News — At The Edge — 8/18

If future is about — AI hacking, stagnate wages & arms races — we are all in big trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New genre of artificial intelligence programs take computer hacking to another level —

“The nightmare scenario for computer security — artificial intelligence programs that can learn how to evade even the best defenses — may already have arrived. ..[with] AI-driven programs can be trained to stay dormant until they reach a very specific target, making them exceptionally hard to stop_…._

Free artificial intelligence building blocks for training programs are readily available…[with] level of precision…available to those with far fewer resources than a national government….

‘[T]his is the next big thing….Whoever you personally consider evil is already working on this.’” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-conference-ai/new-genre-of-artificial-intelligence-programs-take-computer-hacking-to-another-level-idUSKBN1KT120

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Community Is Playing A Risky Game With Us_Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) come in many forms — nukes, bioweapons, nanotechnology, cyber-weapons. So far each…_medium.com

Real U.S. Wages Are Essentially Back at 1974 Levels, Pew Reports —

“[While] unemployment rate has been…record lows in recent years…[the] average wage…[after] ‘inflation’ has roughly the same purchasing power as it did 40 years ago_…._

[In] the past five years…wage growth has been between 2% and 3% annually. In the 1970s and early 1980s…when inflation was high, ‘average wages commonly jumped 7%, 8% or even 9% year over year’….

[In] real terms average hourly earnings peaked more than 45 years ago: The $4.03-an-hour rate…in January 1973 had the same purchasing power that $23.68 would today’….

[So] despite a few job categories…compelled by a tight labor market to nudge wages up a bit, this period of low unemployment has yet to improve the situation of average worker from where it was when President Ford was in White House.” https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/08/14/real-us-wages-are-essentially-back-at-1974-levels.aspx

The Chinese threat that an aircraft carrier can’t stop —

“[Pentagon’s] 30-year planning cycle…[will] be launching aircraft carriers in 2048 — even though they’re highly vulnerable to attack [now]…in the dawning era of high-tech combat, and…China is poised to dominate it…[with] artificial intelligence, cyberweapons and robots that can operate on land, sea and air_…._

[U.S.] still largely wedded to…weapons of the past — superbly engineered (but super-expensive) aircraft carriers, bombers, fighter jets and submarines… familiar to Dwight D. Eisenhower….

Pentagon needs a large number of inexpensive, unmanned, expendable, autonomous systems that can survive in the new electronic battlespace and overwhelm any potential adversary_…_..

‘[We’re] playing a losing game…[as] competitors are now using advanced technologies to erode our military edge…[and] becoming increasingly dire’….[I]n fiscal 2015, only 18 percent of the Pentagon’s research and development budget went to basic, applied and advanced research….

The biggest technological challenge…[is as] AI systems dominate warfare…[that] will ‘introduce important new risks of loss of control.’ Humans must be ‘maximally thoughtful and creative’ during design (and plan for failure), because these AI-driven weapons will have accidents and unintended consequences.

Wise policymakers must avoid a ‘Dr. Strangelove‘ world of unsafe killer robots and doomsday machines. America’s vulnerability to information warfare…[is because] information operations are how you take countries down….[So reached] a Sputnik moment for…our military.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-chinese-threat-that-an-aircraft-carrier-cant-stop/2018/08/07/0d3426d4-9a58-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.f0ee03bc2fb8

Our Twilight Zone & What Comes Next *_“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.”_medium.com

Saudi Puts Money on Tech as It Prepares for Life After Oil —

“Saudi Arabia has accumulated a stake in…Tesla Inc. for about $2 billion… and aims to be part of…pool that emerges to take the company private. That’s on top of a $3.5 billion investment in [Uber]…a $45 billion commitment to SoftBank…[and] $1 billion in Virgin Group’s space companies_….[Also]_ Neom, a planned $500 billion [city]…[with] more robots than people…artificial intelligence, with the internet of things….

[Now] 60 percent of oil is used in transportation, which is also where the biggest technological changes are emerging….[The] $2 billion investment in Tesla is equivalent to less than three days of what it earns selling oil….

[Diversifying] away from oil is central to the government’s Vision 2030 program and investments by its sovereign-wealth fund…ultimately controlling more than $2 trillion…toward a ‘diversified, knowledge-based economy’ by investing in ‘those sectors and technologies that are driving progress on a global scale.’” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-13/saudi-puts-its-money-on-tech-as-it-prepares-for-life-after-oil

Find more of my ideas on Medium at,

A Passion to Evolve.

Or click the Follow button below to add me to your feed.

Prefer a weekly email newsletter — free, no ads, no spam, & never sell the list — email me [email protected] with “add me” in the subject line.

May you live long and prosper!Doc Huston