Auckland Central: The Importance of Acting Strategically. – thedailyblog.co.nz

JUST WHEN YOURE THINKING Labours activists have become smart, caring and (almost) wise; they prove themselves to be anything but. A pseudonymous contributor to The Standard, Te Reo Putake, has seized the opportunity created by Nikki Kayes resignation to demand that the Greens pull Chloe Swarbrick from the Auckland Central race.

The choice for the Greens is tricky opines TRP. They really do need to max out their party vote, but they also do need to get their heads around MMP and recognise that they are a list party only.

We will deal with the absurd contradiction at the heart of this statement presently. Meantime, lets allow him/her/them/it to finish their thought: The Greens should do the right thing by voters in Auckland Central and give the nod to the Labour candidate.

Whew! Where to begin! First-off, lets dispose of TRPs nonsensical assertion that the Greens are a list party only.

A list party only might make sense in a country where a pure, list-based, system of proportional representation has been in place for a long time. But, New Zealand is not one of those countries. For most of its history, New Zealand operated a single-member, constituency-based, first-past-the post (FPP) electoral system. Even after a quarter-of-a-century of mixed member proportional representation (MMP) this countrys political culture still ranks Electorate MPs well above List MPs. Any political party that declined to field electorate candidates would simply not be recognised as a serious political player.

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If TRP doesnt know this, then he/she/they/it have no business posting political commentaries on an allegedly serious political website like The Standard. I strongly suspect, however, that TRP knows very well that a list-only party in New Zealand is an electoral nonsense. But, if that is the case, then TRPs Standard post can only be seen as yet one more unsettling example of Labours political arrogance.

Tactics? Strategy? TRP doesnt have a clue!

Lets offer this political naf a small tutorial on the strategic possibilities of the Auckland Central contest.

Obviously, it will take place amidst the much more important nationwide contest between the parties of the Left and Right. This battle is likely to be a much more closely fought, now that Judith Collins is leading the Right, than would have been the case had either Simon Bridges or Todd Muller been the National Party leader facing-off against Jacinda Ardern. A wise Labour Party (one less concerned with getting its trade union lawyer mates into Parliament) would, therefore, already be considering the ramifications of such a close fight. A crucial part of that process, would be weighing the advantages and disadvantages of taking out the insurance policy of ceding Auckland Central to the Greens.

It needs careful thought because a close contest would confront progressive voters with a dilemma. They would be torn between giving their vote to Labour clearly in need of every vote it could get and party-voting Green, just to keep it in the parliamentary arena. But, with the Greens hovering perilously close to the 5 percent MMP threshold, theres the real possibility that a vote for the Greens could end up being wasted. That possibility is doubly damaging: not only because it encourages progressives to vote Labour rather than Green, but also because it is likely to cause deep greens (the sort of folk who used to vote for Nandor Tanczos) to question the point of voting at all.

Either way, the Green vote would be suppressed, making the prophecy of its failure to clear the 5 percent MMP threshold self-fulfilling.

It just amazes me that Labour Party activists like TRP cant see this. Because, if theyre unable to recognise the threat posed to the overall progressive vote by not helping the Greens, then they will also be unable to see the clear strategic advantage of ceding Auckland Central to Chloe.

Lets just walk through the argument.

Jacinda tips the wink to her Auckland Central supporters, suggesting obliquely that they might like to give Chloe a helping-hand. Instantly swept away is the fear that the Greens might fall just below the MMP threshold. (Imagine if they ended up with 4.9 percent of the Party Vote!) Now a Green presence in Parliament is assured and Labour has a reliable coalition partner. Whats more, the deep greens now have a very good reason for party-voting Green not just in Auckland Central, but all over the country. Far from being suppressed, the Green Party vote is maximised along with the influence of progressive New Zealanders generally.

In the face of a now reinvigorated Left, it is the turn of the supporters of the Right to become demoralised. What if National and Act, together, are still a few percentage points short of a winning total? Would it not then be time to consider reviving Winston Peters fortunes? With the looming prospect of Labour and the Greens careening-off into the next triennium in a souped-up Prius without a handbrake, Nationals numbers might take a tumble.

And what would that mean TRP? Thats right, it would dramatically increase the likelihood of Helen White No. 50 on Labours List joining Chloe in the House of Representatives!

Were the Greens to heed your advice, and pull Chloe out of the race, Labour may, or may not, retake Auckland Central. There would, however, be an increased chance that no Greens would be joining Helen White on the Opposition benches. By acting strategically, however, Labour dramatically increases its chances of a second term; supplies itself with a reliable and progressive coalition partner; wins enough support to bring Helen White in on the List; and makes sure the Greens most popular MP is in the House of Representatives with her.

If you ever wondered why it is better to give than to receive, TRP, now you know. Its because when you give, the value of the benefits you receive in return is almost always greater than the worth of the original gift.

I sincerely hope Claire Czabo and her comrades down at Labour Party HQ in Wellington have a word with the people at The Standard. Just a little pep talk about loose lips not only sinking ships, but also deep-sixing the trust and confidence of potentially vital coalition partners.

