*Apple buys DARPA’s Skynet precursor “Siri”. Where’s our tax refund?

Ignorance Is Futile:

Just one of DARPA’s many AI programs cost taxpayers $150M. Now basically considered a success, SRI who built “Siri” has now sold it to Apple for up to $250M. In effect, we’ve all paid $1 to help build a Skynet prototype. Since I don’t agree with this type of research, for many reasons, I want my tax refund.

Siri is the product of DARPA’s “PAL” program, which stands for Personal Assistant that Learns, or Perceptive Assistant that Learns, Cognitive Assistant that Learns (CALO), or even Reflective Agents with Distributed Adapted Reasoning (RADAR), depending on which DARPA person you talk to. Here’s DARPA’s “PAL” promo video:

They’ve in effect completed the program:

The software, which learns by interacting with and being advised by its users, will handle a broad range of interrelated decision-making tasks that have in the past been resistant to automation. A CALO will have the capability to engage in and lead routine tasks, and to assist when the unexpected happens. To focus the research on real problems and ensure the software meets requirements such as privacy, security, and trust, the CALO project researchers themselves are using the technology during its development.

Venture Beat just detailed article on the transaction. Along with telling people “you want the virtual assistant to be as smart as someone talking to you on the phone and doing Google searches to answer your questions”, they also mentioned some important details:

Curt Carlson, the president and chief executive of SRI International, is very excited about the Siri intelligent agent technology that his organization sold to Apple in April for a rumored $150 – $250 million. He expects it will show up in future iPhones, but he also believes that SRI’s additional technologies from virtual assistant research will become part of even more rich applications in the future.

SRI was spun out of Stanford University more than 60 years ago to commercialize research. First named Stanford Research Institute and later renamed SRI International, it became independent from Stanford University in 1970 and now has more than 2,200 researchers working on things such as the cool artificial intelligence, speech recognition, natural language processing, location information, and agent technology that is part of Siri.

Siri, spun out of SRI 18 months ago, is a virtual personal assistant technology. Its first application launched in February as a free iPhone app that lets you perform tasks such as making dinner reservations by speaking into your phone and letting a virtual assistant do the rest.

In 2003, SRI got a $150 million grant to start CALO — the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes — to develop virtual assistant technology over five years. The effort included 25 world class partners and it incubated ideas from government and commercial researchers.

One of the projects that the military is interested in is the Command Post for the Future. It is an assistant for generals in a command post that helps make decisions about how to fight wars or skirmishes.

Commercialization of ideas started four or five years ago under the lead of Norman Winarsky, vice president of ventures, licensing and strategic programs at SRI. In that process, SRI takes its ideas and finds an entrepreneur in residence to make the idea into a startup. If they can figure out a big market opportunity and a compelling business model, they launch it. That’s what happened with Siri. Upon being spun out, Siri got another $24 million from Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures.

But Siri isn’t the end of SRI’s research. It is just one part of it. Another startup using the SRI technology is Chattertrap, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup that will apply the personal assistant concept to online content. The idea is to create a personal information service by figuring out what kind of news you like and delivering a personalized newspaper to you.

In 2007 WIRED Danger Room interviewed Tony Tether, then DARPA chief, and he covered both PAL and CPOF:

NS: Do you know of anything that Darpa’s working on right now that’s really game changing?

TT: Yes — our cognitive program. The cognitive program’s whole purpose in life is really to increase the tooth-to-tail ratio [military-speak for the number of combat troops to the number of support troops].

… Our cognitive program’s whole aim is to have a computer “learn you,” as opposed to you having to learn the computer. We’ve got the technology to the point where we can now apply it in Iraq to a system that we also developed called CPOF, Command Post of the Future. It is a distributed command and control system.

NS: I mean, I don’t have to tell you that people have been promising cognitive computers [since..]

