Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Lethal autonomous weapons

Posted: April 9, 2024 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

By Christopher Harper

As the U.S. Congress plans an investigation of artificial intelligence, one of the most challenging areas of concern is what’s known as LAWS.

LAWS stands for lethal autonomous weapons systems, which critics call killer robots.

I started gathering information about this type of A.I. when two of my favorite military authors, Mark Greaney and Gregg Hurwitz, posed some significant issues with LAWS.

Greaney ponders an attempt by one tech company to control the worldwide supply of such weapons, while Hurwitz warns about the absence of ethics when computers take over.

By combining A.I. with advanced robotics, the U.S. military and those of other advanced powers are already hard at work creating an array of self-guided “autonomous” weapons systems—combat drones that can employ lethal force independently of any human officers meant to command them. Such devices include a variety of uncrewed or “unmanned” planes, tanks, ships, and submarines capable of autonomous operation. For example, The U.S. Air Force is developing an unmanned aerial vehicle to join piloted aircraft on high-risk missions. The Army is similarly testing a variety of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), while the Navy is experimenting with both unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned undersea vessels (UUVs, or drone submarines). China, Russia, Australia, and Israel are also working on such weaponry.

Michael Klare of The Nation wrote recently: “For the most part, debate over the battlefield use of such devices hinges on whether they will be empowered to take human lives without human oversight. Many religious and civil society organizations argue that such systems will be unable to distinguish between combatants and civilians on the battlefield, and so should be banned in order to protect non-combatants from death or injury, as is required by international humanitarian law. American officials, on the other hand, contend that such weaponry can be designed to operate perfectly well within legal constraints.”

The imminent appearance of autonomous weapons has generated concern and controversy globally, with some countries already seeking a total ban on them. Others, including the United States, plan to authorize their use only under human-supervised conditions. In Geneva, a group of states has even sought to prohibit the deployment and use of fully autonomous weapons, citing a 1980 U.N. treaty that aims to curb or outlaw non-nuclear munitions believed to be especially harmful to civilians. Meanwhile, in New York, the U.N. General Assembly held its first discussion of autonomous weapons last October and is planning a full-scale review this fall.

Given China’s superior numbers, the so-called “swarm concept” of A.I. weapons is particularly appealing to U.S. strategists. The antonymous weapons would act like a swarm of bees, ants, or wolves.

This concept of warfare undergirds the new “replicator” strategy announced by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks just last summer. “Replicator is meant to help us overcome [China’s] biggest advantage. More ships. More missiles. More people,” she told arms industry officials last August. By deploying thousands of autonomous weapons, she suggested, the U.S. military would be able to outwit, outmaneuver, and overpower China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army. “To stay ahead, we’re going to create a new state of the art.… We’ll counter the PLA’s mass with mass of our own, but ours will be harder to plan for, harder to hit, harder to beat.”

Any participating robotic member of such swarms would be given a mission objective, such as destroying enemy radar, but not precise instructions on how to do so. This would allow them to select their battle tactics in consultation.  

Authors Greaney and Hurwitz have one overriding concern about the technology: its introduction would make nations more prone to war.

Alternatively, the technology might reduce battlefield injuries and deaths.

One concept favoring A.I. technology development harkens back to the Cold War: mutual-assured destruction. If all the major powers each have LAWS, it is less likely that one will use the weapons because of the retaliation it would face.

This Antifa Story Could be A Much Bigger Story in the Long Run

Posted: April 8, 2024 by datechguy in Uncategorized

One of the reasons why I enjoy not having a cell phone is the fact that it is in fact a personal computer and if lost or stolen means your entire life is out there for people to see.

This was amply demonstrated in Ireland when a group of Antifa had an encounter with people protesting in Ireland. The Antifa types fared poorly in the encounter which in itself is all to the good but the real store was what happened next.

Apparently some left their cell phones were left behind in the scuffle and said phones were unlocked. The protesters decided to check them out to erase any images of them but instead found a treasure trove of data:

  • On one phone, which seems to belong to a mainstream journalist, would appear to show a concerning level of cooperation between various media sources, NGO workers, and prominent antifa operatives in both Ireland and the UK
  • Our sources explained, and this appears to be corroborated by messages on the phone, that the antifa group had planned to oppose an anti-immigration protest in the city centre. They ultimately went to Coolock as they thought there would only be women and children there
  • The videos of the phone’s content, widely circulating on social media, seem possibly to hold a vast quantity of insider info on the Far Left in Ireland

Now these are early reports and we don’t know the extent of this data, but if these reports are accurate it could be huge, particularly if there is any sign of international coordination here.

