Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1462 – Public Intelligence Blog

“In this paper we look at how information in societies is organized and how power relationships arise as a consequence of this organization. We argue that many of the observed information asymmetries are not happenstance and, drawing from a wealth of scholarship from the economics and finance literature, we posit that outcomes are inevitably detrimental. The paper concentrates on the techniques that foster information imbalances, such as media and propaganda, knowledge production, educational systems, legal and organizational structures, exclusive information networks, and surveillance. We conclude that in the absence of greater transparency, the deleterious effects of unequal access to information will continue and deepen.”

* Article: Information Asymmetry and Power in a Surveillance Society. Lightfoot, Geoffrey and Wisniewski, Tomasz (2014). Munich Personal RePEc Archive.

Tip of the Hat to Jean Lievens for the pointer.

2014/09/09

SchwartzReport: Workers are Poor — This Is Unsustainable

03 Economy, 11 Society

I have had a series of emails from readers over the past couple of weeks describing the growing poverty of themselves, and people they know. Mostly they seem to be middle aged not quite senior level businesspeople who were laid off, and have been unable to find work despite years of searching. As this Harvard study points out this is an unsustainable dynamic.

Widening Gap Between US Rich and Poor Is Unsustainable, Says Study
The Guardian (U.K.)

The widening gap between America’s wealthiest and its middle and lower classes is ‘unsustainable”, but is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to a Harvard Business School study released on Monday.

The study, titled An Economy Doing Half its Job, said American companies – particularly big ones – were showing some signs of recovering their competitive edge on the world stage since the financial crisis, but that workers would likely keep struggling to demand better pay and benefits.

2014/09/09

Berto Jongman: Fake Beheading Interview

IO Deeds of War

Man Fakes Beheading Video, Fools Global Media

Astounding story a reminder of how easily war propaganda can be staged

Paul Joseph Watson

InfoWars, 8 September 2014

Robbie Martin tells the astounding story of how he and his friend faked a beheading video and fooled the global media.

2014/09/08

Owl: Religion is Not to Blame for “Terrorism”

01 Poverty, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime

Atheists have It Wrong on Religious Causes of Terrorism and Suicide Bombing

This article dispels all illusions based on the belief that terrorism done by Muslim extremists is to be blamed on their religion, a view much favored by well-known atheist critics of religion such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

One of the implied back stories to this insightful article is that big-time atheist writers such as Harris and Christopher Hitchens (who is not mentioned), in blaming religion on terrorism perpetuated by Muslims and others, also happen to favor policies that perpetuate mass killing by larger western governments of large number of civilians in countries where Muslims live. That observation alone is worthy of an article all by itself.

Continue reading “Owl: Religion is Not to Blame for “Terrorism””

2014/09/082014/09/08

Rick Robinson: 11 Reasons Computers Fail Without Humans

IO Impotency

11 reasons computers can’t understand or solve our problems without human judgement

Why data is uncertain, cities are not programmable, and the world is not “algorithmic”.

Many people are not convinced that the Smart Cities movement will result in the use of technology to make places, communities and businesses in cities better. Outside their consumer enjoyment of smartphones, social media and online entertainment – to the degree that they have access to them – they don’t believe that technology or the companies that sell it will improve their lives.

The technology industry itself contributes significantly to this lack of trust. Too often we overstate the benefits of technology, or play down its limitations and the challenges involved in using it well.

Most recently, the idea that traditional processes of government should be replaced by “algorithmic regulation” – the comparison of the outcomes of public systems to desired objectives through the measurement of data, and the automatic adjustment of those systems by algorithms in order to achieve them – has been proposed by Tim O’Reilly and other prominent technologists.

Read full post with eleven reasons and many links.

2014/09/08

Marcus Aurelius: General Robert Scales on Defeating ISIS – Comment by Robert Steele

01 Poverty, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities

MG(R) Scales, a former Commandant of the Army War College, is nothing if not a controversial character. I don't necessarily disagree with his assertion, but I have a couple of practical questions:

Where are we going to get adequate numbers of personnel of the quality required to implement the McChrystal method on the scale proposed by MG(R) Scales?
If the McChrystal-method units suck up the quality people they will need, what will be left to execute other special operations requirement?

The only way to defeat the Islamic State – The Washington Post

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: General Robert Scales on Defeating ISIS – Comment by Robert Steele”

2014/09/05

Yoda: Catholic Church Reconnects with Poor — Liberation Theology is Back IN — Islam & All Other Religions Should Take Notice…

Cultural Intelligence

Fundamental, this is.

A Church for the Poor

Paul Vallery

New York Times, 4 September 2014

LONDON — Pope Francis grabbed headlines recently when he announced that Rome had lifted the block on sainthood for Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was shot dead while saying Mass in 1980. But much less attention was given to another of the pope’s actions, one that underscores a significant shift inside the Vatican under the first Latin American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Archbishop Romero was assassinated after speaking out in favor of the poor during an era when right-wing death squads stalked El Salvador under an American-backed, military-led government in the 1970s and ’80s. For three decades Rome blocked his path to sainthood for fear that it would give succor to the proponents of liberation theology, the revolutionary movement that insists that the Catholic Church should work to bring economic and social — as well as spiritual — liberation to the poor.

Continue reading “Yoda: Catholic Church Reconnects with Poor — Liberation Theology is Back IN — Islam & All Other Religions Should Take Notice…”

Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

Michel Bauwens: Information Asymmetry and Power in a Surveillance Society