TT: Well, a lot of time has passed. … Since the ’90s to now, our ability to create algorithms that can reason — can more abstractly reason — about a problem and come up with answers, and also remember what they did using Bayesian techniques and changing values, has really advanced. I mean, it tremendously advanced in the past — from the ’90s to, say, the early 2000s. At the same time, computers became more powerful. We’re on the verge of having computers with densities approaching a monkey’s brain, and it won’t be long before we’ll have a computer with the density of transistors, or equivalent to neurons and almost human. What we’re missing is the architecture. So it seemed like it was time. We had great advances in algorithms for reasoning and in algorithms that learned in general. At the same time, the computers, the actual intrinsic hardware, was really approaching the density of a human brain. And so it seemed like it was time to try again. We’ve had some great success. This cognitive program I told you about is actually showing that it is learning, and it is learning in a very difficult environment. This is the program Stanford Research runs for us.

NS: Which program is this?

TT: It’s PAL [Perceptive Assistant that Learns]. And we have other related programs. One major research issue has to do with learning. If you and I learn something, like baseball, and then we go play another sport, say golf, we somehow transfer that –?? we are able to transfer some of what we learned in baseball to golf. That’s what makes humans very resilient and flexible. We have some research programs trying to come up with the same technique –?? that if you had something tackle a problem and then gave it another problem, it would do better on that second problem than if it had not had the previous experience.

PAL & CPOF are but 2 AI and Strong AI (AGI) programs DARPA is working on. In 2006, they had two offices that dealt with AI type research. IPTO dealt with “cognitive” programs, while iXo delt with “exploitative” surveillance type programs. The iXo section of the DARPA website had an animated interactive feature, for a time. I just so happened to video capture the entire thing. About 9 months later I noticed they had removed the interactive section, and immediately began work on a new video with that interface as the framework. From there I used all quotes from DARPA and related military documents, and all animations and graphics from the same sources along with the defense contractors doing the work.

I titled it “DARPA’s iXo AI Control Grid: The Official Version”, as it technically is official, being sourced entirely from their own words and displays.

See the film here, if you haven’t already.

What sucks is by about a year later I noticed that they had merged the iXo office into the IPTO office, which kind of ‘debunked’ my title as iXo was no longer a part of the website.

So at that point the IPTO office had all of their AI programs under one banner.

Today AI programs have spilled out of the IPTO office, and are now found across most of their other 5 offices. Considering that Obama made Zachary Lemnios DoD Director of Defense Research & Engineering, which makes him the boos of all DoD sciece R&D.  Zack is a major AI pioneer, and former Deputy Director of DARPA’s IPTO office.

AI, including Strong AI,  is quite literally the overarching agenda in Obama’s Pentagon, and the $150 million spent on the Siri project is only the tip of the budget iceberg. I’m working on a massive “AGI Manhattan Project” post that details every facet, and with that I intend to finish a film project I started several years ago now.

‘Skynet’ is an easy to use popular culture reference. The thing is, what they’re trying to build, makes Skynet look like played out Sega 8-bit.

Special army unit ready to be deployed on US soil just before Nov. elections.

Examiner:

In October of this year, one month prior to the November midterm elections, a special army unit known as ‘Consequence Management Response Force’ will be ready for deployment on American soil if so ordered by the President.

The special force, which is the new name being given to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry, has been training at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

According to the Army Times,

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

The key phrase is ‘may be called upon to help with civil unrest.’

This afternoon a local radio talk show host reported that he had been in contact with a member of the military.  This military source stated that the armed forces have been alerted to the strong possibility that civil unrest may occur in the United States this summer, prior to the midterm elections of 2010.

The source described this as ‘our long, hot summer of discontent’ that could be eerily reminiscent of the summer of 1968 when riots broke out in many of our largest cities.

However, the summer of 2010 could well be much worse due to the players involved.  In 1968 the major players were war protesters.  This time, the outrage simmering beneath the surface of American society involves a broad cross-section of the heartland, and most of them are heavily armed.