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Auckland Central: The Importance of Acting Strategically. - thedailyblog.co.nz

Global Mobile Encryption Market 2020: Future Investment Initiatives, Growing with Technology Development, New Innovations, Competitive Analysis and…

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Leaked screenshots appear to show internal Twitter tool that can blacklist users from search and trends – Reclaim The Net

At the start of the year, Twitter officially made shadowbanning, a controversial practice that involves limiting the distribution or visibility of user posts in a way thats difficult to detect, part of its terms of service.

Now new leaked screenshots from Motherboard appear to show an internal Twitter user administration tool that can be used by Twitter staff to blacklist user accounts from search and trends.

The screenshots show details about the target users account, such as whether the account has been suspended, is permanently suspended, or has protected status. They also show several other tags including a Trends Blacklist tag and a Search Blacklist tag.

Two of Motherboards sources who provided the screenshots claim that the internal panel shown in these screenshots is used by Twitter workers to interact with user accounts.

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Several Twitter users have accused Twitter of shadowbanning their tweets this year.

In June, the pop culture satirical news account Price of Reason documented how Twitter had shadowbanned one of its viral tweets that made fun of HBO Maxs controversial decision to stop Bugs Bunnys hunter adversary Elmer Fudd using a gun in its Looney Tunes remake.

The account owner noticed a drastic slowdown in engagement after his tweet had started to go viral and discovered that he was being blacklisted from Twitter search, causing both his account and the tweet to be scrubbed from search results.

Its as if neither it or I ever existed, Price of Reason told Reclaim The Net.

While Twitter made shadowbanning official from January 1 of this year, undercover video from a January 2018 Project Veritas report shows a former Twitter engineer discussing the tactic almost two years before it was added to the terms.

In the video, the former Twitter engineer, Abhinov Vadrevu, states: One strategy is to shadowban so that you have ultimate control.

In the same video, former Twitter executive Olinda Hassan states: Its something were working on. Were trying to get the sh*tty people not to show up. Its a product thing were working on.

Project Veritas had its Twitter ads account banned because of this video almost two years later in November 2019.

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Leaked screenshots appear to show internal Twitter tool that can blacklist users from search and trends - Reclaim The Net

Quantum Software Market 2020: Potential Growth, Challenges, and Know the Companies List Could Potentially Benefit or Loose out From the Impact of…

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Opinion |Dance of the synchronized quantum particles – Livemint

Three of our gang, you see, were women. On our second morning, all three found their periods had kicked in. They were so charmed and amused by this that they forgot any possible cramps or migraines. This was, they told us ignorant men, menstrual synchrony" the tendency for women who live together to begin menstruating on the same day every month. In 1971, a psychologist called Martha McClintock studied 180 women in a college dormitory. Menstrual synchrony, she concluded then, was real.

Now, this really didnt apply that weekend in NYC, because these ladies had only spent one day together. Besides, more recent research has questioned McClintocks findings. Even so, those long-ago NYC days came back to me after reading about some even more recent research, at IIT Kanpur. Not about menstruation, but about synchronization, and in the quantum world.

Whats synchronization? Imagine an individual a bird, a pendulum doing a particular motion over and over again. The bird is flapping its wings as it flies, the pendulum is swinging back and forth. Imagine several such individuals near each other, all doing the same motion several birds flying together in a flock, several pendulums swinging while hanging from a beam. When they start out, the birds are flapping to their own individual rhythms, the pendulums going in different directions. But then something beautiful happens: these individual motions synchronize. The birds flap in perfect coordination, so the flock moves as one marvellous whole. The pendulums swing in harmony.

In fact, synchronization was first observed in pendulums. In 1665, the great Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens attached two pendulum clocks to a heavy beam. Soon after, the two pendulums were in lockstep.

Similarly, fireflies are known to break into spontaneous synchrony. When there are just one or a few, they light up at different timesa pleasant enough sight, but nothing to write home about. But there are spots in the coastal mangroves of Malaysia and Indonesia where whole hosts of the little insects congregate every evening and suddenly, synchrony happens. They switch on and off in perfect unison, putting on a light show like none youve seen.

There are, yes, other examples. At a concert, the audience will tend to applaud in sync. The reason we only ever see one side of the Moon is that the orbital and rotational periods of the Moon have, over time, synchronized with the rotation of our Earth. Your heart beats because the thousands of pacemaker" cells it contains pulse in synchrony. Some years ago, a bridge of a new and radical design was built over the Thames in London. When it was opened, people swarmed onto it on foot. It quickly started swaying disconcertingly from side to side enough, in turn, to force the pedestrians to walk in a certain awkward way just to keep their footing. On video, youll see hundreds of people on the bridge, all walking awkwardly but in step.

In his book Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order, the mathematician Steven Strogatz writes: At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync. It pervades nature at every scale from the nucleus to the cosmos." He goes on to observe that this tendency for synchronization does not depend on intelligence, or life, or natural selection. It springs from the deepest source of all: the laws of physics". And thats where IIT Kanpur comes in.

