Please try the URL privacy information feature enabled by clicking the flashlight icon above. This will reveal two icons after each link the body of the digest. The shield takes you to a breakdown of Terms of Service for the site - however only a small number of sites are covered at the moment. The flashlight take you to an analysis of the various trackers etc. that the linked site delivers. Please let the website maintainer know if you find this useful or not. As a RISKS reader, you will probably not be surprised by what is revealed…
Naomi Oreskes, *The New York Times* op-ed, 3 July 2023 The man behind the submersible had argued that regulation stifles new ideas. Regulation may slow things down, but it also saves lives. Sometimes slowing down is a good thing.
A first-person account of the Titan, and a deep dive (no pun intended) on Oceangate's safety culture. The first article paints an image of meticulous pro-forma operational safety, while the second shows profound hot-dogging at the engineering level. David Pogue is a long-time writer on the consumer computer industry. Ben Taub is an investigative journalist. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/what-i-learned-on-a-titanic-submarine-expedition.html What I Learned on a Titanic Sub Expedition *The New Yorker* (nymag.com) https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/the-titan-submersible-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen The Titan Submersible Was An Accident Waiting to Happen newyorker.com And Rush's patent (note you can patent just about anything these days; patents can be powerful weapons, but have little intellectual merit): https://patents.google.com/patent/US11119071B1/en?q=(stockton+rush+carbon+oceangate)&oq=stockton+rush+carbon+oceangate
An incident I was unaware of: During cruise flight above the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, approximately one minute after it had been passed overhead by an Airbus A380 on opposite course, the CL604 was subject to temporary loss of control. After it had lost approximately 9,000 ft of altitude the pilots regained control of the aircraft and subsequently landed at an alternate aerodrome at Muscat Airport, Oman. The accident occurred over international waters. Thus the BFU as representative of the State of Registry of the accident aircraft is responsible for the conduct of the investigation. In accordance with international regulations, the air accident investigation authorities of Oman, India, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, USA, and France will assist the BFU in this investigation.
I predicted years ago that eventually robohaters would use simple methods like this to disable robocars when there's no human to deal with them. -L https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/06/robotaxi-haters-in-san-francisco-are-disabl ing-waymo-cruise-traffic-cones/
The devices, which aim to stop Tesla Autopilot from nagging drivers to put their hands on the wheel, have been criticized by regulators and safety experts https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/07/tesla-fsd-autopilot-wheel-weights/
The superstar quarterback is among the celebrities dealing with the fallout from the crypto crash. Others, like Taylor Swift, escaped. As the FTX cryptocurrency exchange imploded last fall, Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, made an urgent phone call. He dialed Sina Nader, FTX’s head of partnerships. The exchange’s staff was in the middle of a crisis meeting with its beleaguered founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Mr. Nader couldn't answer. “I never would've expected to decline a call from Tom Brady,” he said. Mr. Brady had reasons to be concerned. As an “ambassador” for FTX, he had appeared at the company’s conference in the Bahamas and in TV commercials that promoted the exchange as “the most trusted” institution in the loosely regulated world of crypto. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/technology/tom-brady-crypto-ftx.html
Stuart A. Thompson, *The New York Times* Business, 8 Jul 2023 “The concern is completely legitimate and clear: These chatbots can and will say anything if left to their own devices.'' Oren Etzioni “Every demographic and interest group deserves their model. Open-source is about letting people choose.'' Eric Hartford, behind WizardLM-Uncensored AI chatbots have lied about notable figures, spewed misinformation, or even advised users on how to commit suicide. To mitigate the tools' most obvious dangers, companies like Google and OpenAI have carefully added controls that limit what the tools can say. Now a new wave if chatbots, developed far from the epicenter of the AI book, are coming online without many of those guardrails. [...] “Fake news is bad. But is it really the creation of it that's bd? Bcause in my mind it's the distribution that's bad. [...] It's only if I get that into a reputable publication [like the front page of the *Times*], Yannic Kilcher [FALSE? Every bogus piece of item on the WWWeb is relevant if people believe it. PGN]
Although not quite on topic, really part of an earlier thread, this does pertain to "ChatGPT' getting dumber: The Curse of Recursion: Training on Generated Data Makes Models Forget Ilia Shumailov, Zakhar Shumaylov, Yiren Zhao, Yarin Gal, Nicolas Papernot, Ross Anderson https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.17493 Large Language Models reinforce the strongest links, so results are skewed away from less popular connections. Quoting the abstract: We find that use of model-generated content in training causes irreversible defects in the resulting models, where tails of the original content distribution disappear. We refer to this effect as Model Collapse and show that it can occur in Variational Autoencoders, Gaussian Mixture Models and LLMs.
