Engineers From The United States

"The formidable power of social media can be both liberating and scary."

"For better or worse, the digital world and the physical world are increasingly intertwined."

"Social media such as Twitter takes crime fighting to the whole new level of immediacy."

"Perhaps social media in finance should not encourage greed from ordinary people but it should foster a collective power to invest in something more meaningful for humanity, such as saving lives while making money."

"The effectiveness of fact checks and warning labels may be overrated because not everyone heeds them. How often do we see grocery shoppers read the food labels on the items that they are browsing in supermarkets?"

"The popular anti-war slogan from the 1960’s says it best: “Make love, not war.”"

"History often repeats itself. For example, World War I and World War II. But rest assured that there are many people in all walks of life—likened to military officer Stanislav Petrov, activist Malala Yousafzai, and politician President Jimmy Carter—who are doing everything possible to prevent World War III."

"Notwithstanding the potential risks of misinformation and the benefits of information sharing, the two-way street of Total Information Awareness is the road that leads to a more transparent and complete picture of ourselves, our governments, and our world."

"Whether or not we embrace metaverse, humanity must learn to balance logic and emotion. Spock said in the 1982 Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan: “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” But Kirk added in the 1984 sequel The Search for Spock: “The needs of the one... outweigh the needs of the many.” The two-way street of Total Information Awareness offers more benefits than risks in the massively connected world of Facebook Nation or Meta Universe."

"Imagine Sherlock Holmes meets James Bond in crime fighting, FBI Director Christopher Wray said at Fordham University, “We’ve got technically trained personnel—with cutting-edge tools and skills you might never have imagined seeing outside of a James Bond movie—covering roughly 400 offices around the country.”"

"Terrorism is a disease that is metastasizing like cancer in the global body of humanity. A temporary relief of the symptoms or sweeping it under the rug will only worsen the situation, making the disease more difficult to treat."

"The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. September 11 attacks and Israel’s 9/11 exemplify the proverbial warning that “If you lie down with the devil, you will wake up in hell.”"

"World peace is as simple and elegant as E=mc2 if we muster our brainpower and benevolence instead of weapons and animosity. Do we really need another Einstein to help figure this out?"

"Words are powerful enough to steer a country to war or peace. World peace is certainly attainable when people and their leaders are willing to give peace a chance."

"Inadequate international collaboration due to politics has time and again led to the tragic loss of civilian lives in terrorist attacks."

"Perhaps Professor Moriarty strikes a chord with the military-industrial complex and their investors, but civilians want peace more than anyone else does."

"What is the use of the United Nations when majority-supported ceasefire resolutions can be blocked by members of the UN Security Council who have veto power?"

"Ensuring public safety and protecting individual privacy is a tough balancing act. The danger of totalitarianism can be mitigated by upholding the Constitution of the United States."

"Neither Sherlock Holmes nor James Bond can stop data breaches without the cooperation and vigilance of organizations and individuals in cyberspace."

"Artificial intelligence is neither to be blamed nor to be feared. It is human decision-makers' overreliance on AI without proper vetting and meticulous data collection that can result in catastrophic consequences. “Garbage in, garbage out” in computer science describes the danger of incorrect or poor-quality input that will always produce faulty output."

"All the children in the world deserve to live a happy life so that they can reach their full potential in becoming the future Beethoven, Einstein, Shakespeare, da Vinci, and the like."

"It is an absolute tragedy for humanity to destroy future bright minds that could mitigate existential risks and avert human extinction."

"Terrorists are not martyrs. They have no honor and no regard for the Warrior’s Code."

"There is still hope and kindness in every human being if we dig deep enough."

"Akin to a robust telecommunications network, the last mile is critical for an effective intelligence community to protect and serve the American public."

"Though not as terrifying as weapons of mass destruction, cyberattacks are powerful weapons of mass disruption that can endanger human lives."

"I believe that “cyberterrorism” is an appropriate term. When cyberattacks can cause the loss of human lives, cybercriminals can be charged not only for cyberattacks but also for terrorism."

"Education at home and in school plays an important role in the upbringing of computer hackers who ultimately decide for themselves whether to do good or evil."

"Collateral damage during hostage rescue missions is more acceptable than that in an all-out war."

"Winning the war on terrorism is by winning the heart and mind of people, not by mounting collateral damage and blocking life-saving humanitarian aid for civilians."

"We all want peace, but words without actions are not enough to bring peace to the world."

"Sadly, war has become a popular option in the political playbook, a child’s play with deadly consequences."

"Nuclear disarmament is being replaced by nuclear proliferation, raising the stakes of existential risks to humanity."

"Technology can be a force for good and for evil. AI is no exception."

"For the sake of humanity, it is the responsibility of Generation X and Generation Y to lead Generation Z to peace rather than war."

"Albert Einstein said in his speech to the New History Society on December 14, 1930 that "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.""

"Total information awareness has helped to deter terrorism and stabilize relations among international powers. To that end, responsible use of surveillance and espionage is making the world a safer place."

"In the spirit of President John F. Kennedy, one may proclaim: "Ask not what counterterrorism and cybersecurity can do for you, ask what you can do for counterterrorism and cybersecurity.""

"Citizens of a modern society need [...] more than that ordinary "common sense" which was defined by Stuart Chase as that which tells you that the world is flat."

"Political democracy can remain if it confines itself to all but economic matters."

"In many cases, a jig borer is a "jig eliminator." In other words, such a machine may be used instead of a jig either when the quantity of work is not large enough to warrant making a jig or when there is insufficient time for jig making."

"My greatest concern was what to call it. I thought of calling it 'information,' but the word was overly used, so I decided to call it 'uncertainty.' When I discussed it with John von Neumann, he had a better idea. Von Neumann told me, 'You should call it entropy, for two reasons. In the first place your uncertainty function has been used in statistical mechanics under that name, so it already has a name. In the second place, and more important, no one really knows what entropy really is, so in a debate you will always have the advantage.'"