It is highly unlikely that these citizens would ever initiate armed conflict of any kind.  In their view, gun rights are for self-defense–and for defense against tyrannical government, which our Founders regarded as the most dangerous force on earth.

However, it has become clear that other groups may well initiate violence in order to start an ‘incident’ that would give Obama and a rogue Congress a reason to implement martial law, confiscate the citizens’ guns, enforce curfews, and suspend all future elections until such time as it is deemed ‘safe’ to proceed with human liberty as encapsulated in the right to vote.

Tea Party members, for example, have been warned in recent days that members of Andy Stern’s SEIU union and members of the organization formerly known as ACORN plan to infiltrate Tea Party gatherings in order to incite some sort of incident that could result in armed conflict.

In addition, all indications point to a humiliating defeat for the Democrats and Obama in November.  Not only will the House in all likelihood transfer to Republican control, but it is increasingly possible for the Democrats to lose the Senate as well.

And there are Leftwing groups in this country that would use whatever means necessary to prevent that from happening.

ACORN has already gone underground, changing its name so as to fly beneath the radar screen.  How many people will  the group register to vote illegally?

And with Obama’s plan to naturalize between 10 and 20 million illegal aliens, a brand new voter base for the Democrats will be in place prior to November.

Add to this the growing unrest over continued high unemployment, the coming spike in interest rates and inflation, and the still-boiling outrage over the manner in which Obama and the Democrats shoved ObamaCare down the throats of the citizens, and all of the ingredients are present for a major F-5 tornado to sweep across the heartland.

To what extent would soldiers use deadly force during such ‘civil unrest’ should the Consequence Management Response Team be utilized?  During the anti-war riots of the 1960s they killed student protesters.  What about now?

The military source cited by the radio host today was asked this very question.  He would merely say that the culture of the U.S. military is changing–half support Obama and the other half are dead-set against him.

His conclusion?  There is no way to know for sure if they would obey an order to open fire on ordinary citizens.

The Cato Institute published this warning when the program was launched in its first phase in 2008 (the program has been updated and expanded since 2008). The Founders insisted that standing armies were never to be used against American citizens on our own soil, no matter what violations of this principle have occurred in the years following.  In the spirit of the Patriots and of real journalists government must be questioned constantly and held to intense scrutiny in order to preserve liberty.

*Obama’s speech as proof his ‘new’ energy proposal has nothing to do with getting US off oil.

IIF Exclusive:

Either Obama and his entire crew are a bunch of bluddering morons, or he just proved there is an agenda that has almost nothing to do with helping the environment.

The speech: www.whitehouse.gov…
Yadda fix well, yadda alternative energy… get off oil. Alternative energy doesn’t actually get us off crude oil as we’ll see.

One could argue that all of the other products we get from oil are the byproducts from going after the fuel, while another could argue it’s the other way around.

Just finding a replacement for gasoline, natural gas etc doesn’t do too much to stop our NEED for oil. Oil is used to make virtually every consumer product in the modern world. From carpet, to roads. Paints to adhesives. Epoxies, that are even used to connect road sections of bridges. Plastics, vinyls, tubing, shoes, clothes, nylon, polyester (poly-anything actually), teflon. Electronics, TV’s, computers, etc.

I hate to say it but its hopeless. Even if we found a viable solution to the energy needs of oil we cannot go without its products. It would be like proposing that humans give up computers. The computers we use can’t exist without oil, and not even because of the energy we get from it.

As long as this is the reality there will be spills, but the real kicker is that crude oil is nowhere near as bad for the environment as the products we make from it. Oil isn’t going away, because even if we replaced the energy needs we’d still need the oil roughly as much anyways. That means that replacing the energy completely would equate to wasting that energy extracted while reaching for its other components.