Evgeny Morozov, *The New York Times" Sunday opinion Worry not that the technolopgy will amplify our intelligence,' Worry that it will shrink it. Depending on how (and if) the robot rebellion unfolds, [artificial general intelligence] may or may not prove to be an existential threat. But with its antisocial bent and its neoiberal cases, AGI-ism already is: We don't need to wait for the magic Roombas to quesetion its tenets.
[via Dave Farber <farber@gmail.com>]
A dazzlingly fast chatbot cannot replace the authentic and reflective voice
of a thinking, living human being. Douglas Hofstadter Jul 8 2023
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/godel-escher-bach-geb-ai/674589/
By now, you are most likely hyper-aware of the recent stunning progress in
artificial intelligence due to the development of large language models such
as ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Google’s Bard, and at least somewhat
aware of the dangers posed by such systems’ frequent hallucinations and
their predictable tone of supreme self-confidence and infallibility.
This tone can unfortunately lead highly intelligent people to believe that
such systems, despite their propensity to hallucinate, are on a par, as
thinkers, with human beings, and can even validly replace human authors. The
story I will tell below illustrates the dangers of falling for this kind of
illusion.
This past month, Sami Al-Suwailem, a serious and thoughtful reader of my
1979 book, /Gödel, Escher, Bachan Eternal Golden Braid
<https://bookshop.org/p/books/godel-escher-bach-an-eternal-golden-braid-douglas-r-hofstadter/12389924?ean=9780465026562>/,
wanted to post on his website the story of how that book came to be written,
but he didn’t want to burden me by asking me to tell the story, so he came
up with the novel idea of asking the state-of-the-art large language model
GPT-4 to compose, based on the 20th-anniversary edition of the book, a
one-page essay with the title “Why Did I Write GEB?” (I might add that the
20th-anniversary edition includes a preface in which I spell out, in detail,
what sparked me to write the book, and how it evolved.)
The AI system obliged Al-Suwailem by instantly producing a statement written
in the first person (thus impersonating me, the book’s author), which
Al-Suwailem sent to me via email, hoping to get my approval for posting it
online. I have reproduced GPT-4’s output verbatim below.
I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I am unable to access specific
books or their content. However, I can provide you with a brief summary
of why Douglas Hofstadter wrote “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden
Braid” based on my general knowledge of the book and the author’s
intentions.
Why Did I Write GEB?
Ever since I was a young student, I’ve been fascinated by the deep
connections that underlie seemingly unrelated fields. As I delved deeper
into the works of Kurt Gödel, M.C. Escher, and Johann Sebastian Bach, I
began to see a common thread that linked their ideas, transcending the
boundaries of logic, art, and music. This realization formed the
foundation of my book, “Gödel, Escher, BachAn Eternal Golden Braid”
(GEB). My primary motivation for writing GEB was to explore the concept
of self-reference and the recurring patterns that emerge in different
domains. I became captivated by Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems in
mathematical logic, which rocked the foundations of formal systems by
demonstrating the inherent limitations of any axiomatic system. Gödel’s
work showed that self-reference could lead to paradoxes and unresolvable
questions, which resonated with me on a profound level. In M.C. Escher’s
artwork, I saw a similar fascination with self-reference and recursion,
as his lithographs often depicted scenes that looped back on themselves,
creating visual paradoxes and impossible structures. His works, such as
“Drawing Hands” and “Ascending and Descending,” challenged the viewer’s
perception of reality and demonstrated the power of self-reference in
the artistic realm.