Stay tuned.

Easter is rapidly becoming another Holiday That Must Not Be Named

Posted: April 4, 2024 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

After more than two decades of their War on Christmas, Progressives have now set their sights on Easter.  The library in my town proudly announced an Egg Hunt for children.  Easter was not mentioned in that announcement at all.  My local school system, like far too many others, replaced Good Friday with Spring Holiday. 

As you can see from this Breitbart Article, the Marxists who identify as Damocrats may be attempting to replace Easter with a sacred Progressive holiday.

On Good Friday, Joe Biden proclaimed that March 31, 2024 — which is Easter Sunday this year — to be the “Transgender Day of Visibility.” On top of that, Biden continued the unfortunate tradition of no religious-themed art allowed in the Easter egg art contest.

“Selected designs representing the unique experience and stories of National Guard children will be brought to life on real hen eggs by talented egg artists from across the country and displayed at the White House this Easter and Passover season,” the flyer reads before listing off restrictions for the contest.

It states in part that the submission must not include “any questionable content” before specifically listing “religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”

The text of Joe Biden’s Transgender Day of Visibility Proclamation is as delusional as you would expect from a radical leftist who suffers from a severe case of dementia.

Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation.  Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive.  They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.  But extremists are proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families — silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison for helping parents get care for their children.  These bills attack our most basic American values:  the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child.  It is no surprise that the bullying and discrimination that transgender Americans face is worsening our Nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year.

At the same time, an epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, especially women and girls of color, continues to take too many lives.  Let me be clear:  All of these attacks are un-American and must end.  No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.  I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

Joe Biden’s dementia is so advanced he probably does not remember issuing his Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation.

Pennsylvania voting: A bumpy ride ahead

Posted: April 2, 2024 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
Tags: ,

By Christopher Harper

In Pennsylvania, a pivotal state in the 2024 campaign, it appears that the Democrats, who control much of the state government voting apparatus, realize that mail-in ballots played a significant role in Biden’s election as president.

Over the past two weeks, my wife and I have received six application forms to file for absentee ballots.

Moreover, the slick presentation allows us to file a once-for-a-lifetime guarantee of mail-in ballots for each election.

It is unclear how the local and state officials verify the requests for mail-in ballots, which were once known as “absentee” ballots for use when an individual would not be at his or her home address on Election Day.

But other problems loom as November nears.

Pennsylvania has experienced a significant decline in the number of experienced election directors, increasing the risk of errors that could cause voters difficulties, disenfranchise their votes, and ignite disputes over results.

In total, 58 officials who served during the November 2019 election have left. Compared with experience levels during the 2019 election, the state has lost a combined 293 years of experience among the top county election officials as of this publishing date, according to a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis of county data. The state has 21% fewer years of experience than it did for the November 2019 election.

Recent ballot printing and administration errors in Greene and Luzerne Counties, among others, show that having less-experienced county administrators can result in more problems occurring in an election. Last year, one of Greene County’s errors was an incorrect instruction telling voters to choose up to three candidates in a commissioner race that allowed only two selections.

If a voter had followed the instructions, the ballot would not have been counted. 

“I think the loss of experienced election directors at the county level is one of the biggest dangers we face,” Secretary of State Al Schmidt said recently. “That turnover creates an environment where it’s more likely for mistakes to be made.”

After the 2022 elections, a flurry of precinct-level recount petitions prevented Pennsylvania from certifying its election results until Dec. 22 — weeks later than usual.

This year presents an even more challenging scenario: a new federal law requires states to certify their slate of presidential electoral votes by Dec. 11, about five weeks after Election Day.

Forrest Lehman, the election director for Lycoming County in north central Pennsylvania, said he had hoped the legislature would shore up vulnerabilities in the post-election process in response to Congress passing the Electoral Count Reform Act, though that now seems unlikely.

“We need to look at what needs to be clarified, maybe what parts need to be hardened a little bit so that someone can’t take advantage of them,” he said. “The recount petitions are one example, but also [there’s] the potential for a repeat of what we saw previously, where a county simply refused to certify its results, and they had to be taken to court.”

Lehman referred to a dispute between the Pennsylvania Department of State and several counties after the spring primaries in 2022. Berks, Fayette, and Lancaster Counties refused to include mail ballots without handwritten dates. 

The department sued the counties and eventually obtained a court order compelling them to include the votes. However, the process took over two months.

Older Entries
Newer Entries