News — At The Edge — 2/9
Economics, technology and war — taxes, self-aware machines and global info-wars — offer a future to die for — literally.
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What’s Really Radical? Not Taxing the Rich —
“My fellow Americans…I will require every middle-class family…to write a check…then pool the money and distribute it to the richest Americans…[with] middle-class household…[paying] $15,000 each year…[to] create the greatest version of America….
I’ve just described the actual changes in the American economy since the 1970s….[Otherwise] the average middle-class family would today earn about $15,000 a year more…after taxes and benefits….
[In] the past 40 years, our government has helped the rich at the expense of everyone else…[and] economic inequality has reached Gilded Age levels….[T]he radical response is to do nothing — or to make inequality even worse, as President Trump’s policies have….
Over the sweep of history, the main reason…societies have declined…is domination ‘by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people’….
[A] clear majorities support higher taxes on the wealthy, higher taxes on corporations, more education funding and expanded government health insurance…[and] less radical than their opponents claim.” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/opinion/democrats-wealth-tax.html
New robot can simulate a self-image, learn what it is -
“Within a day-and-a-half…the new robot can learn its identity without any knowledge of physics, geometry or motor dynamics….[and] use its self-simulation to adapt to a variety of novel environs and tasks, and…initiate internal repairs….
[By] using a deep-learning algorithm, the robot perfected its self-model over the course of 35 hours….When researchers attached a deformed component…the robot successfully used its self-image to identify the flaw and form an updated model of itself….
’[While] ability to imagine itself is still crude compared to humans…this ability is on the path to machine self-awareness…[and] implies some loss of control.’” https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2019/01/30/New-robot-can-simulate-a-self-image-learn-what-it-is/5551548881593/
The West is losing today’s infowars and must hit back hard —
“[A] new ‘durable disorder’…[is] a complex and occasionally violent interplay of state and non-state powers…[and] don’t look like classic battlefields….
When Russia wants to destabilize Europe, it does not threaten military action…it bombs Syria…[driving] thousands of refugees into Europe…exacerbated the migrant crisis…and stoking anti-establishment politics….
Durable disorder is what’s left [after]…system of nation-states retreats….[A] system that contains rather than solves problems. It is the new environment for war…we are unprepared for….Old strategies fail, and armed conflicts smolder in perpetuity…[as] war is becoming privatized…[allowing] super-rich to become super-powers….
Plausible deniability is more decisive than firepower in the information age, and this is driving war into the shadows. Russia could have blitzkrieg through Ukraine, but instead used covert means…[and] waging a disinformation campaign…[as] ‘kill ’em with confusion’ strategy….
[Determining] what is real from fake will decide winners and losers….
[Chinese] engage in ‘lawfare’ that bends — or rewrites — the rules of the international order in China’s favor. This is not the rule of law, but rather its subversion….
Battlefield victory is obsolete now, yet America still invests trillions of dollars in [weapons]…and ponders why no one is deterred or defeated….
Today, war is decided in the information space….Diplomacy and traditional statecraft are not enough. We need information dominance and strategic subversion….War is getting sneakier….
West can exploit this by engineering dissent in the autocrat’s camp. Moscow fears ‘colour revolutions,’ so the West should create them….Distract Beijing by facilitating an insurgency at home…. Does it risk blowback at home? Of course. But current responses are not working….
[Must] develop ways to identify the true origins of what we see on the internet.
The real power of cyber is influence, not sabotage…[and] victory belongs to the cunning and not the strong….
[U.S.] spends twelve times more on its military than…China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan combined. It’s overkill….
In the information age, anonymity is the weapon of choice. Strategic subversion will win wars, not battlefield victory….Shadow war is attractive to anyone who wants to wage war without consequences, and that’s everyone. That is why it will grow….’War termination’ is already an oxymoron…[and] a trend to grow.” https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/02/05/the-west-is-losing-todays-infowars-and-must-hit-back-hard
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May you live long and prosper!
Doc Huston
