology 202: Drones in Aisle 5? Grocery Stores Are Becoming Unusual Hotbeds of Innovation.” Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-technology-202/2019/05/03/the-technology-202-drones-in-aisle-5-grocery-stores-are-becoming-unusual-hotbeds-of-innovation/5ccb371c1ad2e506550b2f0d/

“It is not human jobs that are at risk from the rise of the robots. It is humanity itself.” Direct quote. Robert Skidelsky, “Is AI the Road to Serfdom?” Asia Times, February 22, 2019. https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/02/opinion/is-ai-the-road-to-serfdom/

Shivali Best, “The Ambulance Drone That Could Save Your Life: Video Reveals How Flying Robots May Someday Carry the Injured to Hospital.” Daily Mail, January 3, 2017. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4084008/Incredible-video-shows-flying-AMBULANCE-speed-emergency-support.html

NASA.gov, “Robonaut 2, the Next Generation Dexterous Robot.” July 15, 2010. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/robonaut_photos.html

Kate Darling, “Why We Have an Emotional Connection to Robots.” TED Talks, September 2018. https://www.ted.com/talks/kate_darling_why_we_have_an_emotional_connection_to_robots?language=en

P. W. Singer, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. New York: Penguin, 2009, p. 337. https://www.amazon.com/Wired-War-Robotics-Revolution-Conflict/dp/0143116843

I. Orha and Stefan Oniga. “Assistance and Telepresence Robots: A Solution for Elderly People.” Carpathian Journal of Electronic and Computer Engineering 5 (2012): 87–90. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235417999_Assistance_and_telepresence_robots_a_solution_for_elderly_people

Tiffany Jeung, “Watch How the World’s Fastest Robot Cat Learns Feline Tricks.” Inverse.com, November 12, 2018. https://www.inverse.com/article/50754-nybble-is-the-fastest-robot-cat

Boston Dynamics, YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics

Adam Conner-Simons and Rachel Gordon, “ ‘Superhero’ Robot Wears Different Outfits for Different Tasks.” MIT News, September 27, 2017. http://news.mit.edu/2017/superhero-robot-wears-different-outfits-different-tasks-0927

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Robot Origami: Robot Self-folds, Walks, and Completes Tasks.” YouTube, June 11, 2015. Video, 2:43. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYz7g-qLjs

Arthur Holland Michel, “Amazon Delivery Drone Patents.” Center for the Study of the Drone, September 2017. https://dronecenter.bard.edu/files/2017/09/CSD-Amazons-Drone-Patents-1.pdf

Nick Lavars, “Robotic Leg Leans on Animal Evolution to Teach Itself to Walk.” New Atlas, March 12, 2019. https://newatlas.com/robotic-leg-teaches-walk/58817/

James Vincent, “Boston Dynamics’ Robots Are Preparing to Leave the Lab—But Is the World Ready?” Boston Dynamics’ robots are preparing to leave the lab — is the world ready?

Jeremy Hsu, “Out of the Way, Human! Delivery Robots Want a Share of Your Sidewalk.” Scientific American, February 19, 2019. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/out-of-the-way-human-delivery-robots-want-a-share-of-your-sidewalk/

Amazon.com, “Amazon Mechanical Turk: Overview.” https://edtech.pomona.edu/tools/amazon-mechanical-turk/#:~:text=Amazon%20Mechanical%20Turk%20(MTurk)%20is,are%20currently%20unable%20to%20do.

AI/ General Technology:

Vlad Savov, “Nubia’s Wearable Smartphone Is a Preview of Our Flexible OLED Future.” The Verge, September 4, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/9/4/17817416/wearable-smartphone-nubia-alpha-flexible-oled-ifa-2018

Zachariah Yuzon, “Nubia’s Alpha Wearable Is the Craziest Gadget at MWC 2019.” Mashable, February 28, 2019. Video, 00:50. https://mashable.com/video/nubia-alpha/#kFH57ndsemqR

Peter Diamandis, “Convergence in VR/AR: 5 Anticipated Breakthroughs to Watch.” LinkedIn. May 6, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/convergence-vrar-5-anticipated-breakthroughs-watch-peter-h-diamandis/

