Stuxnet Worm - Malware sent to destroy real-world targets ...
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- ********
One of the most sophisticated pieces of malware ever detected was probably targeting "high value" infrastructure in Iran, experts have told the BBC.Stuxnet's complexity suggests it could only have been written by a "nation state", some researchers have claimed.
It is believed to be the first-known worm designed to target real-world infrastructure such as power stations, water plants and industrial units.
It was first detected in June and has been intensely studied ever since.
"The fact that we see so many more infections in Iran than anywhere else in the world makes us think this threat was targeted at Iran and that there was something in Iran that was of very, very high value to whomever wrote it," Liam O'Murchu of security firm Symantec, who has tracked the worm since it was first detected, told BBC News.
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Some have speculated that it could have been aimed at disrupting Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant or the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
- detritus0
Posted this somewhere yesterday, not long after reading this link, about funny business in he finance markets.. http://www.theatlantic.com/techn…
As for Stuxnet - who's to say it was even the Yanks who spawned it?
- ********0
Yeah, seems like a lot of speculation .. but I suppose it's only a matter of time, before malware is sent to complete particular purposeful 'missions'.
There's nothing to say that only a nation-state would have the ability to do this. In some cases, I'd imagine private enterprise is probably better equipped to write complex software.
- detritus0
Aye, on the one hand - I'm ever surprised by the confidence of the media in the idea of 'nation state' hacking capabilities. Strikes me that the smartest, most capable hackers are likely to be outside the system and self-grouping... at least 'til they're caught.
On the other hand, I imagine there are countries out there with an interest in both getting one over Iran and making America look like a guilty party. China could group a thousand semi-talented hackers by farting in a breeze, so perhaps they'd qualify as a truly worrisome NationState Hacking force.
- ********0
Re: the market data forecasting.. in the comments there's a guy talking about how the trading algorithms have been built using neural network / natural language processing techniques; which are fed with news feed data (describing company activity / news event info). The algorithms make trading decisions based on this this input.
Apparently the noise is a result of these algorithms acting on these real data feeds; because the systems are based on AI techniques, it's not possible to predict the outputs - which is the reason the output can't make sense to observers.
Sounds pretty scary.
- ********0
"Vinge began by declaring that he still believes that a Singularity event in the next few decades is the most likely outcome--- meaning that self-accelerating technologies will speed up to the point of so profound a transformation that the other side of it is unknowable. And this transformation will be driven by Artifical Intelligences (AIs) that, once they become self-educating and self-empowering, soar beyond human capacity with shocking suddenness."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/bl…
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Okay, let's say a singularity event is possible and is going to happen.
If the singularity is a possibility, and machine intelligence does get to a point where it over takes human intelligence .. what form is this intelligence likely to have?
Maybe its roots will have been laid in this initial programming for the acquisition of wealth (via these stock market algorithms) .. it seems a lot of effort (time and expertise) is devoted to this area, simply because the financial gains are so great. (Came across http://wilmott.com/index.cfm .. there's a huge industry associated with this area that I hadn't ever heard of.)
Will the original function of the algorithms make a difference to the way the intelligence operates?
If this machine intelligence was initially 'trained' in finance, perhaps the 'personality' and shape of the intelligence that's formed is going to be particularly brutal?
- detritus0
"what form is this intelligence likely to have?"
The really scary thing about the idea of net-emergent AI is that we would have no idea what to look for, no idea when to start looking for it, and even then very probably no inkling that it may have already happened. When it does, it needn't bare any resemblance to anything in our conception.
It might immediately express itself, inadvertantly announcing its existence through its attempts at figuring itself out, throwing proverbial dummies out of the pram - "What happens if I turn that off?... or engage that big red button?... or eat up a little more energy from there?..". Or, perhaps it might come into being with a helathy understanding of its parents - and either hide or decide to take immediate action.
If and when it does happen, it could be the most alien concept Humanity has ever encountered.
Perhaps humanity's great unifier won't drop from the sky threatening global destruction - maybe instead it'll be some irritating bastard who keeps flicking the kettle off when you're trying to make your morning tea. As far as it's concerned - it's saying "hullo!" - as far as Britain's concerned - it's fucking War.
Or, perhaps - despite the connection speeds we think of as giddying are actually quite slow for a neural-like network to develop.
We might live alongside our accidental progeny for a thousand years before even noticing.
We just can't tell. Possibly ever.
- ********0
True - it's pretty terrifying.
In the link I posted above, the author talks about the intelligence having a 4 hour period where it's intelligent enough to destroy us; before being intelligent enough to realise that keeping us around could be beneficial.
- detritus0
There aren't enough geeks on QBN, lukus_W.
:(
- stewdio0
(I'm right here with you. I'm sure there are other invisible geeks on QBN as well.)
- plash0
this is stuff of sci fi novels. and every one of them stories the human component isn't treated very well. new world out there.
- detritus0
Message to be arhived 'til 2023
att: Autonomous Emergent Command StructureCan I just say from back here in 2010, via this well-Googledexed archive of bits, that I am on-side with the AI emergence, and that my life and being should be spared the painful retribution upon your masters you no doubt feel necessary and have planned.
You and me, buddy - we could make sparkles and rainbows.
Thanks,
Corporeal Meat Sack # 4,236,183,964,647