So before you go trying to scream about oil spills consider that the PC you’re using to do it with was made with oil. The radio or TV you first heard about the spill with was ‘… … …’. When TIME magazine puts out a grocery store checkout isle photo journal (and overcharges for it) the glossy inks they used to make it wouldn’t be possible without oil. After debating online, the bed you will sleep in was made with oil. If you go and protest oil and get hurt, pretty much everything at the hospital was made with oil. Modern life wouldn’t be possible without oil.

The list goes on and on and on:

Ammonia, Anesthetics, Antihistamines, Artificial limbs, Artificial Turf, Antiseptics, Aspirin, Auto Parts, Awnings, Balloons, Ballpoint pens, Bandages, Beach Umbrellas, Boats, Cameras, Candles, Car Battery Cases, Carpets, Caulking, Combs, Cortisones, Cosmetics, Crayons, Credit Cards, Curtains, Deodorants, Detergents, Dice, Disposable Diapers, Dolls, Dyes, Eye Glasses, Electrical Wiring Insulation, Faucet Washers, Fishing Rods, Fishing Line, Fishing Lures, Food Preservatives, Food Packaging, Garden Hose, Glue, Hair Coloring, Hair Curlers, Hand Lotion, Hearing Aids, Heart Valves, Ink, Insect Repellant, Insecticides, Linoleum, Lip Stick, Milk Jugs, Nail Polish, Oil Filters, Panty Hose, Perfume, Petroleum Jelly, Rubber Cement, Rubbing Alcohol, Shampoo, Shaving Cream, Shoes, Toothpaste, Trash Bags, Upholstery, Vitamin Capsules, Water Pipes, Yarn
www.3k88.com…

You can’t even make a score of “green” products without it, or at least it’s currently used to make them. LED lights, those curly power compact bulbs Al Gore wants us all to buy, the jugs we buy Simple Green in, solar panels, air filters, water filters, hand crank flashlights & radios, “Smart” cars, biofuel processors, wire & cable insulation used to hook up wind turbines, caulk used to seal cracks to increase energy efficiency, and so on.

And worst of all, many of the products made from oil are far worse for the environment than the crude that gets spilled is, and is thousands of times longer lasting in the environment, than crude oil which is eaten by bacteria.

How can he talk about us needing to break our addiction to oil and not mention a peep about this reality?

If he really cared about the environment, and the nation for that matter, he’d be grandstanding on a cross country speaking tour, which he’s really good at, trying to convince everyone to stop buying garbage products from China. Virtually everything made in China is literally garbage, and literally all of it is destined for the landfill, sooner than later. You can buy used 30 year old USA products from a thrift store that would outlast the China junk you find at Walmart.

He should be telling people to buy long lasting Made in the USA products. With Chinese garbage they even have to use fuel to ship it across the globe. Some of the Chinese mega-tankers are the worst sources of pollution in the world. Even if he didn’t decide to go for China’s jugular, for etc reasons, he could still be grandstanding about how USA products are environmentally smart. Even if you have to pay more initially, it will last longer and pay off. Less garbage at the land fill, less ‘need’ for more oil extracts, less fuel getting it to your door, and so on.

He should be telling everyone to wash out and reuse all of the vast array of plastic containers we get doing everyday grocery shopping. This goes far beyond plastic grocery bags.

If he cared about the environment he’d be inciting cheerleaders to do backflips to convince people that we need a Hemp Economy. Hemp actually can solve some challenges in the lists above of oil produced products. It isn’t a total solution. Nothing is. We are stuck with oil, or forget about modern life. Period. But we can make a difference. Things can be better. And hemp, tied with conservation is the sinlge most best hope for making a deep impact.

Nice try, Mr. ‘president of the world’.

This man doesn’t care about you or the environment, and his speech is proof of that.

This being the case, it’s time people take a moment to think of what the real agenda is here.

-Obama’s DOD trying to proliferate the militarization of space.