In 2018, a team of Swiss researchers looked at the possibility of synchronization at the lower end of that scale that Strogatz mentions, or in some ways even off that end of the scale. Do the most elementary, fundamental particles known to physicists exhibit the same tendency to synchronize as somewhat larger objects such as starlings and pendulums and the moon? Were talking about electrons and neutrons, particles that occupy the so-called quantum" world. Can we get them to synchronize?

They concluded that the smallest quantum particles actually cannot be synchronized. These exhibit a spin"a form of angular momentum, in a sense the degree to which the particle is rotating of 1/2 (half). But there are ways in which such spin-half" particles can combine to form a spin-1" system, and the Swiss team predicted that these combinations are the smallest quantum systems that can be synchronized.

So, a physics research group at IIT Kanpur decided to test this prediction. These are guys, I should tell you, who are thoroughly accustomed to working with atoms: One day in 2016, their professor, Dr Saikat Ghosh, took me into their darkened lab and pointed to a small red glow visible in the middle of their apparatus. Thats a group of atoms," he said with a grin, and then tweaked some settings and the glow dropped out of sight. The point? They are able to manipulate atoms. On another visit, they underlined this particular skill by showing me their work with graphene, a sheet of carbon that is get this one atom thick.

So, after the Swiss prediction, Ghosh and his students took a million atoms of rubidiuma soft, silvery metal and cooled them nearly to whats known as absolute zero", or -273 Celsius. Could they get these atoms to show synchrony?

Lets be clear about what they were dealing with, though. The usual objects that synchronize pendulums, birds are called oscillators" because they are in some regular, rhythmic motion. Strictly, it is that motion of the oscillators that synchronizes. But were dealing here with objects we can see, which means the rules of classical" physics apply. Quantum objects like atoms behave differently. In fact, Ghosh told me that spin-1 atoms are not really oscillating in the same sense as pendulums and starlings in flight. Still, with that caveat in place, there are ways in which we can abstract their motion and treat them as oscillators.

In their experiment, the IIT team shot pulses of light at the group of rubidium atoms. Light is made up of photons, which are like minuscule bundles of energy. When they hit an atom, they flip" its spin. Embodied in that flip is the photons quantum information; in a real way, the photons are actually stored in these flipped atoms. This happens with such precision that you can later flip the atoms back and release the photons, thus retrieving" the stored light. In fact, with this storage and retrieval behaviour, the atoms are like memory cells, and this is part of the mechanism of quantum computing. (See my column from October 2018, Catch a quantum computer and pin it down).

But when the atoms are flipped and they store these photons, something else happens to them. When the light is retrieved, the IIT team found it displays interference fringes" a characteristic pattern of light and shadow (similar in concept to what causes stripes on tigers and zebras, or patterns in the sand on a beach). From this fringe pattern, the scientists can reconstruct the quantum state the atoms were inand voil, theres synchrony.

Did each individual atom synchronize to the light and since all one million atoms did so, is that how they are synchronized with each other as well? Thats to be tested still, but its a good way to think of what happened. Again, take fireflies. In one experiment, a single flashing LED bulb was placed in a forest. When the fireflies appeared, they quickly synchronized to the flashing bulb, and therefore to each other. As Dr Ghosh commented: two fireflies synchronizing is interesting, but an entire forest filled with fireflies lighting up in sync reveals new emergent patterns."

There are implications in all this for, among other things, quantum computing. The IIT teams paper remarks; [The] synchronization of spin-1 systems can provide insights in open quantum systems and find applications in synchronized quantum networks." (Observation of quantum phase synchronization in spin-1 atoms, by Arif Warsi Laskar, Pratik Adhikary, Suprodip Mondal, Parag Katiyar, Sai Vinjanampathy and Saikat Ghosh, published 3 June 2020).

There will be other applications too. But over 350 years after Christiaan Huygens stumbled on classical" synchronization, the IIT team has shown for the first time that this strangely satisfying behaviour happens in the quantum world too. No wonder their paper was chosen recently for special mention in the premier physics journal, Physical Review Letters.

A round of applause for the IIT folks, please. I know it will happen in synchrony.

Once a computer scientist, Dilip DSouza now lives in Mumbai and writes for his dinners. His Twitter handle is @DeathEndsFun

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Opinion |Dance of the synchronized quantum particles - Livemint

The UKs Huawei Decision: Why the West is Losing the Tech Race – Chatham House

The UKs decision to ban its mobile providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment after December 2020 and removing all the companys 5G kit from their networks by 2027 is a blow to Huawei and China, but it is one battle in a long war that the West is currently losing.

5Gs significance for the next generation of technology is indisputable and so is its critical role in helping countries achieve digital transformation and economic success. Not only does it offer faster and better connection speeds and greater capacity, it also transforms the way people interact with online services. And it will allow industry to automate and optimize processes that are not possible today.

Due to its transformative importance, what is in essence a technological issue has turned into a contest over global technological leadership that extends beyond the US-China rivalry and has created tensions between the US and its long-time allies. Yet 5G is just one key technology in a more expansive landscape that will underpin the future of the worlds critical infrastructure, including in areas such as quantum computing, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, the internet of things and big data.

To achieve technological leadership in these domains requires governments to invest in a long-term, strategic and agile vision that is able to encompass the interdependencies between these areas and then leverage the resulting technological advances for economic progress. It also requires governments working with each other and with the private sector to support research and development and to create companies with leading-edge technologies that can compete globally.

