Financial Times (July 23)
“Computer algorithms encoded with human values will increasingly determine the jobs we land, the romantic matches we make, the bank loans we receive and the people we kill, intentionally with military drones or accidentally with self-driving cars.” The way those human values are embedded “will be one of the most important forces shaping our century. Yet no one has agreed what those values should be” and the “debate now risks becoming entangled in geo-technological rivalry between the US and China.”
Tags: Algorithms, China, Computer, Debate, Drones, Encoded, Geo-technological rivalry, Human values, Jobs, Loans, Self-driving cars, U.S.
Washington Post (June 14)
“Is the Iran-U.S. tinderbox about to ignite?” In one sense, it already has. Burning tankers provided “the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict.” Clearly fraught, the confrontation is partly due to “Iranian overconfidence” and frustration. “Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign has collided head on with Khamenei’s maximum resistance. Met by American economic warfare, Iran’s hard-liners are doubling down with their own forms of deniable warfare, with mines, drones and proxy attacks.”
Tags: Armed conflict, Confrontation, Deniable warfare, Drones, Economic warfare, Frustration, Hard-liners, Ignite, Iran, Khamenei, Mines, Overconfidence, Pressure, Proxy attacks, Resistance, Tankers, Tinderbox, Trump’s, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (March 18)
“The batteries that power our modern world—from phones to drones to electric cars—will soon experience something not heard of in years: Their capacity to store electricity will jump by double-digit percentages, according to researchers, developers and manufacturers.”
Tags: Batteries, Capacity, Drones, Electricity, EVs, Manufacturers, Phones, Power
The Economist (December 29)
“Make no mistake, fully automated drones—integrated into the next generation of Air Traffic Control—will one day be capable of navigating, communicating and avoiding other craft while flying autonomously in congested airspace. It will not happen this year or next. But a decade hence delivery by drone could well be common place.”
Tags: Air Traffic Control, Avoiding, Communicating, Congested airspace, Delivery, Drones, Fully automated, Navigating
Los Angeles Times (December 16)
Consumer drones have taken off and already number over a million. It’s conceivable the day will come when every home has 2 or 3, just like TVs. “The key difference, though — and it is a big one — is that each one of these flying robots has outsized potential for mischief compared with other tech products like TVs, headphones and tablets.”
Washington Post (March 8)
“Obama has chosen to carry out hundreds of drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, including one against a U.S. citizen, without any public accounting…. That is not how a democracy should operate…. The administration could greatly increase the legitimacy and sustainability of the strikes by openly laying out the criteria under which they can be carried out and by seeking congressional authorization.”“Obama has chosen to carry out hundreds of drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, including one against a U.S. citizen, without any public accounting…. That is not how a democracy should operate…. The administration could greatly increase the legitimacy and sustainability of the strikes by openly laying out the criteria under which they can be carried out and by seeking congressional authorization.”
Tags: Accounting, Authorization, Criteria, Democracy, Drones, Obama
