Fuck AI
"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
This is something I have thought about.
Google Maps and Street View is an immense strategic resource for the US.
To not only have the maps and satellite photos, but actually have geotagged street photographs of basically every nation's road network is insanely useful in a military conflict.
Imagine planning a spec-ops mission, having access to photos showing the entire attack/escape route where you can draw planned supply drops on actual photos of the exact location while also having photos of the entire route.
This is hugely strategic
Another nation can use Google maps to plan a spec ops mission in the US, too
The White House and Mar-a-Lago are right there, other countries' assassins. Get to it!
I still say the funniest thing ever would be for someone to slip polonium into his Big Mac.
"Maps are a strategic asset" isn't exactly a new concept in warfare...
Google maps is public info too (as are it's many alternatives) - and there's no country that's nearly as comprehensively documented at street level than the US. Google maps is also super outdated outside the biggest cities, and the US can get much better quality intelligence via the NRO and just sending some guy in with a phone camera to take selfies the day before.
You even have in-building views for some places.
And combine that with all the private user data they have from the corp social medias and they have the very Big Brother no one wanted a government to ever have.
Military bases are often powered by renewables at least partly and they are making the shift away from relying on civilian infrastructure because it is so vulnerable. This article is more about reliance on American Tech Companies than it is about making the case that the data centers of these corps are pretty synonymous with military bases because of how they use civilian infrastructure and cost tax payers money (which I think was the point of the title but still am not sure after reading most of the article).
I once read something like this in a novel: "The American military called it public relations, but the Soviets find them to be highly-convenient pre-packaged intelligence material."
That a country heavily reliant on technology can be so vulnerable to even the most primitive forms of warfare.
*Russian.
Same thing though, effectively.
GAFAM are very, very American.
Yes… and the US is a Russian puppet state.