China understands this and has a national and international vision to establish itself as a technological superpower. Re-balancing from a hub oflabour-intensivemanufacturing to a global innovation powerhouse is the absolute priority of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

In the earlier part of this journey, commercial espionage and IP theft of western R&D were at the heart of the Chinese way of competing. Now, Beijing is cultivating national champions that can drive Chinas technological innovation, with the goal of using domestic suppliers to reducereliance on foreign technology at home as well as extending its international outreach.

In the 5G area, Beijing has introduced domestically the so-called New Infrastructure Investments Fund, which earmarks special loans to boost 5G technology applications in medical devices, electric vehicles and communication platforms. This Fund constitutes a major part of the stimulus package for Chinas post-COVID economic recovery.

Apart from 5G, China's recent launch of a second state-fundedsemiconductor development fundvalued at $29 billion, following an earlier $20 billion fund for the same purpose, shows the extent to which state financial resources are being utilized in Chinas quest to become technologically self-sufficient.

It is too early to know if the Chinese governments industrial policies will eventually achieve the technological self-sufficiency Beijing has long desired. But its growing national capabilities have stoked serious concerns across the West and led to the current US administrations determined effort to dismantle Chinese high-tech companies.

Chinas approach to macroeconomic management diverges significantly from that of the US and other market economies, particularly in its policy towards driving innovation. Due to the legacy of a state-planned economy, China is certain that simply relying on market forces is insufficient.

While Beijing financially supports government-controlled technological enterprises, Washington takes a laissez-faire, light-touch approach by the state to the business sector. The US believes that a politicized process of distributing public money is inherently susceptible to rent-seeking and corruption, and gets in the way of competitive innovation. In line with most liberal economists, many Western governments believe the government should refrain from market intervention. For its part, Beijing stresses a state-dominated economy as a necessary precondition both to the future growth of the Chinese economy and to the legitimization of one-party rule.

If the pro-market economists view iscorrect, the USshould have little to fear from Chinese industrial innovation policy in the long-term. Let Beijing waste money and distort resource allocation, while Washingtonfollows its private sector-led principles, condent that this approach will produce a more competitive economy in the long run.

But one area that should concern the US and that illustrates the Chinese vision for global technological dominance is technical standard setting. Technical standards determine how technologies work with each other, enabling their interoperability around the world, meaning they can function irrespective of where they are being used.

The Chinese leadership has long understood the relationship between technical standards and economic power. Standards help to monetize technological innovation and research and can help shape new technologies. China has therefore been playing an increasingly active role in international standards organizations to legitimize Chinese technologies, whereas the US, which historically has been highly influential in this area, has not been participating as much or as effectively.

China has also been using its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an opportunity to internationalize thedistribution of its standards tocountries signed up to the BRI.The so-called Digital Silk Road, which has been described as Chinas most important global governance initiative, acts as a route to accelerate this process.Later this year, China is expected to launch its new China Standards 2035 plan, which aims to shape how the next generation of technologies will work together.

Chinas preferred model and its recent actions have given Western leaders much to worry about. But standing up to Chinas growing global influence in high technology and re-establishing the Wests desired technological edge will take much more than achieving a common front on excluding China from their 5G networks. It requires a long-term vision built on the power of competitive markets, backed by solid investment in the next generation of technology. This will require, in turn, much greater cooperation between Western governments and between them and their private sectors.

And, whilst recent protective steps taken in Washington and other Western capitals may slow down Chinas trailblazing in the technology sphere, it will only hasten China's determination to become tech self-sufficient in the long term. This will increase the probability of a splintered internet, which will have negative repercussions for all.

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The UKs Huawei Decision: Why the West is Losing the Tech Race - Chatham House

The Brookings glossary of AI and emerging technologies – Brookings Institution

Algorithms:

According to author Pedro Domingos, algorithms are a sequence of instructions telling a computer what to do.[1] These software-based coding rules started with simple and routine tasks, but now have advanced into more complex formulations, such as providing driving instructions for autonomous vehicles, identifying possible malignancies in X-rays and CT scans, and assigning students to public schools. Algorithms are widely used in finance, retail, communications, national defense, and many other areas.

Indian engineers Shukla Shubhendu and Jaiswal Vijay define AI as machines that respond to stimulation consistent with traditional responses from humans, given the human capacity for contemplation, judgment, and intention.[2] This definition emphasizes several qualities that separate AI from mechanical devices or traditional computer software, specifically intentionality, intelligence, and adaptability. AI-based computer systems can learn from data, text, or images and make intentional and intelligent decisions based on that analysis.

Augmented reality puts people in realistic situations that are augmented by computer-generated video, audio, or sensory information. This kind of system allows people to interact with actual and artificial features, be monitored for their reactions, or be trained on the best ways to deal with various stimuli.

Extremely large data sets that are statistically analyzed to gain detailed insights. The data can involve billions of records and require substantial computer-processing power. Data sets are sometimes linked together to see how patterns in one domain affect other areas. Data can be structured into fixed fields or unstructured as free-flowing information. The analysis of big data sets can reveal patterns, trends, or underlying relationships that were not previously apparent to researchers.