Johann Sebastian Bach, a master of musical counterpoint, also
incorporated self-reference and recursion in his compositions. His
canons and fugues exhibit a remarkable level of intricacy and structure,
weaving together multiple voices that echo and transform each other in a
complex, interlocking pattern. Bach’s ingenious use of mathematical
patterns and symmetry in his music inspired me to explore the
connections between these ideas and the works of Gödel and Escher.
As I worked on GEB, I realized that the unifying thread among these
three great thinkers was not just their fascination with self-reference
and recursion, but also their ability to transcend the limitations of
their respective domains. Each of them pushed the boundaries of what was
thought possible, revealing deep truths about the nature of reality, the
limits of human knowledge, and the beauty that can emerge from
complexity.
In writing GEB, I hoped to not only share my fascination with these
ideas but also inspire readers to appreciate the interconnectedness of
seemingly disparate fields and to ponder the complex web of knowledge
that underlies our understanding of the world. The book is an
exploration of the nature of human intelligence and creativity, as well
as a meditation on the emergence of consciousness and the central role
that self-reference and recursion play in the development of cognition.
GEB is as much a personal journey as it is an intellectual
exploration. Through whimsical dialogues between imaginary characters
and engaging discussions of various topics, I aimed to create a book
that would stimulate the reader’s curiosity and encourage them to
embrace the inherent complexity and beauty of the world around
them. Ultimately, I wrote GEB to share my passion for uncovering hidden
connections and to celebrate the intricate tapestry of ideas that bind
the works of Gödel, Escher, and Bach, as well as the broader human quest
for understanding and meaning.
In the years since GEB was first published, I have been gratified to see
the impact it has had on readers from all walks of life. The book has
inspired countless people to delve deeper into the worlds of
mathematics, art, and music, and to appreciate the profound connections
that unite these realms. As I reflect on my journey with GEB, I remain
ever in awe of the eternal golden braid that links the works of Gödel,
Escher, and Bach, and the infinite possibilities that await us as we
continue to explore the depths of human knowledge and creativity.
Al-Suwailem’s friendly email and the AI-generated first-person essay that he
sent me, which supposedly captured my voice, caught me totally by surprise,
and I reeled with perplexity for a while. But when I eventually regained my
mental equilibrium, I replied to him as follows:
Thanks very kindly for your interest in my ideas and in why I wrote
/GEB. /I have carefully read through the text generated by GPT-4. I
would say that that text, in sharp contrast to what I myself wrote in
the book’s 20th-anniversary preface, consists only in generic platitudes
and fluffy handwaving.
The prose has virtually nothing in common with my writing style and what
it says does not agree at all with the actual story that underlies the
book’s genesis. Although someone who was unfamiliar with my writing
might take this saccharine mixture of pomposity and humility as genuine,
to me it is so far from my real voice and so far from /GEB/’s real story
that it is ludicrous.
Before I go on, let me explain that I am profoundly troubled by today’s
large language models, such as GPT-4. I find them repellent and
threatening to humanity, partly because they are inundating the world
with fakery, as is exemplified by the piece of text produced by the
ersatz Hofstadter. Large language models, although they are astoundingly
virtuosic and mind-bogglingly impressive in many ways, do not think up
original ideas; rather, they glibly and slickly rehash words and phrases
“ingested” by them in their training phase, which draws on untold
millions of web sites, books, articles, etc. At first glance, the
products of today’s LLM’s may appear convincing and true, but one often
finds, on careful analysis, that they fall apart at the seams.
