Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2595 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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Human, force is.

Plugging into the Future of Humanity: Exploring the Human API

I recently had the opportunity to present at LeWeb in Paris, arguably Europe’s largest conference dedicated to the future of technology. The theme of the conference explored the Internet of Things, where devices and things connect to one another to perform certain tasks and/or track activities to improve what we already do or make possible what we’re trying to do.

The Internet of Things is bigger than we may realize. We are experiencing a shift from a world of inanimate objects and reactive devices to a world where data, intelligence, and computing are distributed, ubiquitous, and networked. My fellow analysts and I at Altimeter Group refer to the Internet of Things (IoT) as the Sentient World. It’s the idea that inanimate objects gain the ability to perceive things, perform tasks, adapt, or help you adapt over time. And, it’s the future of the Internet and consumer electronics.

In 2008, the number of things connected to the Internet exceeded the number of people on earth. By 2020, it’s expected that there will be 50 billion things connected.

A network of things creates an incredible information ecosystem that connects the online and physical world through a series of transactions. In a world where data becomes a natural bi-product of these exchanges, developers, businesses, and users alike are faced with the reality that data isn’t only big, its volume and benefits are also overwhelming.

Did you know that the world creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data every day? According to IBM, 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.

Continue reading “Yoda: Human API?”

2012/12/13

Graphic: Public Governance & Feedback Loop Integrity Enhanced by Public Intelligence

Analysis, Citizen-Centered, Corruption, Earth Orientation, Economics/True Cost, History, ICT-IT, Leadership-Integrity, Multinational Plus, Policies-Harmonization, Political, Processing, Reform, Resilience, Strategy-Holistic Coherence, Threats, Tribes, True Cost, United Nations

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Source: 2013 Public Governance in the 21st Century: New Rules, Hybrid Forms, One Constant – The Public

2012/12/132012/12/13

Event: 31 May – 2 June 2013 San Francisco Governance and Utopian Imagination (Public Administration Theory Network)

Economics/True Cost, Governance, Politics

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2013 Conference “Governance and the Utopian Imagination”

Though the term is most famously associated with Thomas More's Utopia (1516), the basic idea of imagining another, better world (eutopia, good place) that does not yet exist on Earth (utopia, no-place) is one with a long, rich history that touches perhaps all human societies and cultures. However over the course of the twentieth century, in some discourses utopianism and the utopian imagination came to be viewed as dangerous. They became associated not with dreams of a better world but with the most nightmarish, violent aspects of modernity and state-led efforts to make those dreams an actuality. In the wake of the collapse of state socialist projects and the rise in recent decades of what some call “market utopianism,” there has been a resurgence of interest and debate in the social sciences and humanities regarding utopian thought and the practical construction of “real utopias.” These efforts reconsider the role of utopian thought in human life in light of this history and seek workable alternatives to contemporary political, social, and economic governance.

This year's meeting of the Public Administration Theory Network seeks to re-engage “the utopian imagination” and invites contributions from across the social sciences, humanities, and fields of professional and community practice that critically explore the intersection of contemporary governance, utopia, and the human impulse to make better worlds.

I. Theoretical re-engagements with “utopia” that explore questions, such as:
–Can “utopia” be productively rehabilitated in light of history and critique? Or is it inextricably linked with Western hegemony and violence?
–How can or should traditions from the Global South, indigenous and native peoples, Asia, and elsewhere inform a re-examination of “Western” theories and experiences of utopianism?
–What role can or should government and public administration play in today's utopian imaginings?

II. Historical and/or genealogical analyses that explore utopia's intersection with: democracy, capitalism, liberalism, dystopia, colonialism, human nature, race, gender, sexuality, (anti-)globalization, innovation.

III. Critical explorations of contemporary sources of “utopian” and “dystopian” narrative and imagery and their relationship to matters of governance, such as: technology, management, environmentalism, economics, film, literature, philosophy, religion.

IV. Theoretically informed case studies that analyze the practical and institutional possibilities of moving from “utopian imagination” to building and governing “real utopias” and “intentional communities.”

RFP Flyer-short.pdf (99k) RFP Flyer-long.pdf (137k)

ACCEPTED FOR PRESENTATION: 2013 Public Governance in the 21st Century: New Rules, Hybrid Forms, One Constant – The Public

2012/12/132012/12/13

David Isenberg: IARPA Trys to Predict Future

Advanced Cyber/IO, Collective Intelligence

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How to Get Better At Predicting the Future

Could human and machine forecasters work together to increase the intelligence agencies' foresight?

