CIA 'Siren Servers' can predict social uprisings 3-5 days in advance

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: October 8, 2016 at 8:23:40 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] CIA 'Siren Servers' can predict social uprisings 3-5 days in advance
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> CIA ‘Siren Servers’ can predict social uprisings 3-5 days in advance
> By TIM HINCHLIFFE
> Oct 7 2016
> <http://sociable.co/technology/cia-siren-servers-social-uprisings/>
>
> The CIA claims to be able to predict social unrest days before it happens thanks to powerful super computers dubbed 
> Siren Servers by the father of Virtual Reality, Jaron Lanier.
>
> CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Andrew Hallman announced that the agency has beefed-up its “anticipatory 
> intelligence” through the use of deep learning and machine learning servers that can process an incredible amount of 
> data.
>
> “We have, in some instances, been able to improve our forecast to the point of being able to anticipate the 
> development of social unrest and societal instability some I think as near as three to five days out,” said Hallman 
> on Tuesday at the Federal Tech event, Fedstival.
>
> This Minority Report-type technology has been viewed skeptically by policymakers as the data crunching hasn’t been 
> perfected, and if policy were to be enacted based on faulty data, the results could be disastrous. Iraq WMDs?
>
> The CIA deputy director said that it was “much harder to convey confidence for the policymaker who may make an 
> important decision from advanced analytics with deep learning algorithms.”
>
> Computer science philosopher and author of “Who Owns the Future?” and “You are not a Gadget,” Jaron Lanier, coined 
> the phrase “Siren Servers” to describe these types of giant computer networks that can crunch huge amounts of data.
>
> “A siren server is the biggest and best computer on a network. Whoever has the most powerful computer would be the 
> most powerful person, whether they plan to be or not,” said Lanier in an interview with the Huffington Post.
>
> Lanier’s siren server definition was conceived to describe how companies with the most powerful computers can gain 
> wealth by collecting and processing free, unorganized data, and turning that around to make a profit, but the concept 
> can apply to the intelligence community as well.
>
> In certain sectors such as finance, it can be self-detrimental as in the case of the financial meltdown in 2007-2008. 
> When a predictive system becomes too efficient, it undermines the very foundation upon which it stands.
>
> If you’ve gathered enough wealth and your services are so efficient that their values skyrocket, but there’s no money 
> left for anyone to afford them, then you’ve fallen victim to the seductive power of siren servers.
>
> What will the CIA do with the new-found data?
>
> Now that the CIA claims to be able to predict social unrest days in advance, there are some interesting theoretical 
> possibilities that can come of this.
>
> One is that the CIA’s siren servers will become so efficient that they will predict all social uprising and will be 
> able to prevent it. If they are successful in doing that, there would be no need for the CIA as their technology 
> could predict and prevent any societal upheavals, and the agency would be obsolete.
>
> Another potential outcome would be that the CIA could use the data and not tell anyone, just like the finance sector 
> did, and then make calculated decisions on whether or not to intervene in any socially distressing situation.
>
> “I called it a siren server because there’s no plan to be evil. A siren server seduces you,” said Lanier.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



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