The piece “Why Did I Write /GEB/?” is a perfect example of that. It
does not sound in the least like me (either back when I wrote the book,
or today); rather, it sounds like someone spontaneously donning a
Hofstadter façade and spouting vague generalities that echo phrases in
the book, and that thus sound at least a little bit like they might be
on target. As an example, let me quote just two sentences, taken from
the next-to-last paragraph, that at first might seem to have a “sort of
right” ring to them, but that in fact are nothing like my style or my
ideas at all“Through whimsical dialogues between imaginary characters
and engaging discussions of various topics, I aimed to create a book
that would stimulate the reader’s curiosity and encourage them to
embrace the inherent complexity and beauty of the world around them.
Ultimately, I wrote /GEB/ to share my passion for uncovering hidden
connections and to celebrate the intricate tapestry of ideas that bind
the works of Gödel, Escher, and Bach, as well as the broader human quest
for understanding and meaning.”
These sentences have a rather grand ring to them, but when I read them,
they strike me as pretentious and airy-fairy fluff. Let me go through
some of the phrases one by one.
[snip]
More technology and creature comforts, as well as a parade of new electric vehicles, have complicated the job after accidents. Consider the case of Chris Apfelstadt and his Rivian R1T pickup truck, which was rear-ended by a Lexus in February at a stoplight in Columbus, Ohio, while he was driving and his infant son was in the back seat. The damage was initially deemed relatively minor, and the other driver’s insurer offered him $1,600. The actual cost to fix the bumper at a business certified to repair Rivian vehicles ” one of just three in Ohio ” was $42,000, roughly half the truck’s selling price. “I expected it to be expensive,” said Mr. Apfelstadt, who owns a lighting company, “but it was still a shocking number.” [...] Mr. Apfelstadt’s story was discussed extensively on the Internet. To some people, accounts such as his, and harrowing tales of cars totaled after minor accidents shared online by some owners of Tesla cars, have become cautionary tales about the financial perils of owning electric cars. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/busines
The mystery of the Ain Dubai, the world’s largest (broken) Ferris wheel. It has been more than a year since the world’s tallest Ferris wheel stopped turning. Officials in Dubai won’t say why. DUBAI ” It has been more than a year since the world’s tallest Ferris wheel stopped turning, and officials here won’t say why. With more steel than the Eiffel Tower contains and nearly twice the height of the London Eye, the Ain Dubai was supposed to be closed for just a month. Then another month. And another. Finally, in April, operators quietly announced it would be closed indefinitely. The massive legs of this engineering marvel are gathering dust, while scaffolding shrouded in burlap surrounds the main axle. [...] In the absence of official information, residents of Bluewaters Island have been left guessing. Some say the Ain started vibrating loudly during the five months it was operational. Others claim the giant structure shook the ground when it turned. One shopkeeper said the shaking shattered windows. Others fear the foundation has been compromised. All spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions from the UAE’s image-conscious authorities. [...] Germany’s Technical Inspection Association, or TUV, confirmed that it was involved in the Ain’s construction but had withdrawn its certification for the structure. The group, which tests and provides independent safety certifications for a variety of technical systems, gave no further comment, saying it was bound by a nondisclosure agreement. The Ain’s media office did not respond to requests for comment. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/09/ain-dubai-wheel-real-estate/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/suncor-cybersecurity-incident-energy-sector-1.6898118 Suncor is replacing employee computers after a cybersecurity incident last week shut down debit and credit processing at Petro-Canada gas stations across the country, among a series of other security measures at the Calgary-based company. An internal communication dated July 3, viewed by CBC News, says the company will replace desktop and laptop computers in waves to ensure the devices are safe to use, starting with "a small number of employees and contractors aligned with business criticality." It's not clear from the memo what the scope of the computer recall is or what departments were affected, but one expert said that if the recall is extensive, it would be an indication of a serious situation.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/petro-points-suncor-it-breach-1.6899274 An unauthorized party obtained Petro-Points members' basic contact information in a cybersecurity incident that happened roughly two weeks ago, the company said Thursday. In an email to customers, Petro-Canada said it believes the information was limited to customers' names and the information they "may have provided" since joining the program, specifically their mailing and email addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. It's now warning customers to watch out for unusual emails and messages and to "confirm that any request to link, download, call someone or provide personal information is legitimate."
