Techno-Politics and Tech Culture

Opining about the future of AI at the recent Brilliant Minds event at Symposium Stockholm, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt rejected warnings from Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking about the dangers of AI, saying, "In the case of Stephen Hawking, although a brilliant man, he's not a computer scientist. Elon is also a brilliant man, though he too is a physicist, not a computer scientist." This absurd dismissal of Musk and Hawking was in response to an absurd question about "the possibility of an artificial superintelligence trying to destroy mankind in the near future." However, in Commander #1's immortal words, "We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger." Continue Reading →

We just used a few overeducated millennials and some open-source code to get a bunch of cognitive nonrepetitive workers fired. Which sucks! Incredibly, we didn’t use AI or machine learning to do it, just imagination and some free stuff. The bad news is that unless these people learn to do higher-value cognitive nonrepetitive work, they are not going to be employable. And the really bad news is that even if they do learn to do higher-value cognitive nonrepetitive work, when we start using machine learning and AI tools to do their jobs, they will actually be unemployable. Continue Reading →

I don’t like to discuss religion or politics in polite company. It’s pointless. Both subjects provoke passionate lectures espousing personal worldviews, and minds are seldom, if ever, changed. But … after watching some of the speeches and debates, reading some tweets, and switching between the parade of pundits on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, I've started to wonder what @tjeff (my hypothetical twitter handle for a reincarnated Thomas Jefferson) would have had to do to find the facts upon which to base his independent thinking. Continue Reading →

Apple v. FBI has started a serious debate about the line between security and privacy. The FBI says this is a case about the contents of one specific iPhone 5c. Apple says this is a case about securing data for everyone. Since current vintage iPhones (5s, 6, 6s) can not be hacked the same way, we should not be talking about a particular phone; we should be talking about encryption writ large, and how it is used in our daily lives. Continue Reading →

Apple v. FBI is headed for the Supreme Court. The problem is, I don't want the Supreme Court (or any court) empowered to make policy – that's a job for the Legislative branch. Regardless of what you think of Congress, they’d better get this one right. What it means to be a digital citizen and identifying the border between security and privacy are two of the most important issues of our time. Continue Reading →

Apple posted the highest quarterly earnings in American history (Q415) and took huge hit. Some people blaming Apple's $30 billion market cap haircut on the economic slowdown in China -- but if you don't live there, it's hard to understand the complex relationships Chinese people have with Western brands. Continue Reading →

Information warfare is ongoing, intensifying and global. This is not new, but it is newly relevant because the Internet (and associated technologies) fully democratize the weapons. While we are fighting an asymmetrical physical war, the information war being fought on a much more level playing field. Or is it? Continue Reading →

How were the terrorists in Paris communicating? Shelly Palmer talks about it with Juliet Huddy and Teresa Priolo on Fox 5. Original Airdate: November 17, 2015 Continue Reading →

The Arabic hashtag #stab is something I'd rather not see on a social media post. Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, recently showed a version of the instructional graphic that accompanied that hashtag to the UN Security Council with the English-language title, "How to Stab a Jew." Mr. Danon was making a point – but also describing a form of warfare so new it does not yet have a name. Continue Reading →

A homemade digital clock and a homemade bomb might share several component parts. Both devices might include a timing circuit, a display, a power supply, some switches, a radio (WiFi, Bluetooth or RF), a bunch of wires and some kind of housing or case. There are, however, some nontrivial differences. As a rule, homemade digital clocks do not contain detonators or explosives. That said, a time bomb needs a timer, and a homemade digital clock would do that job nicely. So could you tell the difference between the two devices? Could you tell a clock from a bomb? Continue Reading →