Artificial Intelligence. A Retrospective, The Real Cyber Warfare ...

This is a retrospective on the political state of AI in 2017, which I know makes no sense as a statement, but it focuses on a little known act of cyber warfare, or more accurately a corporate DNS attack, that took place in 2014. Giving us the opportunity to consider where we stand on cyber security in 2017.

I couldn't help but include this picture of an old guy in spectacles and a posh suit putting some liquid into the mouth of a baby. When I first saw this picture and before my mind could focus, I saw a distressed woman grasping at a child whilst someone was pushing a gun into its mouth - I know, I have no idea where that notion came from either, perhaps something to do with the military uniforms, but I expect it was just my vivid imagination, and yet - there is a distressed woman grasping at a child surrounded by military and security staff whilst an old guy in a posh suit . . . .

This post is not about chemicals or guns or security staff, but the old guy in the posh suit still plays a part.

The Mail Online notes:

Bill Gates says we SHOULD fear a robot uprising: Microsoft Co-founder says he 'agrees with Elon Musk' on dangers of AI

The article continues with bullet points:

• Bill Gates has joined Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking in warning that AI poses a threat to humanity
• In an AMA on Reddit he said he is 'concerned about super intelligence'
• And he said he doesn't understand why some people are not concerned
• He also revealed Microsoft was working on a virtual 'Personal Agent'
• And he said if Microsoft hadn't worked, he would have gone into AI

Gates was further quoted by the Mail as having said:

I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.
First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well.
A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people are not concerned.

I get the sense we have past the first stage, unless we exclude our present computer and mobile technology and that we are somewhere in the few decades after, and with action man Elon Musk on board, I suspect something already is in the needs to be done stage. It's not that I fear an AI uprising of any sorts, but of course the uprising referred to here will not be of the Arnold Schwarzenegger variety, but something more discrete, something less familiar but at the same time known to us all.

In answer to Gates question as to why some people are not concerned, firstly the question pre supposes that most people are concerned, if only some are not, in which case we might try to understand why Gates would be so concerned. The 'some' may well be those who subscribe to Bill Gates Blog where he discusses future Tech and his reading habits amongst other things. Indeed, for any news regarding the threat of AI this site is remarkably bare, and a basic search for 'super intelligent, super-intelligent, super intelligence, super-intelligence, AI, ai' returned nothing more than a few book reviews, non of which seemed pertinent to the search criteria.

So Bill should get on this I think. Bill – if you want people to share your concerns, then you must share your concerns, I know your probably a bit Tech rusty, but this is what Blogs are for. I hope this helps.

Bill is concerned about all sorts of things, in fact he is already putting his money where his mouth is. The following is a point in case and is an extract from a statement released by No-IP at noip.com :

Earlier today, we released a joint statement with Microsoft announcing the settlement of the unprecedented and overreaching seizure of 23 of our domains. We are thrilled to announce the settlement of this dispute and are excited to return to work connecting our 18 million users to their website and devices.
How did this happen?
On Monday, June 30, 2014, Microsoft obtained a US court order to take control of our most popular domain names used by both our Free and Enhanced Dynamic DNS services. As a result, nearly 5 million hostnames went dark and 1.8 million customer websites and devices became unreachable ... full statement here ...
http://www.noip.com/blog/2014/07/10/microsoft-takedown-details-updates/

I in no way want to limit your notion as to the breadth of Bill Gates concerns and how he intends to tackle them, but it comes as no surprise to me that Elon and Bill are collectively teamed together by media perspective with Stephen Hawking. It is my contention that they either intend to form a barber shop trio, or something more is afoot.

Bill Gates remains eternally the ambassador of his life’s work and its products and has good reason to pre suppose anything that might improve his position with respect to this interest. Bill Gates would say nothing un-formatted or out of context and even if he did there are safeguards in place that prevent his foot from ever publicly entering his mouth, in much the same way as the unfortunate picture included, from what was undoubtedly a pre arranged photo opportunity, was mistakenly pressed, indeed if it did not meet with necessary approval then we would never have been privy to this moment. It is what it is.