On one particular day in 2021, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS must have felt a pin-prick of fear and uncertainty. On November 15th of that year, Russia fired an anti-satellite missile at one of its own defunct military satellites, Tselina-D. The target weighed about 1,750 kilograms, and when the missile struck its target, the satellite exploded into a cloud of hazardous debris. NASA woke the crew on the International Space Station in the middle of the night and told them to take precautions and prepare for a possible impact. The Chinese space station Tiangong was also in danger, and multiple countries and space agencies condemned Russia's foolhardy behavior. But there was no way to contain the debris. https://www.sciencealert.com/one-careless-act-of-war-could-destroy-all-satell ites-in-just-40-years
Vulnerabilities in electric vehicle charging stations and a lack of broad standards threaten drivers”and the power grid. https://www.wired.com/story/electric-vehicle-charging-station-hacks
Today the BradBlog.com, run for two decades and counting by journalist Brad Friedman of the syndicated AM/FM radio show the BradCast, published on July 5 my new investigative article titled ... Exclusive: Georgia Secretary of State Has Failed to Certify Urgent, CISA-Recommended Voting Software Update and subtitled ... Critics charge state laws block him from doing so, even if he wanted to... Here's the hyperlink: https://bradblog.com/?p=14711 In short, Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has not contracted with a certification agent (typically a VSTL or voting system test laboratory) to get an examination done for Dominion Democracy Suite 5.17. Other evidence similarly shows Raffensperger isn't moving, and cannot move, on the 5.17 software version. According to Univ Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman—whose report on the matter was unsealed by a federal judge last month—5.17 purportedly addresses the flaws he uncovered in version 5.5-A. That older 5.5-A version is presumably what we'd find in place if we wheeled out the voting computers presently locked away in Georgia warehouses and closets and booted them up. It's the same defective version currently slated to be used for Election Day 2024, since Raffensperger says he won't update till at least 2025. With how long these issues have been raised, Raffensperger is slower at patching computers than the U.S.'s whole involvement in World War II. Given the Coffee County breach (see my last article) and Halderman's report, the vulns of 5.5-A are probably widely spread by now, putting a Nov 2024 bullseye on Georgia's back unless they update or, say, switch to hand-marked paper ballots tabulated by scanners checked through mandatory, robust Prof Stark-style risk-limiting audits. RISKS? Lying State Secretary spokesperson overseeing an opaque department, proprietary software (no way to really know if 5.17 actually does mend 5.5-A to any impressive degree), physical breaches leading to exact copies being uploaded to secret sites for restricted audiences seeking partisan and/or pecuniary gain (Coffee County), and voters who typically only care about earn their I Voted stickers on Election Day—with gale-force screeching about it,—yet ignore election mechanics the 3-plus other years of each presidential cycle, because, it is said, thinking too hard, caring too much, is uncool, especially when there's so much good TV lately and we work so we deserve to just be happy...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-religious-chatbots-1.6896628 Experts warn of potential dangers as new chatbots use AI to interpret Hindu scripture
What a mess there, with no ability to renew or get new licenses for nearly A MONTH. Unclear what happened, whether it was part of the larger attack on U.S. government systems. I have a bunch of the notices that were posted. Below is one about the resumption of processing Amateur Radio licenses. The public notice from the FCC was a first, I think—they had to issue a waiver where broadcasting with an expired license was allowed. You can see it at the FCC.gov link. Even these FCC notices are rather vague about what was going on. Likely we'll never get the full story. You're welcome to post both of these to Risks, with modest attribution to me (Rebecca Mercuri sent...) but I didn't write any of it (though I was affected, as I had some students who were and still are waiting to receive their licenses). Rebecca M. - - - - > Date: Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 12:00 PM > From: *ARRL Web site* <memberlist@arrl.org> > Subject: ARLB013 FCC ULS Reopened, Except Electronic Batch Filing System SB QST @ ARL $ARLB013 ARLB013 FCC ULS Reopened, Except Electronic Batch Filing System ZCZC AG13 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 