Automated tools for answering human questions. Chatbots are being used in retail, finance, government agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations to respond to frequently asked questions or routine inquiries.

Data storage and processing used to take place on personal computers or local servers controlled by individual users. In recent years, however, storage and processing have migrated to digital servers hosted at data centers operated by internet platforms, and people can store information and process data without being in close proximity to the data center. Cloud computing offers convenience, reliability, and the ability to scale applications quickly.

Computers that develop knowledge based on digital pictures or videos.[3] For example, cameras in automated retail outlets that are connected to CV systems can observe what products shoppers picked up, identify the specific items and their prices, and charge consumers credit card or mobile payment system without involving a cash register or sales clerk. CV also is being deployed to analyze satellite images, human faces, and video imagery.

Cars, trucks, and buses that communicate directly with one another and with highway infrastructure. This capacity speeds navigation, raises human safety, and takes advantage of the experiences of other vehicles on the road to improve the driving experience.

The analysis of data to gather substantive insights. Researchers use statistical techniques to find trends or patterns in the data, which give them a better understanding of a range of different topics. Data analytic approaches are used in many businesses and organizations to track day-to-day activities and improve operational efficiency.

Techniques that analyze large amounts of information to gain insights, spot trends, or uncover substantive patterns. These approaches are used to help businesses and organizations improve their processes or identify associations that shed light on relevant questions.

Digital images and audio that are artificially altered or manipulated by AI and/or deep learning to make someone do or say something he or she did not actually do or say. Pictures or videos can be edited to put someone in a compromising position or to have someone make a controversial statement, even though the person did not actually do or say what is shown. Increasingly, it is becoming difficult to distinguish artificially manufactured material from actual videos and images.

A subset of machine learning that relies on neural networks with many layers of neurons. In so doing, deep learning employs statistics to spot underlying trends or data patterns and applies that knowledge to other layers of analysis. Some have labeled this as a way to learn by example and a technique that perform[s] classification tasks directly from images, text, or sound and then applies that knowledge independently.[4] Deep learning requires extensive computing power and labeled data, and is used in medical research, automated vehicles, electronics, and manufacturing, among other areas.

The speed, scope, and timing of technology innovation today is often decided not by government officials but by coders, software designers, and corporate executives. Digital sovereigns set the rules of the road and terms of service for consumers. What they decide, directly or indirectly, has far-reaching consequences for those using their software or platform. The power of business decisionmakers raises important governance questions regarding who should decide on matters affecting society as a whole and the role that policymakers, consumers, and ethicists should play in digital innovation.

Connecting frontline people with others who have differing skills and getting them to work together to solve problems. Distributed collaboration differs from current governance paradigms that emphasize hierarchical, top-down decisionmaking by those who do not always have relevant knowledge about the issues being addressed. The new model takes advantage of the fact that a range of skills are needed to resolve technology issues, and those skills are located in different subject areas and organizational parts. Rather than keeping AI expertise in isolation, distributed collaboration brings together software and product designers, engineers, ethicists, social scientists, and policymakers to draw on their respective expertise and integrate their knowledge to solve pressing problems.

Many technologies can be used in a good or ill manner. The very same facial recognition system could be used to find missing children or provide a means for mass surveillance. It is not the technology per se that raises ethical issues but how the technology is put to use. The dual-use nature of technologies makes regulation difficult because it raises the question of how to gain the benefits of technology innovation while avoiding its detrimental features.

A technology for identifying specific people based on pictures or videos. It operates by analyzing features such as the structure of the face, the distance between the eyes, and the angles between a persons eyes, nose, and mouth. It is controversial because of worries about privacy invasion, malicious applications, or abuse by government or corporate entities. In addition, there have been well-documented biases by race and gender with some facial recognition algorithms.

These are fifth-generation wireless telecommunications networks that have been deployed in major cities and feature faster speeds and enhanced capabilities for transmitting data and images. As such, 5G networks enable new digital products and services, such as video streaming, autonomous vehicles, and automated factories and homes that require a fast broadband.

High-tech military situations in which robots, sensors, AI, and autonomous systems play important roles and command decisions have to unfold at speeds heretofore unseen in warfare. Because of the acceleration of the pace and scope of conflict, countries will have to conduct simultaneous operations in every warfare domain and national leaders will need to accelerate technology innovation to build a safe and stable future.[5]

According to Dorian Pyle and Cristina San Jose of the McKinsey Quarterly, machine learning is based on algorithms that can learn from data without relying on rules-based programming.[6] ML represents a way to classify data, pictures, text, or objects without detailed instruction and to learn in the process so that new pictures or objects can be accurately identified based on that learned information. ML furthermore can be used to estimate continuous variables (such as estimating home sales prices) or to play games. Many of its insights come by examining prior data and learning how to improve understanding.

The analysis of textual information to make sense of its meaning and intentions. NLP software can take a large amount of text and see how words are linked together to assess positive or negative sentiment, relationships, associations, and meaning. For example, researchers can study medical records to see which patient symptoms appear to be most related to particular illnesses.

