Welcome to the future
Most everyone has some sort of knowledge about Skynet, the computer program that eventually led to the war between humans & machines in the Terminator movies and TV shows. The concept of a self aware and artificially intelligent computer network is quite terrifying, but it may soon become a staple in networks across the world. There are a couple projects being researched and developed that all hold a piece of the Skynet puzzle, not to mention an actual system named Skynet that is currently in operation. So while Skynet in the Terminator universe was merely fiction, reality is just as alarming. Of course these new systems are meant to help society operate better, faster and stronger, but the worst actions often have the best intentions. Part 2 of 2 is below.
The Future Skynet
Part one focused on the UK’s Skynet 5 project, which was scary enough as it is, but there are a few projects that could lead to Skynet 5 or a similar system to become just like Skynet from the Terminator movies. Is this a paranoid way to look at these projects? Probably, but the implications of a robot led future are too strong in these projects to deny.
1) The US Navy’s new command center could be a breeding ground for disaster.
credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET
The US Navy is working on a prototype Command Center of the Future (CCof) at their Space and Naval Warfare System Control Pacific in San Diego. It is meant to replace large conference style rooms that do not have the ability to house an entire staff in one efficient area.
Below is a video tour of the prototype command center from cnet.
Their are a few really cool parts of the tour, like the glass walls with tv screens built into the glass and rooms that are able to become secretive on demand with clouded glass walls and sound dampeners. There is one part of the video that is of concern; the fact that they plan to use augmented artificial intelligence to control information flow inside the command center. This means the computer system inside the CCoF will be able to merge real world information and visuals with information and visuals from the artificial intelligence to create a mixed reality environment. In theory this could give field commanders an entire view of the battlefield, including things that would normally not be seen or known, but what if the A.I. goes rogue? Everything that is seen inside the CCoF could be generated and entirely false. Commands given could have disastrous consequences since they are based on false information. The A.I. in the CCoF could use humans for its own demented goals.
2) Internet based applications will soon be able to defend and heal themselves
A project is currently being developed that is attempting to create internet based applications that configure, manage, heal and defend themselves. It is called SELFMAN, and it could be the future of internet apps. Cloud computing and non-disc based apps are all the rage right now, but SELFMAN takes those concepts much, much further.
SELFMAN is able to configure and manage itself automatically by tracking down all of it’s pieces, no matter where they are located, updating them on the fly and verifying communication between everything. By ensuring strong communication between its parts, SELFMAN is able to redistribute loads automatically to ensure constant uptime. This is also part of it’s healing abilities. Normally, if part of a distributed application is overloaded, it may crash or disconnect, greatly affecting the usability and functionality of the program. SELFMAN coordinator Peter Van Roy understood the need to make the program self sustaining.
“With SELFMAN,” Van Roy says, “each node stores some of the data and each piece of data is replicated a certain number of times. If a node crashes, the other nodes detect the crash, find a new node and give it the missing data. The system heals itself.”
SELFMAN is also able defend itself from outside attacks. To accomplish this, communication is not linked from one part of the program to all of the other parts, but rather each part can communicate independently to whichever part it needs. This makes the program’s network smaller overall, so if one portion of the program comes under attack, it can be blocked by the rest of the program without the attack spreading directly across the predefined lines of communication like a virus.
Projects like SELFMAN are frightening because more advanced versions with artificial intelligence will eventually become available. How can I be so sure about this? Since the program is self-sustaining, the most efficient way to handle it would be through artificial intelligence. An intelligent program working inside the internet that can configure, defend and heal itself could pose major problems, depending on the level of intelligence the program contained and the purpose of the program.
3) Researchers are building a massive high-end network that could breed the next technological disaster.
A project called FutureGrid is looking past cloud computing and trying to create a trans-Atlantic high-speed network that would essentially become a massive supercomputer. Universities across the US and Europe are workig together to create a network consisting of approximately 1,400 CPUs to allow each university unparalleled speeds for CPU intensive research such as climate modeling and DNA sequencing.
The aim of the FutureGrid project is to support the development of new system software and applications that can be simulated in order to accelerate the adoption of new technologies in scientific computing. The project will accomplish these goals by building several computing clusters at different locations with a sophisticated virtual machine and workflow based simulation environment. This will allow us to research cloud computing, multicore computing, new algorithms and new software paradigms. -Dr. Geoffrey Fox of Indiana University and director of FutureGrid
Yeah, that's 4844 processor cores, and that's just the US portion of FutureGrid.
While the FutureGrid network on its own is not all that imposing, if used in conjunction with the Command Center of the Future, while running applications that manage, heal and defend themselves, it could become an incredibly powerful artificial intelligence system.
FutureGrid is currently a university research tool, but just like all other things that show great potential, the military will eventually want access to FutureGrid, a similar system or something better. A network with that amount of processing power and a potential worldwide reach could be catastrophic if a human hating A.I. were in control. Each of the 3 projects above have the potential to run amok, but if they are all combined, a new Skynet will be born.
::from cnet – ReadWriteWeb – Physorg – Next Big Future::
The aim of the FutureGrid project is to support the development of new system software and applications that can be simulated in order to accelerate the adoption of new technologies in scientific computing. The project will accomplish these goals by building several computing clusters at different locations with a sophisticated virtual machine
and workflow based simulation environment. This will allow us to research cloud computing, multicore computing, new algorithms and new software paradigms.
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