37 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2025
    1. The development of drone warfare is linked to a masculine framework of thinking, where the fleshy body is seen as getting in the way of war. Drones are presented as more reliable, intelligent, and vigilant than humans, and are seen as surpassing all human limitations. This masculine framework is evident in the way drones are represented as "just warriors," more humane in their precision and rational calculations. The relationship between masculinity and vision is also explored, where vision is seen as a way to signify a leap out of the marked body and into the conquering gaze from nowhere.
    1. The technostrategic discourses of drone warfare also distance the use of lethal technology from its deadly consequences, using rational language, euphemism, and abstraction. The altered spatiotemporal experience of drone warfare makes killing easier, but it also raises questions about the masculinity of drone operators. They are often depicted as being in the domestic sphere, juxtaposing their combat experience with running errands for their spouses or coaching a kids' soccer team.
  2. Feb 2024
    1. He urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge. For years inventions have extended man's physical powers rather than the powers of his mind.

      Interesting to read this after just watching Oppenheimer on the plane to London.

  3. Nov 2023
    1. overpopulation is just another intelligence test, and most people are failing, again.<br /> the problem is pacifism, the solution is permanent tribal warfare and legal serial murder.<br /> but first there is depopulation, killing 95% of today's population. fucking useless eaters... byye! no one will miss you.

      Delete The Garbage. World Cure. RD9 Virus. The Brothers Grimsby 2016<br /> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGG0Nq3BwqQ

  4. Jun 2023
  5. Aug 2022
  6. Oct 2021
  7. Apr 2019
  8. Dec 2018
  9. Sep 2018
    1. Deluged by apparent facts, arguments and counterarguments, our brains resort to the most obvious filter, the easiest cognitive shortcut for a social animal: We look to our peers, see what they believe and cheer along. As a result, open and participatory speech has turned into its opposite. Important voices are silenced by mobs of trolls using open platforms to hurl abuse and threats. Bogus news shared from one friend or follower to the next becomes received wisdom. Crucial pieces of information drown in so much irrelevance that they are lost. If books were burned in the street, we would be alarmed. Now, we are simply exhausted.
    2. For the longest time, we thought that as speech became more democratized, democracy itself would flourish. As more and more people could broadcast their words and opinions, there would be an ever-fiercer battle of ideas—with truth emerging as the winner, stronger from the fight. But in 2018, it is increasingly clear that more speech can in fact threaten democracy. The glut of information we now face, made possible by digital tools and social media platforms, can bury what is true, greatly elevate and amplify misinformation and distract from what is important.
  10. Mar 2018
    1. Mark Galeotti says he regrets coining the term "Gerasimov Doctrine" for Russia's supposed strategy of hybrid warfare. Gerasimov's speech was actually about how the Kremlin perceives US actions in the Middle East and Europe.

      "There is no denying that the West is facing a multivectored, multi-agency campaign of subversion, division, and covert political 'active measures' by Russia"<br> ...<br> "there is no single Russian 'doctrine'<br> ...<br> "There is a broad political objective -- to distract, divide, and demoralize -- but otherwise it is largely opportunistic, fragmented, even sometimes contradictory. Some major operations are coordinated ... but most are not."<br> ...<br> "more emphasis ought to go on counterintelligence and media literacy, on fighting corruption ... and healing the social divisions the Russians gleefully exploit"

  11. Jan 2017
    1. The Kremlin's worldview has been made clear in writing, and in practice:

      • It is a war.
      • It's all one war machine: military, tech, info, diplomatic, economic, cultural, criminal, etc.
      • Information warfare is not mere propaganda. It aims to subvert and destroy truth, reason, and decency.
      • They aim to divide nations, and their citizens.
      • They will use military force, as far as they can get away with it.
    2. This Russia does not aspire to be like us, or to make itself stronger than we are. Rather, its leaders want the West—and specifically NATO and America — to become weaker and more fractured until we are as broken as they perceive themselves to be. No reset can be successful, regardless the personality driving it, because Putin’s Russia requires the United States of America as its enemy.

      Putin's Russia requires the U.S. to be weak. Even better if it's a weakling stupid enough to think Putin is its pal. I'm sure Putin will say lots of nice things about Trump as long as he's getting a piece of the action.

    3. we first need to see the Russian state for what it really is. Twenty-five years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed. This freed the Russian security state from its last constraints. In 1991, there were around 800,000 official KGB agents in Russia. They spent a decade reorganizing themselves into the newly-minted FSB, expanding and absorbing other instruments of power, including criminal networks, other security services, economic interests, and parts of the political elite. They rejected the liberal, democratic Russia that President Boris Yeltsin was trying to build.

      Following the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings that the FSB almost certainly planned, former FSB director Vladimir Putin was installed as President.

    4. President-elect Trump has characteristics that can aid him in defining what comes next. He is, first and foremost, a rule-breaker, not quantifiable by metrics we know. In a time of inconceivable change, that can be an incredible asset. He comes across as a straight talker, and he can be blunt with the American people about the threats we face. He is a man of many narratives, and can find a way to sell these decisions to the American people. He believes in strength, and knows hard power is necessary.

      Trump is, first and foremost, a liar, a narcissist, a would-be tyrant, and -- okay -- a rule-breaker (a cheat). Trump will do what Trump thinks is good for Trump. He doesn't give a shit about America. So far, it looks as though Trump is eager to enrich himself through partnership with Putin. We will most likely have to defeat both of them.

    5. the West is already at war, whether it wants to be or not. It may not be a war we recognize, but it is a war. This war seeks, at home and abroad, to erode our values, our democracy, and our institutional strength; to dilute our ability to sort fact from fiction, or moral right from wrong; and to convince us to make decisions against our own best interests.

  12. Dec 2015
    1. "It makes zero sense to lock up this information forever," said Jeremiah Grossman, who founded cybersecurity firm WhiteHat Security. "Certainly there are past breaches that the public should know about, is entitled to know about, and that others can learn from."

      I used to think the most fanciful thing about the movie "War Games" was not the A.I., but the defense computer connected to a public network. But if industrial control systems can be reached by the Internet or other public lines -- then maybe the government is that stupid.

  13. Sep 2014
  14. Mar 2014
    1. The Naxians, then, made all preparations to face the onset of war. When their enemies had brought their ships over from Chios to Naxos, it was a fortified city that they attacked, and for four months they besieged it.

      Hdt. 5.34 After approving his plan with Darius and Artaphrenes, Aristagoras sets out to attack Naxos. The Naxians surprisingly outlast the attacking Achaemenid forces, enduring a four month siege. The prolonged siege leaves Aristagoras bankrupt...

    2. This Otanes, then, who sat upon that seat, was now made successor to Megabazus in his governorship. He captured Byzantium, Calchedon, Antandrus in the Troad, and Lamponium, and with ships he had taken from the Lesbians, he took Lemnos and Imbros, both of which were still inhabited by Pelasgians.

      Hdt. 5.25 Otanes follows Megabazos in the line of Darius' generals. He goes on a shopping spree of the Aegean islands capturing Byzantium, Calchedon, Antandrus, Lamponium, Lemnos, and Imbros. This extends Achaemenid control out of Asia and the Hellespont into the Aegean Sea, directly threatening mainland Greece.