Researchers use computer software to perform some task by analyzing training examples and by grouping data based on common similarities.[7] Similar to the neural nodes of a brain, neural networks learn in layers and build complex concepts out of simpler ones. They break up tasks, identify objects at a number of different levels, and apply that knowledge to other activities. These kinds of systems allow computers to learn and adapt to changing circumstances, similar to the way a brain functions. Deep learning and many of the most prominent recent applications of machine learning operate through neural networks (e.g., driverless cars, deepfakes, and AlphaGo game playing).

Quantum computers have tremendous capacity for storing and processing information because their storage processes are not in the form of a zero or one, as is the case with traditional computers. Rather, they take advantage of superpositionthe fact that electrons can be in two places at onceto create quantum bits that store multiple values in each point.[8] That capability dramatically increases storage capacity and decreases processing times, thereby improving the scope of data, textual, or image analysis.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil describes a singularity as a machine-based superintelligence [that is] greater than human intelligence.[9] It combines advanced computing power with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to create super-powered entities. There are extensive (and unresolved) debates regarding whether humanity will face a computing singularity in the next 50, 100, or 250 years.

The ubiquity of peoples online activities enables technology that tracks behavior and rates people based on their online actions. As an illustration, some organizations have piloted systems that compile data on social media activities, personal infractions, and behaviors such as paying taxes on time. They use that data to rate people for creditworthiness, travel, school enrollment, and government positions.[10] These systems are problematic from an ethical standpoint because they lack transparency and can be used to penalize political opponents.

According to Science magazine, supervised learning is a type of machine learning in which the algorithm compares its outputs with the correct outputs during training. In unsupervised learning, the algorithm merely looks for patterns in a set of data.[11] Supervised learning allows ML and AI to improve information processing and become more accurate.

The backlash against emerging technologies that has developed among many individuals. People worry about a host of problems related to technology innovation, such as privacy invasions, mass surveillance, widening income inequality, and possible job losses. Figuring out how to assuage understandable human fears is a major societal challenge going forward.

Virtual reality uses headsets equipped with projection visors to put people in realistic-seeming situations that are completely generated by computers. People can see, hear, and experience many types of environments and interact with them. By simulating actual settings, VR can train people how to deal with various situations, vary the features that are observed, and monitor how people respond to differing stimuli.

[1] Pedro Domingos, The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World (New York: Basic Books, 2018).

[2] Shukla Shubhendu and Jaiswal Vijay, Applicability of Artificial Intelligence in Different Fields of Life, International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Research, vol. 1, no. 1 (September 2013), pp. 2835.

[3] Jason Brownlee, A Gentle Introduction to Computer Vision, Machine Learning Mastery, July 5, 2019.

[4] Math Works, What Is Deep Learning? undated.

[5] John R. Allen and Amir Husain, Hyperwar and Shifts in Global Power in the AI Century, in Amir Husain and others, Hyperwar: Conflict and Competition in the AI Century (Austin, TX: SparkCognition Press, 2018), p. 15.

[6] Dorian Pyle and Cristina San Jose, An Executives Guide to Machine Learning, McKinsey Quarterly, June, 2015.

[7] Larry Hardesty, Explained: Neural Networks, MIT News, April 14, 2017.

[8] Cade Metz, In Quantum Computing Race, Yale Professors Battle Tech Giants, New York Times, November 14, 2017, p. B3.

[9] Quoted in Tom Wheeler, From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future (Brookings, 2019), p. 226. Also see Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: Where Humans Transcend Biology (London: Penguin Books, 2006).

[10] Jack Karsten and Darrell M. West, Chinas Social Credit System Spreads to More Daily Transactions, TechTank (blog), Brookings, June 18, 2018.

[11] Matthew Hutson, AI Glossary: Artificial Intelligence, in So Many Words, Science, July 7, 2017.

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The Brookings glossary of AI and emerging technologies - Brookings Institution

Ethereum Is Beating Bitcoin In More Ways Than One – Forbes

Interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, is boomingfueled by unprecedented central bank stimulus measures and rocketing demand for alternative finance.

The bitcoin price, up around 30% so far this year, is being left in the dust by huge gains seen by some smaller cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin, has almost doubled in value so far this yearand the number of active ethereum addresses is growing at nearly twice the rate of bitcoins.

Bitcoin remains the world's most valuable cryptocurrency by a wide margin, though a recent rally in ... [+] the price of some smaller cryptocurrencies has left bitcoin in the dust.

Ethereums active address count has increased by 118% since the beginning of the year, data from blockchain analytics firm Messari, first reported by crypto news site Decrypt, has shown.

Meanwhile, bitcoins active address count has increased by just 49%.

"The level of development on ethereum is crazy: initial coin offerings, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, decentralized exchanges and other decentralized finance applications, Web 3 use cases," Messari chief executive Ryan Selkis said via email, though he added bitcoin remains "the industry's dominant asset and most important project."

The ethereum price has also surged this year, with ethereum's tradable token ether now trading at around $240up almost 90% from $130 at the start of January. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has seen its post-coronavirus crash rally halted in its tracks since May with bitcoin repeatedly trying and failing to break the psychological $10,000 per bitcoin level.

