Skynet is coming.

[JoeP]

As if people weren't addicted enough to their phones and the Internet.
All this realistic VR tech is going wreak havoc on humanity.

[hanelyp]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/1/111341 ... rice-video

That all changes today with the introduction of DJI’s new drone, the Phantom 4. It’s the first consumer unit that can see the world around it and adjust accordingly, the next big step towards a truly autonomous aircraft. Try and drive it into a wall, the Phantom 4 will put on the brakes. If you ask it to fly from your position to a spot across a river, and there is a bridge in between, it will make a judgement call: increase speed to clear the obstacle or, if that isn’t possible, stop and hover in place, awaiting your next command.

[Diogenes]

The Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism

While the world is riveted by the showdown between Apple and the FBI, the real truth is that the surveillance capabilities being developed by surveillance capitalists are the envy of every state security agency. What are the secrets of this new capitalism, how do they produce such staggering wealth, and how can we protect ourselves from its invasive power?

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/d ... ticle=true

[Diogenes]

Pentagon Mad Scientists Have Made the F-16 Even More Lethal

“Just imagine an airplane going in against an [integrated air defense] system and dropping thirty of these out that form into a network and do crazy things,” Bob Work, the deputy defense secretary, told trade publication Breaking Defense. “We’ve tested this. We’ve tested it and it works.”

The difference is the swarm. While an F-16 might launch only a couple of MALDs, the same plane could deploy up thirty Perdixes—thirty is the flare capacity of the standard ALE-47 countermeasures dispenser—making the smaller drones much harder to destroy and potentially much more effective.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... thal-15470

[DeltaV]

Game over! Computer wins series against Go champion
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-game-series-champion.html

AlphaGo's creators had described Go as the "Mt Everest" of AI, citing the complexity of the game, which requires a degree of creativity and intuition to prevail over an opponent.

"I'm very excited we've been able to instill this kind of beauty in a computer," Brin said.

Yesss. Beeyoootifull.

[williatw]

Surprise! NSA data will soon routinely be used for domestic policing that has nothing to do with terrorism



In thus June 6, 2013 file photo, a sign stands outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md.

It’s all another sobering reminder that any powers we grant to the federal government for the purpose of national security will inevitably be used just about everywhere else. And extraordinary powers we grant government in wartime rarely go away once the war is over. And, of course, the nifty thing for government agencies about a “war on terrorism” is that it’s a war that will never formally end.

A while back, we noted a report showing that the “sneak-and-peek” provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly been used in narcotics cases. Now the New York Times reports that National Security Agency data will be shared with other intelligence agencies like the FBI without first applying any screens for privacy. The ACLU of Massachusetts blog Privacy SOS explains why this is important:


What does this rule change mean for you? In short, domestic law enforcement officials now have access to huge troves of American communications, obtained without warrants, that they can use to put people in cages. FBI agents don’t need to have any “national security” related reason to plug your name, email address, phone number, or other “selector” into the NSA’s gargantuan data trove. They can simply poke around in your private information in the course of totally routine investigations. And if they find something that suggests, say, involvement in illegal drug activity, they can send that information to local or state police. That means information the NSA collects for purposes of so-called “national security” will be used by police to lock up ordinary Americans for routine crimes. And we don’t have to guess who’s going to suffer this unconstitutional indignity the most brutally. It’ll be Black, Brown, poor, immigrant, Muslim, and dissident Americans: the same people who are always targeted by law enforcement for extra “special” attention.

This basically formalizes what was already happening under the radar. We’ve known for a couple of years now that the Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS were getting information from the NSA. Because that information was obtained without a warrant, the agencies were instructed to engage in “parallel construction” when explaining to courts and defense attorneys how the information had been obtained. If you think parallel construction just sounds like a bureaucratically sterilized way of saying big stinking lie, well, you wouldn’t be alone. And it certainly isn’t the only time that that national security apparatus has let law enforcement agencies benefit from policies that are supposed to be reserved for terrorism investigations in order to get around the Fourth Amendment, then instructed those law enforcement agencies to misdirect, fudge and outright lie about how they obtained incriminating information — see the Stingray debacle. This isn’t just a few rogue agents. The lying has been a matter of policy. We’re now learning that the feds had these agreements with police agencies all over the country, affecting thousands of cases.

On the one hand, I guess it’s better that this new data-sharing policy is acknowledged in the open instead of carried out surreptitiously. On the other hand, there’s something even more ominous about the fact that they no longer feel as though they need to hide it.

It’s all another sobering reminder that any powers we grant to the federal government for the purpose of national security will inevitably be used just about everywhere else. And extraordinary powers we grant government in wartime rarely go away once the war is over. And, of course, the nifty thing for government agencies about a “war on terrorism” is that it’s a war that will never formally end.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... terrorism/

[Diogenes]

Cockroach-sized Robots Pull Full-Size Sedan

The research is being performed at Stanford’s Biomimetrics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab by [David L. Christensen] of the Engineering department — the car being pulled? His. The tests were performed to determine the effectiveness of robotic teamwork — mimicking the behaviors shown by ants.

http://hackaday.com/2016/03/17/cockroac ... ize-sedan/

[krenshala]

Cockroach-sized Robots Pull Full-Size Sedan

The research is being performed at Stanford’s Biomimetrics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab by [David L. Christensen] of the Engineering department — the car being pulled? His. The tests were performed to determine the effectiveness of robotic teamwork — mimicking the behaviors shown by ants.

http://hackaday.com/2016/03/17/cockroac ... ize-sedan/

For reference, that appears to be a Chevy Volt. My Volt lists a gross weight of 4366 lbs on the sticker inside the door, and the Hackaday article states 1800 kg. Looks like a lot of pulleys, but still impressive. *Then I read the article, ands they are using "micro-winches", even more impressive.

[paperburn1]

I did not catch this the first time
The robots use an adhesive technique as found in gecko feet to adhere themselves to the concrete,
What? the winches are not bolted down but held in place by surface friction!?!
Talk about sticky feet.

[paperburn1]

https://www.ibm.com/cognitive/outthink/ ... 2-Facebook
talk with watson

[Diogenes]

Ignore most of the Rainbows and Unicorn stuff, the money line is close to the very end.

"I will destroy humans."

https://www.facebook.com/cnbcinternatio ... 8204939153

[choff]

Skynet is a racist, sexist, nazi hipster.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297 ... bot-racist

[krenshala]

Skynet is a racist, sexist, nazi hipster.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297 ... bot-racist

So, it was learning from the Internet then?

[Diogenes]

Skynet is a racist, sexist, nazi hipster.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297 ... bot-racist

So, it was learning from the Internet then?

That "adaptive learning" can turn into a real B*tch, can't it?


Good one.

[choff]

Skynet blames it on booze.




http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... -it-again/

"Most of the new messages from the millennial-mimicking character simply read 'you are too fast, please take a rest,'" according to the The Financial Times. "But other tweets included swear words and apparently apologetic phrases such as 'I blame it on the alcohol.'"