AUTHOR ARCHIVES
As Debate Goes On, the Military Prepares for Climate Change
May 7, 2014 The White House released its National Climate Assessment this week, a 1,100 page document by more than 300 experts examining the effects of man-made climate change on various aspects of American life. While 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is occurring and that human factors are largely...
Every Country Will Have Armed Drones Within 10 Years
May 6, 2014 Virtually every country on Earth will be able to build or acquire drones capable of firing missiles within the next ten years. Armed aerial drones will be used for targeted killings, terrorism and the government suppression of civil unrest. What’s worse, say experts, it’s too late for the United States...
We’re Saved! Experts Show How to Fix U.S. Cybersecurity
May 4, 2014 The date is April 4, 2015. A major cyberattack hits two generators in Florida, knocking out power in the cities of Coral Springs and St. Augustine, leading to multiple deaths and millions of dollars lost. One month later, Congress has to get a bill to the president to fix the...
White House Looks Toward a Big Data Future
May 1, 2014 The White House released an extensive report (PDF) Thursday looking at the future of big data, its potential benefits, and implications for privacy and discrimination. John Podesta, a special advisor to the Obama administration who led the Big Data and Privacy Working Group, which released the report, told reporters that...
Future Planes Could Run on Fuel Made from Sunlight
April 29, 2014 The cost of fuel is no small barrier to running the world's largest military. Among the alternative options, solar power just doesn't provide the energy density or the reliability for heavy, high-energy demand performance machines. But that doesn't mean you can't run an F-35 off of sunlight, in a way....
Why Ukraine Has Already Lost The Cyberwar, Too
April 28, 2014 Don’t wait for cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia to break out ahead of the actual shooting. Ukraine already lost that, too. Russia may have unfettered access into the Ukrainian telecommunication systems according to several experts. It’s access that Russia can use to watch Ukrainian opposition leadership, or, in the event...
The Secret Weapon in the War on Poaching...and Terrorism
April 28, 2014 “Drones Fight Poachers" has an undeniable sexiness to it as a news narrative. Who doesn’t want to read about flying killer robots battling machete-wielding criminals chasing innocent animals on the wild African plains? The instant appeal of a high-tech solution to a pervasive low-tech problem is also why Silicon Valley...
The Next Step Toward Autopilot in Combat
April 23, 2014 Flying military combat aircraft requires an exceptional amount of decision making in a very short window with lots of distractions. Now, the Defense Department wants the defense industry to build them much better autopilot. The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, or DARPA, announced a new program to build an automatic...
Why There Will Be A Robot Uprising
April 17, 2014 In the movie Transcendence , which opens in theaters on Friday, a sentient computer program embarks on a relentless quest for power, nearly destroying humanity in the process. The film is science fiction but a computer scientist and entrepreneur Steven Omohundro says that “anti-social” artificial intelligence in the future is...
The Science of Unmasking Russian Forces in Ukraine
April 16, 2014 Every day, the scene playing out along the Ukrainian border with Russia seems like an act of costumed theater. Russian protestors wearing balaclavas, or ski masks, armed with military-grade weapons, attempt to take over government buildings by force. The question of who is behind the masks has risen to a...