Despite the excitement swirling around ethereum, recent setbacks, including a warning that ethereum 2.0 may be delayed again, is leaving the door open for competitors.

"There's a lot of demand for smart contract platforms that scale, so there's a big opening in the market right now with ethereum 2.0 delayed, [processing] prices high, and well-funded competitors launching imminently," Selkis said.

The ethereum price has ticked up over the last 12 months with ethereum outpacing bitcoin's recent ... [+] rally by a considerable margin.

One such cryptocurrency, chainlink, has been boosted by a surge of interest in decentralized finance, sometimes known as DeFithe idea that blockchain entrepreneurs can use bitcoin and crypto technology to recreate traditional financial instruments such as loans and insurance.

The chainlink price is up by around 1,000% on the last year, hitting fresh all-time highs over the last few days.

However, some cryptocurrency and ethereum developers have cautioned against investors viewing blockchains and cryptocurrency tokens as in competition.

"Viewing other blockchains as competitors to ethereum isnt the right framework to view the crypto space," Kosala Hemachandra, founder and chief executive of MyEtherWallet, who's been developing on ethereum since its 2015 launch, said via email, adding delays to ethereum 2.0 "arent stopping or slowing the many projects building on ethereum."

DeFi has been found to be one of the biggest drivers of ethereum growth in recent months, with DeFi applications accounting for over 97% of all decentralized app volume on ethereum according to a July report from Dapp.com.

"Different blockchains have separate goals and purposes," Hemachandra said.

"Some are primarily focused on value transactions while others support decentralized app development, for example. You have to look beyond market cap to really evaluate blockchain development."

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Ethereum Is Beating Bitcoin In More Ways Than One - Forbes

Crypto Winter Could Really Be Over as New Bitcoin Starts to Bloom – Cointelegraph

There is no doubt that cryptocurrency specifically Bitcoin (BTC), which is frequently used as a barometer for the health of the entire sector has made a comeback. As of the writing of this article, Bitcoin stands at a little over $9,000, very close to the $10,000 rebound that investors hoped for sometime this year and we are barely in the third quarter.

Although there are signs that crypto winter is over, many experts are still understandably cautious.

Related: What's Next for the Industry as 'Crypto Winter' Thaws?

Cryptocurrency has been a notoriously unstable investment, first selling at less than a penny and then varying from $400 to $1,242 between all of 2013 and 2016. In 2017, crypto investors were gleeful (and some, probably, quite smug) to see the currency reach the insane height of $4,400 and then end the year breaking an astonishing $20,000 all this after plummeting to $2,000 that same September.

Of course, what followed that bright season in the cryptocurrency industry was what we refer to as crypto winter the drastic drop in value following several high-profile Ponzi schemes, successful hacks, crypto-jacking attempts and overall negative media coverage.

In this article, we will discuss the question of whether crypto winter is over, whether those who have already invested have a reason to be hopeful, and whether those who havent should jump on the bandwagon soon before prices skyrocket. We will also place a focus on blockchain technology as it exists both inside and outside the cryptocurrency industry, and why widespread adoption of this new technology is an indicator of cryptocurrencys future success.

For many of the experts, the answer seems to be yes. From crypto enthusiasts to Forbes, the current viewpoint of many is that Bitcoin is poised to make huge gains for the next 10 years. Although the vagaries of the cryptocurrency industry are as mysterious as Satoshi Nakamoto himself, it seems that we have headed into a period of stability during which the fundamentals of cryptocurrency are better understood and trusted.

Only 4% of Americans polled cite cryptocurrency as their preferred long-term investment, but this is very likely going to change in the near future, as Bitcoin has nothing but room to grow.

Many compare the future of Bitcoin to that of the internet, and claim that the commodity is going through the same growing pains of scalability, availability and ease of use that the internet first went through from 1995.

Similarly, market experts note that although only 11% of Americans own Bitcoin, those numbers are on par with other huge technological developments in their early stages, such as smartphones.

Many point out that the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak to traditional banking and investing institutions may be a motivator to invest in the digital currency to protect against inflation and the questionable resilience of fiat currencies.

Many experts also suggest that cryptocurrency transactions arent completely secure and anonymous without the use of a virtual private network, or VPN. They are also irreversible. Once a coin is gone from your account, it can easily vanish without a trace. Hackers have taken advantage of this by breaking into exchanges and stealing small amounts from each user.

So, it will likely take time until Bitcoin gains trust from the wider public, but for those willing to take a risk, it might be the most profitable investment of 2020, specifically for those who are willing to wait 10 years to witness the true extent of its growth.

Although much is left to be seen about the future of cryptocurrency, no one can deny that the idea of creating a digital-only currency is as old as science fiction. From transportation to food to medicine to video games, a wide variety of industries continue to look to blockchain technology for logistical and transactional solutions. In seven years, it is estimated that $300 billion worth of food products will be tracked using blockchain technology, saving over $100 billion annually.

In 2018, JPMorgan surprised the traditional financial world by publicly stating that blockchain technology is the way of the future for cross-border payments. A year after that, IBM, Citibank and Barclays announced the development of their own blockchain-based platforms, and Dubai made a statement that it has a new goal to become blockchain-powered by 2020.