13 ARLB013 >From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT June 22, 2023 To all radio amateurs SB QST ARL ARLB013 ARLB013 FCC ULS Reopened, Except Electronic Batch Filing System On Wednesday morning, June 21, 2023, the FCC had reopened the Universal Licensing System (ULS) and supporting systems, according to an email distributed to VEC organizations. However, as of 4:00 PM on Wednesday, the Electronic Batch Filing (EBF) system, used by VEC organizations for filing exam sessions, individual applications, and club license applications, was still not available as promised. Unfortunately, this means applications for new and upgraded licenses, and individual and club license filings still cannot be uploaded in the system for issuance. When the EBF system becomes available, the Commission is requesting VECs to limit submissions into the filing system. In an email sent by the FCC, all EBF filers were asked to adhere to a restricted upload schedule in order to keep the EBF system stable and to avoid any potential technical problems. The FCC will be monitoring to ensure the EBF system is stable during this reopening period. If they assess that the upload volume is too high, they will send out another notice with directions to reduce the amount of uploads per hour. ARRL VEC will comply with the FCC directive, limiting our transmissions but sending as many backlogged sessions as possible without overloading their system. The files will be submitted to the FCC in the order in which they were received, starting with the files from Monday, June 12, and moving forward from there. ARRL VEC will begin submitting the backlogged applications as soon as the EBF system becomes available, and assuming all FCC systems remain stable. In an FCC notice published on June 21, 2023 (please see, https://www.fcc.gov/document/uls-tcns-e-106-and-asr-available), the Commission provided a deadline extension for filings in the ULS and the Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) system, explaining, "Because parties could not make electronic filings or view the contents of the affected systems while they were unavailable, we are extending the deadlines for all regulatory filings that were due in the affected systems between June 9, 2023, and June 29, 2023, until Friday, June 30, 2023. "We note that we have provided for a longer extension for these filings than initially contemplated in the June 13 Public Notice in anticipation of high traffic volumes on these systems in the coming days. In that regard, we encourage filers to consider deferring discretionary filings this week, and we encourage filers preparing large submissions to coordinate in advance with [the] staff of the Bureaus." - - - - Also from ARRL: SB QST @ ARL $ARLB014 ARLB014 FCC ULS System Restored ZCZC AG14 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 14 ARLB014 > From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT June 27, 2023 To all radio amateurs SB QST ARL ARLB014 ARLB014 FCC ULS System Restored The FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) has resumed operations, including the Electronic Batch Filing system (EBF). As of June 27, 2023, all systems have been reported to be working. However, visitors to the website will see a message referring them to Public Notice DA 23-529 for additional information and guidance on filing deadline extensions. The systems were first reported unavailable on June 9, 2023. On Friday afternoon, June 23, the EBF system was restored. All VEC organizations use that system for filing exam sessions, individual applications, and club license applications. ARRL VEC staff worked late into Friday night to ensure all backlogged sessions and application files were transmitted to the FCC before the weekend. Approximately 350 backlogged files were successfully submitted to and processed by the FCC before the system's normal shutdown at 8 PM. ARRL is still monitoring the ULS system, and any further updates will be available at ARRL News.
Dare one say "single point of failure" and ask why the entire set of research materials were all stored in one place? Surely dividing between separate freezers in different buildings (or even towns) would have been in order for something so apparently vital.
> "How long before we have a large body of correspondence with no human > involvement or oversight of any sort?" Not only that, but the output of such correspondence is posted back into the same spaces which serve as training fodder for the next issue of AI programs. As any sound technician knows, a positive feedback which occurs in a sound system enhances itself exponentially until very quickly the feedback-generated noise drowns out other sounds, making the system unusable.
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