The Militarization of Outer Space: The Pentagon’s “Space Warriors”

By Tom Burghardt – BLN Contributing Writer

It’s not as if things aren’t bad enough right here on planet earth.

What with multiple wars and occupations, an accelerating economic meltdown, corporate malfeasance and environmental catastrophes such as the petroleum-fueled apocalypse in the Gulf of Mexico, I’d say we have a full plate already.

Now the Defense Department wants to up the stakes with new, destabilizing weapons systems that will transform low- and high-earth orbit into another “battlespace,” pouring billions into programs to achieve what Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has long dreamed of: “space dominance.”

Indeed, Pentagon space warriors fully intend to field a robust anti-satellite (ASAT) capability that can disable, damage or destroy the satellites of other nations, all for “defensive” purposes, mind you.

Back in 2005, The New York Times reported that General Lance W. Lord, then commander of AFSPC, told an Air Force conference that “space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny. … Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future.”

Five years on, that “mission” is still a top priority for the Obama administration. While some might call it “net-centric warfare” on steroids, I’d choose another word: madness.

…

…

-Obama Issues Executive Order Mandating “Lifestyle Behavior Modification”.

NSLF:

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is fond of saying, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” Well, the Obama Administration certainly has not let the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig crisis go to waste, using it as a smokescreen to silently assault and further diminish American citizens’ personal freedom.

While the nation has its eyes and ears focused on the blame game ping-pong match between President Obama and BP top brass, President Obama on Thursday, June 10, quietly announced a new Executive Order establishing the “National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council.”

Claiming the “authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America,” President Obama has truly gone off the deep end this time in his most atrocious attempt to date to control every aspect of Americans’ lives.

According to the Executive Order that details the President’s “National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy,” the Council will be charged with carrying out ” lifestyle behavior modification” among American citizens that do not exhibit “healthy behavior.”

The President’s desired lifestyle behavior modifications detailed in Sec. 6 (c) focus on:

• smoking cessation;
• proper nutrition;
• appropriate exercise;
• mental health;
• behavioral health;
• sedentary behavior (see Sec. 3 [c]);
• substance-use disorder; and
• domestic violence screenings.

Making matters even worse, if that is even possible at this point, President Obama will create an “Advisory Group” composed of experts hand-picked from the public health field and various other areas of expertise “outside the Federal Government.”

Let’s consider who the President has sought advice and mentoring from in the past:

• Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who the Anti-Defamation League calls a “Messenger of Intolerance,” and
• Bill Ayers, leader of the 1960′s domestic terrorist group ”Weatherman” that was “responsible for 30 bombings aimed at destroying the defense and security infrastructures of the U.S.”

Now, President Obama is going to seek medical advisors who will be charged with modifying lifestyles and behaviors of those citizens he deems unhealthy? “Paging Dr. Kevorkian! You’re wanted in the White House STAT by President Obama!”

Whether you are a child, a parent, a worker, or retired, the President’s approximately 25-member “Advisory Group” will soon be present in every aspect of Americans’ lives, as the Executive Order prescribes in Sec. 4 (b). Specifically, our new so-called lifestyle behavior modification advisors will be actively carrying out the President’s orders in:

• worksite health promotion;
• community services, including community health centers;
• preventive medicine;
• health coaching;
• public health education;
• geriatrics; and
• rehabilitation medicine.

President Obama’s sweeping plan to enforce “lifestyle behavior modification” is chock full of open-ended target areas, especially when it comes to issues of “mental” and “behavioral” health, “proper nutrition,” “sedentary behavior,” and “appropriate exercise.” The President’s Executive Order is a blatant and forceful attempt to adjust the way Americans young and old think, behave, eat, drink and whatever else free will used to entitle our nation’s citizens to enjoy as prescribed by the Founding Fathers.

If you are feeling stressed-out, sad, confused, hungry, thirsty, bored, or tired, do you honestly trust President Obama and his “Advisory Group” to act in your best interests?