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> There are four key implications of this revolution that policymakers in the national security sector will need to address: > The first is that the unpreceden
by HenryKissinger 7y ago
> There are four key implications of this revolution that policymakers in the national security sector will need to address:
> The first is that the unprecedented scale and pace of technological change will outstrip our ability to effectively adapt to it. Second, we will be in a world of ceaseless and pervasive cyberinsecurity and cyberconflict against nation-states, businesses and individuals. Third, the flood of data about human and machine activity will put such extraordinary economic and political power in the hands of the private sector that it will transform the fundamental relationship, at least in the Western world, between government and the private sector. Finally, and perhaps most ominously, the digital revolution has the potential for a pernicious effect on the very legitimacy and thus stability of our governmental and societal structures.
- blaser-waffle 7y ago> > The first is that the unprecedented scale and pace of technological change will outstrip our ability to effectively adapt to it. Second, we will be in a world of ceaseless and pervasive cyberinsecurity and cyberconflict against nation-states, businesses and individuals. Third, the flood of data about human and machine activity will put such extraordinary economic and political power in the hands of the private sector that it will transform the fundamental relationship, at least in the Western world, between government and the private sector. Finally, and perhaps most ominously, the digital revolution has the potential for a pernicious effect on the very legitimacy and thus stability of our governmental and societal structures. Sounds like the cyberpunk dystopia is come to pass. Just waiting on a "Screaming Fist" type incident...
- longtom 7y ago> "Screaming Fist" type incident... What's that?
- KineticLensman 7y agoFrom Neuromancer [0], William Gibson's 1984 genre-defining cyberpunk novel > "Operation Screaming Fist," which planned on infiltrating and disrupting Soviet computer systems from ultralight aircraft dropped over Russia. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer
- johnchristopher 7y agoIt's a reference to Neuromancer, the book. Screaming Fist was the name of an operation that turned out to be a red herring with lethal consequences for those who believed it was a genuine thing. edit: I can't tell if parent refers to the red herring or the objectives of the Screaming Fist operation.
- Koshkin 7y agoWouldn't have worked on the abacus and the pencil.
- api 7y agoI've been talking about the prophecies of William Gibson for some time. He seems to have nailed the 21st century more than any other sci-fi writer.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoHaven't read any of his books yet. Did he prophesize that all of this cyberpunk bickering will come to an abrupt halt as global warming destabilizes our civilization and kicks the survivors back to medieval age? After recent stream of climate change articles I just can't read these NSA statements without thinking that they're worrying about the wrong thing.
- mcculley 7y agoHis recent book, "The Peripheral", describes a world deeply affected by climate change and other problems.
- SiempreViernes 7y agoIsn't worrying about he wrong thing is their historical track record? Whenever they aren't actually measuring something directly intelligence agencies seem to rely on their paranoia, which makes for a poor tool to extrapolate with.
- christinaupton 7y agonot enough appreciation for rising marginal costs of innovation. it's easy to see in biotech and pharmaceuticals (same number of innovations costing more and more). it will eventually happen in every other narrowly scoped field.
- Allower 7y agoThat's a pretty foolish assumption. Look at the long view, innovation typically comes in fits and spurts, no predicting when the next will start or the current one will fade away.
- antpls 7y ago(I live in EU) For the 3rd and 4th points, we could rather envision a massive decentralization of power, which would be effectively a change in the model, but not necessarily in a bad way. Telecom, batteries and local energy production will allow much more flexible forms of local auto-organisations and decision-making. Parts of centralized institutions will be obsolete or further decentralized to better fit local specificities. The only irreplaceable aspect of the biggest countries is their military army, but we could also imagine a federation of each state's armies through common interests (which would be something like EU : cooperation of local armies toward a common goal). We could imagine that more autonomous regions with more autonomous armies means less single points of (global) failure.
- el_cujo 7y agoA lot of this information could definitely be framed in a different way to make it sound almost Utopian, I agree, but I think it is hard to argue against the idea that we're relying on technology more and need cybersecurity to scale up. Otherwise its going to be like everyone with access to a computer has a bazooka. Speaking of which, I wonder if there will come a day when the solution to this problem is just heavily restricting access to hardware, background checks before you can buy a laptop/smart phone, etc.
- merpnderp 7y agoWhen the NSA says power will move to the private sector, I don't think they're referring to 'the people', but the wealthy who control most of the private sector.
- thinkmassive 7y agoA feudal oligarchy.
- mr_overalls 7y agoOligarchy, I'll buy. But why feudal, specifically?
- hos234 7y agoTranslates to - We don't know what we are doing or why but please keep funding us. Henry Kissinger pls talk to Kim Kardashian, and the marketing departments of the world. They will have better ideas on how to fight the next war than anyone who has traditionally fought one. What ever you do don't talk to techies. As Chinese Intelligence is showcasing in Hong Kong, building giant machinery that vacuums up oceans of data does diddly squat.
- lern_too_spel 7y agoHong Kong is outside the great firewall.
- YinglingLight 7y ago^cringe
- asdfman123 7y agoI mean, as far as I see it, all this scary new data on our lives is mainly useful so companies can show us marginally better ads. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot more to it and it's more complicated than that, but I think we'll eventually adjust fine to the big-data world we increasingly find ourselves in.
- hos234 7y agoKeep an eye open for more Trump and Brexit style events. You don't need a nation state to trigger them. That's the future of war.
- asdfman123 7y agoFor all the scandal, they were just really good identifying people who could be convinced and doing their best to convince them.
- ryacko 7y agoThe only thing those two events have in common is immigration? Are you saying that there is a war between people who want immigration and those who do not, or something?
- lacker 7y agoThis government lawyer sure writes essays that sound like they were written by a government lawyer.
- agumonkey 7y agodreadful and at the same time I'm almost inspired to imagine what would be a digital superpower structured planet..