Although this is still a relatively new technology, there is little doubt that blockchain and the cryptographic technology it uses will rapidly dominate the landscape in coming years. Countless top-tier engineers, product developers and designers are building real solutions on top of blockchain, working to perfect this technology for widespread use across various industries.

It is possible that we may have to wait until blockchain technology is fully understood, utilized and appreciated by the masses in order to provide cryptocurrency a much-needed publicity boost.

After all, although currencies and monetary investments like cryptocurrencies can go through wild ups and downs, there is nothing more stable than an already proven and reliable technological solution like blockchain.

Many unanswered questions and problems that still exist are unsettling to cautious investors, but these obstacles bear resemblance to other successful, ground-breaking technologies such the internet and Apple smartphones. Furthermore, much of the negative press about the problems associated with Bitcoin is due to scams that could have been easily avoided with adequate financial knowledge and cybersecurity.

Also, lets not forget that traditional banking institutions have a vested interest in making cryptocurrency seem like a questionable investment. Of course, big banks and traditional investing platforms have significant power to fund research and news stories that influence opinions on a daily basis. This might be more of a reflection of their fear of competition rather than a legitimate portrayal of the value of the cryptocurrency industry.

Certainly, if you prefer safe and reliable investments with moderate-to-low gains in the short term, Bitcoin is probably not the right investment for you.

However, if you are looking to potentially gain big by investing in a growing new industry, and are not afraid of the spring cleaning that is currently needed to make improvements to the future security and useability of cryptocurrency, it might be just the right time to buy Bitcoin.

After all, where there is no risk, there is no reward and it may be wise not to wait until everyone is singing the praises of Bitcoin in the coming years to make the decision to invest.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Sam Bocetta is a freelance journalist specializing in United States diplomacy and national security with an emphasis on technology trends in cyber warfare, cyber defense and cryptography. Previously, Sam was a contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, working in partnership with architects and developers to mitigate controls for vulnerabilities identified across applications.

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Crypto Winter Could Really Be Over as New Bitcoin Starts to Bloom - Cointelegraph

Twitter Hack Used Bitcoin to Cash In: Here’s Why – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

Someone hacked Twitter Wednesday and used bitcoin to capitalize on it.

Bitcoin is an alternative money system based on the value of censorship resistance. In other words, Bitcoin was built from the ground up to evade third-party interference (think banks, governments and law enforcement), making it a natural tool in the hands of a world-class hacker.

Bitcoins value proposition can be broken into a few categories, all based on the technology under the hood.

Once the hacker gets it, its theirs

Bitcoin is electronic. A popular meme for bitcoin is magic internet money, which, in a sense, it is. Bitcoin operates natively online you can send bitcoin from your phone or computer to anyone else, just about anywhere in the world, in a few clicks, without anyone being able to stop you. And once youve sent it, you cant get it back.

That feature or in this case, a bother is a prime reason the Bitcoin blockchain exists. Bitcoin relies on what are called Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transactions so it cant be confiscated by middlemen such as law enforcement. Once the coins are in someone elses wallet, count them as good as gone.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous

Like many Twitter handles, Bitcoin is pseudonymous. We cant link an address to a personal identity very easily.

Stolen U.S. dollars (USD), on the other hand, would be near impossible to get into and out of a bank account without being flagged. Traditionally, money is moved from one account to another through a third party.

Legacy systems have the upside of being able to reverse transactions and attach identities to them. That is clearly a disadvantage to hackers. (Notably, reports surfaced of the hacker running a similar campaign on CashApp for USD).Bitcoin transactions, by comparison, are a lot harder to control.

Bitcoin is liquid

Bitcoin is also traded online in a lot of places. Holding bitcoins in your wallet wouldnt be worth much without people to swap dollars for bitcoins. Launched in 2009, bitcoin is the most established and most highly traded digital asset. Its also available on popular financial apps such as CashApp or PayPal.

Its common sense that the attackers would choose bitcoin. Bitcoin is the most censorship resistant and liquid asset in existence, Blockstream CSO Samson Mow said in a private message.

All this to say the Twitter hacker chose the right cryptocurrency to get U.S. dollars.

But bitcoin can be tracked and traced

Addresses can be tracked, however. And they can also be blackballed by others. By nature, the Bitcoin blockchain is 100% transparent. That means the ins and outs of transactions from one party to another are viewable for all to see with a little know-how.

For example, popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase would not allow users of its service to transfer funds to the Twitter hackers address.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis says the 12 or so bitcoins (worth about $110,000 at the time) the hacker netted are already on the move. But we can see where they are going. Some firms are even able to match meatspace identities with blockchain ones based on small details hackers overlook.

Having said that, there are tools available to people who really want to obfuscate their transactions, and whoever perpetrated this particular heist seems to be prepared to take measures to protect their loot.

At the end of the day, its important that people be wary of promises of free money on the internet whether that comes in the form of dollars, pounds or bitcoin.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Twitter Hack Used Bitcoin to Cash In: Here's Why - CoinDesk - CoinDesk