By Alexis C. Madrigal

Atlantic, 11 December 2012

We would like to know what the future is going to be like, so we can prepare for it. I'm not talking about building a time machine to secure the winning Powerball number ahead of time, but rather creating more accurate forecasts about what is likely to happen. Supposedly, this is what pundits and analysts do. They're supposed to be good at commenting on whether Greece will leave the Eurozone by 2014 or whether North Korea will fire missiles during the year or whether Barack Obama will win reelection.

A body of research, however, conducted and synthesized by the University of Pennsylvania's Philip Tetlock finds that people, not just pundits but definitely pundits, are not very good at predicting future events. The book he wrote on the topic, Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?, is a touchstone for all the work that people like Nate Silver and Princeton's Sam Wang did tracking the last election.

But aside from the electorate, who else might benefit from enhanced foresight? Perhaps the people tasked with gathering information about threats in the world.

You probably have never heard of IARPA, but it's the wild R&D wing of our nation's intelligence services. Much like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which looks into the future of warfare for the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity looks at the future of analyzing information, spying, surveillance, and the like for the CIA, FBI, and NSA.

Continue reading “David Isenberg: IARPA Trys to Predict Future”

2012/12/122016/03/26

Reflections: The Human Factor & The Human Environment: Concepts & Doctrine? Implications for Human & Open Source Intelligence 2.0

Advanced Cyber/IO, All Reflections & Story Boards

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Citation: Robert David STEELE Vivas, “The Human Factor & The Human Environment: Concepts & Doctrine? Implications for Human & Open Source Intelligence,” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog (12 December 2012).

For Part II See: 2012 Robert Steele: The Human Factor & The Human Environment: Contextual Trust for Sources & Methods

UPDATE 16 Dec 2012: Added NATO OSINT Series, pointer to other OSINT Handbooks. Added Thomas Briggs: Reflections on OSINT in Support of HUMINT

UPDATE 15 Dec 2012: Robert Steele: How Dutch Intelligence Survived & Prospered Using Open Source Human Intelligence as a Foundation for Ethical Evidence-Based Decisions

UPDATE 14 Dec 2012: 2012 Tom Briggs on The Human Factor & 2012 Ishmael Jones (P) on The Human Factor

Hi Robert,

There is one consideration I would like to discuss with you. While exploring for many years how to address the need for the military to understand all areas and aspects of the human environment, I had the opportunity to listen to many members of the intelligence community speaking about their role in achieving that understanding. I used to have the traditional military idea that it was the role of intel to provide the information and much of the knowledge. Along the way, they got me to doubt this view. Finally, they convinced me that the intel community, as we still know it today, is not a supplier of this understanding, but a customer. Understanding the human environment is a product stemming from Open Sources Information, but not from military intelligence. Intel's role might be, based on the understanding made available by others, to develop the specific products suiting its specific goals : targeting and counter intelligence.

As a general statement, no one nation has put this together — the Mediterranean countries have the skills and mind-set, the Sandanavian countries have the motivation and interest, and the Americans have the money — but the three “sets” are not coming together at this time.

Thank you for all the material you are producing.

Cheers,
REDACTED

Long Answer with Graphics to Four Part Question Below the Line

Continue reading “Reflections: The Human Factor & The Human Environment: Concepts & Doctrine? Implications for Human & Open Source Intelligence 2.0”

2012/12/12

Markham Nolan: How to separate fact and fiction online

Knowledge, TED Videos

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2012/12/122012/12/18

Anthony Judge: Encyclopedia of World Problems in WSJ – Seeking a Home

Advanced Cyber/IO

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I regret that the considerable efforts of Jacqueline Nebel and Nadia McLaren are not mentioned — without them the volumes would not have emerged. Still, this is a wonderful article, I can only hope that it attracts some funding to continue the effort.

WSJ.com – Encyclopedia of World Problems Has a Big One of Its Own

Encyclopedia of World Problems Has a Big One of Its Own

Chronicle of Woes From Alien Abductions to Dandruff Finds Itself Short on Funds

Daniel Michaels

Wall Street Journal, 11 December 2012

Click on Link Above to Read Original. Safety Copy to Honor Judge Below the Line.

Continue reading “Anthony Judge: Encyclopedia of World Problems in WSJ – Seeking a Home”