Elon these days is heavily involved in his spaceX project which will no doubt give him an in on the satellite market and some $70 Billion of U.S. government contracts. For Elon this would spell success, for others it spells alliance, Musk is after all a gregarious fellow who likes making friends and they're not the sort of friends that you find outside McDonald’s asking for loose change. I'm not so sure Elon is the sharpest tool in the box and he certainly likes to punch above his weight. Elons tenacity however is not in question here, only his wisdom and his company, but who knows, perhaps he will be successful or perhaps and more likely he will become a part of the infrastructure, as I'm not sure that failure amongst such company would be an option.

I’m not particularly interested in Musk's fortunes, but more the circumstances of his journey, the friends he makes along the way and what might be achieved by others who are so positioned as to assure your success or not. An extended bio of Musks alliances will give better focus of my point. The chief information officer of Musk's spaceX project is Branden Spikes, allied with Musk throughout Musk's Zip2 and PayPal incarnations. Other titles for Spikes are Chief Security Architect for the Everdream Corporation, a subsidiary of Dell, not another company owned by Elon, but rather his cousins Russell and Lyndon Rive. Perhaps you would like to take an interest in these individuals – perhaps not. So Gates, Musk, Spikes .. I wonder what their children will look like. To coin a phrase, I don't understand why some people are not concerned about such alliances, but maybe some people just aren’t interested. Well they should be, because if Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Hawkins are the team to save us from an AI uprising in any shape or form, then I would prefer to take my chances with AI, as I have already experienced Gates notion of security, because I was one of those affected by the No-IP / Microsoft débâcle and quite frankly, having the rug pulled from beneath you in this way does not instill a sense of trust or security, either in the U.S. legal system or its policy with respect to mega transnational corporations and their overreach, but rather one of insecurity and mistrust.

I couldn’t help but take note of some of the titles Gates recommends on his website and one that stood out amongst the others was Parag Khanna’s How to Run the World. If the title in itself doesn't raise concerns, then Gates take on Khanna's work certainly will and so to briefly quote from Gates review of this title:

With his trademark energy, intellect, and wit, Khanna reveals how a new “mega-diplomacy” consisting of coalitions among motivated technocrats, influential executives, super-philanthropists, cause-mopolitan activists, and everyday churchgoers can assemble the talent, pool the money, and deploy the resources to make the global economy fairer, rebuild failed states, combat terrorism, promote good governance, deliver food, water, health care, and education to those in need, and prevent environmental collapse. With examples taken from the smartest capital cities, most progressive boardrooms, and front line NGOs, Khanna shows how mega-diplomacy is more than an ad hoc approach to running a world where no one is in charge—it is the playbook for creating a stable and self-correcting world for future generations.
How to Run the World is the cutting-edge manifesto for diplomacy in a borderless world.

To my mind, to run anything you need to be in charge, to run a car(presently) we need to be at the wheel, to run a business, someone needs to be at the helm, so the title is a misnomer in that the word 'run' would not apply in an ideal form of Khanssa's world, the world would simply be running, which is pretty well what the world does already unless interfered with by bureaucrats or megalomaniac entrepreneurs, what Khanna actually suggests is that it could be run differently by different people. One might wonder what rock Khanna has been living under for the last few thousand years if he doesn’t see the ugly cousins of his utopic family already crossing their P's and Q's and tidying up their desks.

Anyway this is not about Khanna's world or any such inverse capitalist utopia, so I shall end it there and just leave you with a few quotes from the old guy in the posh suit:

I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. ‘But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.

Wrong Bill, a lazy person simply wont do the job as well you know, although they may well agree with your second quote, the third is a no-brainer and something well understood by Mr Gates. The last I think is probably an introspective.

So how much meat do you want on your table Bill, and where do you eat out these days.