Ina Fried, “Preparing for a Future of Augmented RealityThe future of augmented reality will raise fresh online privacy concerns

Amanda Lentino, “This Chinese Facial-Recognition Start-up Can Identify a Person in Seconds.” CNBC.com, May 16, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/this-chinese-facial-recognition-start-up-can-id-a-person-in-seconds.html

Direct quote from China Electronics Technology Corp. presentation. Chris Buckley and Paul Mozur, “How China Uses High-Tech Surveillance to Subdue Minorities.” New York Times, May 22, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/world/asia/china-surveillance-xinjiang.html

Julien Happich, “The Future of Video Surveillance: HD, Hyperspectral and Stereoscopic.” EeNews Europe, February 5, 2014. http://www.eenewseurope.com/news/future-video-surveillance-hd-hyperspectral-and-stereoscopic

Elon Musk’s Boring Company gets Hyperloop permit for NYC to DC
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/elon-musks-boring-company-gets-hyperloop-permit-for-nyc-to-dc

CV Dazzle. Accessed November 5, 2019. https://cvdazzle.com/
James Vincent, “Google’s AI Thinks This Turtle Looks Like a Gun, Which Is a Problem.” The Verge, November 2, 2017. https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/2/16597276/google-ai-image-attacks-adversarial-turtle-rifle-3d-printed

Guy Cramer, “Quantum Stealth; The Invisible Military Becomes a Reality.” HyperStealth, October 19, 2012. http://www.hyperstealth.com/Quantum-Stealth

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, “Hackers Behind WannaCry Cashed Out Bitcoin While No One Was Watching.” Vice, August 3, 2017. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvky75/hackers-behind-wannacry-cashed-out-bitcoin-while-no-one-was-watching

MΔDΞRΔS, “Improvements Like These Have Interesting Implications.” Twitter, March 9, 2019. pic.twitter.com/ZywUM4XsBn

Greg Synek, “Gait Recognition Tech Can Identify People Even with Their Backs Turned.” TechSpot, November 7, 2018. https://www.techspot.com/news/77298-gait-recognition-tech-can-identify-people-even-their.html

Parmy Olson, Image Recognition Technology Not as Secure as We Think, Image-Recognition Technology May Not Be as Secure as We Think

Angela Chen, “Inmates in Finland Are Training AI as Part of Prison Labor.” The Verge, March 28, 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/28/18285572/prison-labor-finland-artificial-intelligence-data-tagging-vainu

AI is an incredibly contested term, with at least 70 different definitions according to one study (Shane Legg and Marcus Hutter, “A Collection of Definitions of Intelligence,” IDSIA report, 2007. https://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdf). It has come to encompass anything from a “narrow” or “weak” task of human intelligence being performed by a machine to one requiring “general” or even “super” intelligence. It is often expanded to include everything from “general” or even “super-intelligence” where a machine is trained to do a task, to multi-agent systems and artificial neural networks to create more expansive deep-learning, where the machine operates in ways akin to the human brain, to “neuromorphic chips,” which allow individual chips to do massive calculations, enabling further supercomputing breakthroughs and pushing intelligence outward to individual systems or even sensors. The US military has officially defined AI as “the ability of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence—for example, recognizing patterns, learning from experience, drawing conclusions, making predictions, or taking action—whether digitally or as the smart software behind autonomous physical systems” (US Department of Defense, “Summary of the 2018 Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Strategy,” available at https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/12/2002088963/-1/-1/1/SUMMARY-OF-DOD-AI-STRATEGY.PDF). For our general purposes, we use it in broad terms to mean the capability of a machine to imitate, match, or surpass an intelligent human behavior or task with “intelligent” defined as able to function appropriately and with foresight in its environment.