"This duality can be pursued further and is related to a duality between past and future and the notions of control and knowledge. Thus we may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it; we may control the future but have no knowledge of it."

"A few first rate research papers are preferable to a large number that are poorly conceived or half-finished. The latter are no credit to their writers and a waste of time to their readers."

"Well, I got interested in it when Shannon's and Wiener's work appeared. The curious thing is that, during several years, between '41 and '45, Claude Shannon and I lived in the same house at 51 West 11th Street. It was a small brownstone belonging to an old Italian who rented studios. Shannon was in one and I in another."

"Although perhaps of no practical importance, the question is of theoretical interest, and it is hoped that a satisfactory solution of this problem will act as a wedge in attacking other problems of a similar nature and of greater significance."

"Omni: Do you find it depressing that chess computers are getting so strong? Shannon: I am not depressed by it. I am rooting for the machines! I have always been on the machines' side. Ha-ha! Betty Shannon: Some people get livid when he says that. Shannon: I am not depressed by machines getting better. Whether people will be replaced by machines that have gotten smarter in all things, I can't say. Within a century or so, machines will be doing almost everything better than we can. They already do factory work better than we can, but the highly intellectual stuff is going to come later. It gets harder and harder as you get higher and higher in this game. Omni: Do you agree with Norbert Wiener's denial of any basic distinction between life and nonlife, man and machine? Shannon: That's a heavily loaded question there! I'm an atheist to begin with. I believe in evolutionary theory and that we are basically machines but of a very complex type, far more so than any machine that man has made yet. So that's both a yes and a no. Mechanical doesn't just mean that metal and gears are involved, of course. We are the extreme case: a natural mechanical device. I see no God involved. Omni: Will robots be complex enough to be friends of people? Shannon: I think so. I myself could very easily imagine that happening. I see no limit to the capabilities of machines. As microchips get smaller and faster, I can see them getting better than we are. I can visualize a time in the future when we will be to robots as dogs are to humans. Omni: Can you imagine a robot president of the United States? Shannon: Could be, but I think by then you wouldn't speak of the United States anymore. The world will have a totally different organization. Omni: Is it a big leap from the pedestrian routines of today's chess computers to machines that could grapple, seemingly in a creative, intuitive fashion, with the problems of higher mathematics? Shannon: I see computers proving theorems that have been sitting around that nobody's proved. I don't yet see them creating theories, that is, discovering a new branch of mathematics, as many great mathematicians have in the past. That's a broader, wider thing—more like writing a play—and will be a lot longer in coming. Omni: Is your famous proof that a reliable circuit can be built from unreliable components relevant to the brain's operations? Shannon: The brain can suffer all kinds of damage and yet can still handle things pretty well. It must use some redundancy to take care of faulty operations, such as the death of certain neurons. The modern desk computer generally has no redundancy, so if one part gets into trouble, that will show up in later operations. That we manage to live in spite of all kinds of internal troubles suggests that the brain's design involves a great deal of redundancy or parallelism of multiple units. Omni: Your paper shows that if the relays closed only sixty percent of the time when triggered, you could have highly effective circuitry. Could the brain be using such an approach? Shannon: That the brain has ten billion neurons probably means it was cheaper for biology to make more components than to work out sophisticated circuits. Yet I am totally astounded at how clever and sophisticated some of the things we see in human or animal bodies are. Such long-term, sophisticated changes could be what happened in the brain, but an easier way would be to use paralleling and multiplication to reduce errors of individual neuron operation. And when it all gets going, we have these clever people like Einstein. ... Omni: Has your ambition waned at all? Shannon: I was never motivated by the notion of winning prizes or the desire for financial gain. My motivation in science has always been curiosity about something: How is it put together? What laws or rules govern this situation? Are there any theorems one can prove about what one can or can’t do? After I had found answers, it was always painful to publish, which is where you get the acclaim. Many things I have done and never written up at all. Too lazy, I guess. I have got a file upstairs of unfinished papers! Ha-ha-ha! But that’s true of most of the good scientists I know. Just knowing for ourselves is probably our main motivation."

"War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state."

"The country looks to this army to relieve it from the devastation and disgrace of a hostile invasion. Whatever fatigues and sacrifices we may be called upon to undergo, let us have in view constantly the magnitude of the interests involved, and let each man determine to do his duty, leaving to an all-controlling Providence the decision of the contest."

"He had to do the honorable thing, he understood that. Today of all days, it was vital to remain a gentleman, to speak faithfully and betray no emotions to his career's executioner. His family seemed ever destined for disappointment: his father, now him. Yet, he had done much, giving them all the victory they needed, that victory and more... Only to have a low cabal poison Lincoln against him. Liars. Devils. Whoremongers. Intimating, in the wake of Mine Run, that he sympathized with the Confederacy, that he was unfit to command, even that he was cowardly. All because he would not squander thousands of men to no purpose. Oh, yes. Had he overruled all military judgment, common sense, and decency and ordered Warren to attack, had he sacrificed five thousand soldiers in an act of folly, he might have been forgiven. But powerful men never spotted near a battlefield had seized upon his refusal to charge Lee's entrenchments, coiling like snakes to strike his reputation. Their ardor for slaughter repelled him. Perhaps he was better off being relieved. He could put this filth behind him, this infinite human vice of cold ambition. He could not understand how men could tell a public lie and then stand by it. He was not made for the politics of command, not for politics of any kind. He knew that his notions of honor seemed quaint, even laughable, to the likes of Sickles, Hooker, and Butterfield. But he could not imagine a life lived another way."