Technology Review: Higher Games

Technology Review: Higher Games: "Yes, but so what? Silicon machines can now play chess better than any protein machines can. Big deal. This calm and reasonable reaction, however, is hard for most people to sustain. They don't like the idea that their brains are protein machines. When Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997, many commentators were tempted to insist that its brute-force search methods were entirely unlike the exploratory processes that Kasparov used when he conjured up his chess moves. But that is simply not so. Kasparov's brain is made of organic materials and has an architecture notably unlike that of Deep Blue, but it is still, so far as we know, a massively parallel search engine that has an outstanding array of heuristic pruning techniques that keep it from wasting time on unlikely branches."

Technology Review: Higher Games

Technology Review: Higher Games: "In an editorial written at the time of the Deep Blue match, 'Mind over Matter' (May 10, 1997), the New York Times opined: The real significance of this over-hyped chess match is that it is forcing us to ponder just what, if anything, is uniquely human. We prefer to believe that something sets us apart from the machines we devise. Perhaps it is found in such concepts as creativity, intuition, consciousness, esthetic or moral judgment, courage or even the ability to be intimidated by Deep Blue. The ability to be intimidated? Is that really one of our prized qualities? Yes, according to the Times: Nobody knows enough about such characteristics to know if they are truly beyond machines in the very long run, but it is nice to think that they are."

Tar Sands Fever | Worldwatch Institute

Tar Sands Fever | Worldwatch Institute: "It's well known that the United States consumes more oil per capita than any other country in the world, absorbing two-thirds of global oil production. This heavy dependence has often, and aptly, been described as an addiction; even U.S. President George W. Bush trotted out the metaphor in his 2006 State of the Union address ( America is addicted to oil )."

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)
As the world moves toward ubiquitous computing
with collective intelligence for just-in-time knowledge,
decisions should improve. Decisionmaking
will increasingly be augmented by the integration
of ubiquitous sensors, a more intelligent Web,
and institutional and personal intelligence software
that helps us receive and respond to feedback for
improving decisions.
The world is expected to produce more data in
2007 than it can store. According to the IDC, the
world produced 161 exabytes (billion gigabytes)
in 2006 and had 185 exabytes of storage capacity.

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)
If much of the global complexity
cannot be managed efficiently by current systems,
then new decisionmaking systems may emerge.

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)
According to Freedom House, the number
of free countries grew from 46 to 90 over the
past 30 years, accounting for 46% of the world's
population, and for the past several years 64% of
countries have been electoral democracies. Since
democracies tend not to fight each other and
since humanitarian crises are far more likely under
authoritarian than democratic regimes, the trend
toward democracy should lead to a more peaceful
future among nation states. Unfortunately, massively
destructive powers will be more available
to individuals. Future desktop molecular and
pharmaceutical manufacturing and organized
crime's access to nuclear materials give single
individuals the ability to make and use weapons
of mass destruction—from biological weapons
to low-level nuclear (“dirty”) bombs. The IAEA
reported 149 confirmed incidents of illicit use
of radioactive materials in 2006. Only 10% of
the 220 million sea containers that transport 90%
of the world’s trade are inspected, giving organized
crime and terrorism easier supply lines.

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)
According to UNESCO, in 1970 about 37% of
all people over the age of 15 were illiterate. That
has fallen to less than 18% today. Between 1999
and 2004 the number of children without primary
education fell by around 21 million to 77 million.

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

The global economy grew at 5.4% in 2006 to $66 trillion (PPP). The population grew 1.1%, increasing
the average world per capita income by 4.3%. At this rate world poverty will be cut by more than half
between 2000 and 2015, meeting the UN Millennium Development Goal for poverty reduction except
in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the majority of the world is improving economically, income disparities
are still enormous: 2% of the world’s richest people own more than 50% of the world’s wealth, while
the poorest 50% of people own 1%. And the income of the 225 richest people in the world is equal to
that of the poorest 2.7 billion, 40% of the world.

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

sof2007-exec-summ.pdf (Objet application/pdf)

People around the world are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, and
increasingly connected and they are living longer, but at the same time the world is more corrupt,
congested, warmer, and increasingly dangerous. Although the digital divide is beginning to close, income
gaps are still expanding around the world and unemployment continues to grow.

Foreign Affairs - The Great Leap Backward? - Elizabeth C. Economy

Foreign Affairs - The Great Leap Backward? - Elizabeth C. Economy: "China's environmental problems are mounting. Water pollution and water scarcity are burdening the economy, rising levels of air pollution are endangering the health of millions of Chinese, and much of the country's land is rapidly turning into desert. China has become a world leader in air and water pollution and land degradation and a top contributor to some of the world's most vexing global environmental problems, such as the illegal timber trade, marine pollution, and climate change."

Foreign Affairs - The Great Leap Backward? - Elizabeth C. Economy

Foreign Affairs - The Great Leap Backward? - Elizabeth C. Economy: "Summary: China's environmental woes are mounting, and the country is fast becoming one of the leading polluters in the world. The situation continues to deteriorate because even when Beijing sets ambitious targets to protect the environment, local officials generally ignore them, preferring to concentrate on further advancing economic growth. Really improving the environment in China will require revolutionary bottom-up political and economic reforms."

Global trends-The world in 2030

Global trends-The world in 2030: "Clearly, we have known more discoveries from 1945 until today than since the beginning of mankind until 1945. This high flow of discoveries will boost the future growth."

Earth Policy Institute Book Byte - Farewell to "Flush and Forget" - Reducing Urban Water Use

Earth Policy Institute Book Byte - Farewell to "Flush and Forget" - Reducing Urban Water Use: "The existing water-based waste disposal economy is not viable. There are too many households, factories, and feedlots to simply try and wash waste away on our crowded planet. To do so is ecologically mindless and outdated—an approach that belongs to an age when there were many fewer people and far less economic activity."

Earth Policy Institute Book Byte - Farewell to "Flush and Forget" - Reducing Urban Water Use

Earth Policy Institute Book Byte - Farewell to "Flush and Forget" - Reducing Urban Water Use: "In urban settings, the one-time use of water to disperse human and industrial wastes is becoming an outmoded practice, made obsolete by new technologies and water shortages. Water enters a city, becomes contaminated with human and industrial wastes, and leaves the city dangerously polluted. Toxic industrial wastes discharged into rivers and lakes or into wells also permeate aquifers, making water—both surface and underground—unsafe for drinking. And their toxic wastes are destroying marine ecosystems, including local fisheries. The time has come to manage waste without discharging it into the local environment, allowing water to be recycled indefinitely and reducing both urban and industrial demand dramatically."

Foreign Policy in Focus - A Think Tank Without Walls

Foreign Policy in Focus - A Think Tank Without Walls:

If there were only one factory producing U.S. military armaments located in Rhode Island, there would be a dramatic reduction of congressional support for a rising defense budget. The problem is: virtually all weapons systems have been broken down into a supply chain that turns the 50 states into an assembly line for the military-industrial complex. Almost every member of Congress therefore supports the whole hog in order to bring home some of the bacon to their home district.