History of Ideas and Achievements (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010), and Peter Stone et al., “Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030.” One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence: Report of the 2015–2016 Study Panel, Stanford University, September 2016. http://ai100.stanford.edu/2016-report

Brady Moore and Chris Sauceda, “The Guy Behind the Guy: AI as the Indispensable Marshal.” US Army Mad Scientist Laboratory, February 21, 2019. https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil/122-the-guy-behind-the-guy-ai-as-the-indispensable-marshal/

Dave Gershgorn, “Companies Are on the Hook if Their Hiring Algorithms Are Biased.” Quartz, October 22, 2018. https://qz.com/1427621/companies-are-on-the-hook-if-their-hiring-algorithms-are-biased/

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“Technology is not destiny.” Direct quote. Conor McKay, Ethan Pollack, and Alastair Fitzpayne, “Automation and a Changing Economy: The Case for Action.” The Aspen Institute, April 2, 2019. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/automation-and-a-changing-economy-the-case-for-action




Prajwal Paudyal, “Should AI Explain Itself? Or Should We Design Explainable AI So That It Doesn’t Have To.” Towards Data Science. Accessed June 28, 2019. https://towardsdatascience.com/should-ai-explain-itself-or-should-we-design-explainable-ai-so-that-it-doesnt-have-to-90e75bb6089e




Julien Happich, “The Future of Video Surveillance: HD, Hyperspectral and Stereoscopic.” EeNews Europe, February 5, 2014. http://www.eenewseurope.com/news/future-video-surveillance-hd-hyperspectral-and-stereoscopic




C. E. Shannon, J. McCarthy, M. L. Minsky, and N. Rochester, “A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence.” Dartmouth College, August 31, 1955. http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/dartmouth/dartmouth.html

Larry Greenemeir, “20 Years After Deep Blue: How AI Has Advanced Since Conquering Chess.” Scientific American, June 2, 2017. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/20-years-after-deep-blue-how-ai-has-advanced-since-conquering-chess/

DeepMind, “AlphaGo Zero: Starting from scratch.” YouTube, October 18, 2017. Video, 2:13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXlM99xPQC8

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Elsa Kania, “Chinese Military Innovation in Artificial Intelligence.” Hearing of the US-China Economic and… https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/June%207%20Hearing_Panel%201_Elsa%20Kania_Chinese%20Military%20Innovation%20in%20Artificial%20Intelligence.pdf

Jamie Condliffe, “A New Artificial Synapse Is Faster and More Efficient Than Ones in Your Brain.” MIT Technology Review, January 29, 2018. https://www.technologyreview.com/f/610089/a-new-artificial-synapse-is-faster-and-more-efficient-than-ones-in-your-brain/

Andrew Freedman, “Meet Aurora, Soon to Be the First ‘Exascale’ Supercomputer in the U.S.” Axios, March 18, 2019. https://www.axios.com/us-to-get-its-first-ultra-powerful-exascale-supercomputer-015cc201-0660-430f-9bf2-83e5ac4edcad.html

Heather Roff, “How Understanding Animals Can Help Us Make the Most of Artificial Intelligence.” The Conversation, March 30, 2017. https://theconversation.com/how-understanding-animals-can-help-us-make-the-most-of-artificial-intelligence-74742

Seth Borenstein, “No AI in Humor: R2-D2 Walks into a Bar, Doesn’t Get the Joke.” AP News, March 31, 2019. https://www.apnews.com/bae71c3bef8145ecaaa84bca24d77430

Gao Huang, Zhuang Liu, Laurens van der Maaten, and Kilian Q. Weinberger, “Densely Connected Convolutional Networks.” Cornell University, version v5, January 28, 2018. https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.06993

Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson, Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2018. https://hbr.org/product/human-machine-reimagining-work-in-the-age-of-ai/10163-HBK-ENG

David Z. Morris, “Nearly Half of All Retail Jobs Could Be Lost to Automation Within 10 Years.” Fortune, May 21, 2017. http://fortune.com/2017/05/21/automation-retail-job-losses/

Bernard Marr, “Artificial Intelligence Has a Problem with Bias, Here’s How to Tackle. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/01/29/3-steps-to-tackle-the-problem-of-bias-in-artificial-intelligence/#51dc72d27a12

Patrick Tucker, “Here Come AI-Enabled Cameras Meant to Sense Crime Before It Occurs.” Defense One, April 24, 2019. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/04/ai-enabled-cameras-detect-crime-it-occurs-will-soon-invade-physical-world/156502/

Manuel Blum, “How to Exchange (Secret) Keys.” ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 1 (2) (May 1983): 175–93. https://doi.org/10.1145%2F357360.357368

John Miller and David Mainor, “WannaCry Ransomware Campaign: Threat Details and Risk Management.” FireEye, May 15, 2017. https://www.fireeye.com/blog/products-and-services/2017/05/wannacry-ransomware-campaign.html

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“What Is Selenium, and Why Should You Care?” Appalachian Mountain Advocates, June 15, 2011. http://www.appalmad.org/2011/06/15/what-is-selenium-and-why-should-you-care-2/

M. L. Cummings, “Automation Bias in Intelligent Time Critical Decision Support Systems.” American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.91.2634&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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Caroline Holmes, “Robust Future Changes in Temperature Variability Under Greenhouse Gas Forcing and the Relationship with Thermal Advection.” Journal of Climate, March 15, 2016. https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00735.1

Christianna Reedy, “Graphene That Changes Color When It Cracks Could Literally Save Lives.” Futurism, April 13, 2017. https://futurism.com/graphene-that-changes-color-when-it-cracks-could-literally-save-lives

Victor L. Pushparaj et al., “Flexible Energy Storage Devices Based on Nanocomposite Paper.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 21, 2007. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1959422/


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Richa Bhatia, “Understanding the Difference Between Symbolic AI & Non Symbolic AI.” Analytics India Magazine (blog), December 27, 2017. https://www.analyticsindiamag.com/understanding-difference-symbolic-ai-non-symbolic-ai/

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Matt Turek, “Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).” Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Accessed July 6, 2019. https://www.darpa.mil/program/explainable-artificial-intelligence

Molly Kovite, “I, Black Box: Explainable Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of Human Deliberative Processes.” War on the Rocks, July 5, 2019. https://warontherocks.com/2019/07/i-black-box-explainable-artificial-intelligence-and-the-limits-of-human-deliberative-processes/

CRS Report: Ghana: Recent Developments and U.S. Relations JAN 2013

CRS Report: Ghana: Recent Developments and U.S. Relations JAN 2013

Excerpt:

Ghana: Bilateral Cooperation and Leadership Engagement

Ghana is considered a model for many of the outcomes that many Members of Congress have

long sought to achieve in sub-Saharan Africa in the areas of authorizations; appropriations and

program guidance; and oversight. Ghana has received a large U.S. Millennium Challenge

Corporation (MCC) Compact and may soon receive a second. It is also a recipient of substantial

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and State Department bilateral aid, much of

which is channeled through three presidential development initiatives:

• the Global Climate Change (GCC) initiative;

• Feed the Future (FtF), a global food security and poverty reduction initiative; and

• the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Global Health Initiative (GHI).

Ghana also hosts USAID and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regional offices and the

USAID-administered West Africa Trade Hub. The Hub focuses on expanding intra-regional and

bilateral trade with countries in the region, a key area of current congressional interest and a pillar

of the Obama Administration’s U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, released in June 2012.

Ghana is also one of four initial Partnerships for Growth (PfG) countries. PfG, implementation of

which began in 2011 in El Salvador, is intended to advance public and private bilateral

cooperation with selected countries whose top leaders demonstrate commitment to good

governance and sustainable development. Ghana hosts regular visits by Members of Congress,

and in 2009 President Barack Obama signaled that ties remain close by traveling to Ghana, the

only sub-Saharan African country that he has visited as president.

Link to report.

Brooks stumbles in her "Socialist Military"--are we getting punk'd by Foreign Policy?

UPDATE:  I have decided to cut Brooks some slack.  The more I read her initial blog posts, the more I think readers must view her writing as a research-project-in-work.  Brooks is beginning her posts with a research question and a thesis statement of sorts that will no doubt be revised and fine-tuned in the coming months.  She is very open to comments/emails/critiques and I am confident her research sources and analysis will continue to improve.




Original Post:


Rosa Brooks' Welfare State: Meet America's Socialist Military annoyed me to no end because her analysis was so arbitrary and meandering.  Reading her follow up blog posts and her lack of research rigor (she uses USA Today as a source), I have to wonder whether we are getting punked by Foreign Policy??  If, however, FP's aim was to drive readership and begin a dialogue on military spending--WELL DONE.

Her basic thesis was (from what I could tell) that,

"These days, the same could be said of the American military. Is the military different from the rest of us? Yes -- it has more money."

And while she stated she was only looking for the facts, she obviously skewed those facts to favor her hypothesis.  There were two commenters that most aptly captured the main issues with her article.

Here's googooyou's (an unfortunate screen name that should not distract from his insight) great comments :

1. CBO caveats comparing military to federal civilian compensation and rightly so.  The biggest glaring example is that military are salaried whereas civilians are hourly.  Let's punch the time clock to see what soldiers actually are paid on an hourly basis and then see where compensation falls.  Interesting that the CBO report cited did not include postal, legislative, and judicial employees and excluded warrant officers from the military.

2. CBO in this report also analyzed enlisted soldiers versus federal civilians with high school diploma.  Given that today's enlisted personnel by the time they are NCOs will have a college degree, let's then make an accurate comparison of their pay for years in service and college degree versus federal civilian with college degree, and let's see how much less they actually make in comparison.

3. CBO's officer comparison is also off, since most officers will have a master's degree, so let's actually compare salaries of federal employees with master's degrees versus straight bachelor's.  Also, considering my small scope on things, having had many GS14-GS15's work for me who have half the time in service and less education than me, making more than me sure seems to go against what CBO is reporting here. Not to mention my comrades in State and other Agencies who make more than me with less time in service.

4. CBO reports are biased, not because CBO is necessarily biased, because CBO only goes off the parameters requested by the asking party.  In this case, it was from Dem Whip.  At least CBO dedicates an entire page to explaining reasons why comparison is difficult, although it makes some stupid assessments about intangible benefits like solidarity offsetting real costs of things like moving your family every 1-3 years.

5. Let's get a real estimate of what soldiers' compensation should be by just looking at what the government is willing, rather has to pay, security personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc as well as what the government has to pay federal civilians in those areas, then compare against military pay.  Let's start with security personnel making $160-$200 per day versus E-5 and below pay/compensation.  For equivalent college educated personnel at State and other Federal Agencies with the 75% plus compensation and other amenities on top of regular pay, versus junior office with equivalent college education.

6. Just because there are noncash benefits does not mean that all soldiers are able to use them.  Given housing costs in various areas, it is cost prohibitive to go to the commissary.  I also disagree with the cost comparison of the commissaries since I don't know where they get the figures since it seems where I shop on the economy is cheaper than the commissary, even if going to one wasn't cost prohibitive.  Plus, the commissary is famous for saying that you don't pay tax, but there is a surcharge, not to mention the baggage fees.  Same applies for recreation centers etc.  Medical care is a whole different animal considering, as anon12 said so well, it isn't so much a benefit as it is a requirement for readiness.  Given that it takes so many appointments to get anything done in the military health system these days, the costs seem to be more administrative bureaucratic ones rather than quality health care.  That cost should not be spread across as some compensation to military personnel.  I'd really like to see how CBO or other people actually calculate noncash benefits, because this is where the real fluff goes when trying to compare.

The English major in me loved Morgan Rock's comments:

I think the author needs to have a talk with her husband.  It seems she has a misunderstanding of the term "dangerous job".  I don't really understand how anyone with the slightest bit of understanding about the way the military works could write this article.  It seems like the kind of thing I would have seen over a decade ago in my high school AP english class... as an example of how not to write well-reasoned, coherent analysis pieces.  The title barely makes any sense in context with the article, and there doesn't seem to be one actual argument or theme to the whole thing.

Here's what I saw in the article (not all inclusive):

- The military gets too much money

- The military gets much more money than the State Department

- The military's benefits are unjustly higher than those in other civilian professions

- Civilians don't understand the military

- Civilians reflexively revere the military, with reverence approaching that of religion

- The military is being asked to do too much

- The military is overworked and deployed too much, too often

Which of these statements are the primary point of the article?  How does she reconcile the contradictory ideas?  Why should civilians NOT revere the military?  How SHOULD the military be compensated (or should civilians get the same "unsustainable" social programs)?  Good lord, this article is a mess.

LINKS:

January 2011 Congressional Budget Office: Analysis of Federal Civilian and Military Compensation

http://byothermeans.foreignpolicy.com/

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/07/19/welfare_state?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full