Noam Chomsky on technology…
Tag: technology
The Evil Twins Of Transhumanism And Technocracy
Technocracy is to the transformation of society as Transhumanism is to the transformation of the human condition of people who would live in that society.
Both are underpinned by a religious belief known as Scientism that says that science is a god and that scientists, engineers and technologists are the priesthood that translates findings into practice.
It is a fatal error to equate Scientism with science. True science explores the natural world using the time-tested scientific method of repeated experimentation and validation. By comparison, Scientism is a speculative, metaphysical worldview about the nature and reality of the universe and man’s relation to it.
Scientism refutes traditional religious views, morals and philosophy and instead looks to science as the source for personal and societal moral value.
The relationship between Technocracy and Transhumanism can be seen as early as 1933 when Harold Loeb wrote Life in a Technocracy: What It Might Be Like:
“Technocracy envisages another form of domestication, a form in which man may become more than man… Technocracy is designed to develop the so-called higher faculties in every man and not to make each man resigned to the lot into which he may be born… Through breeding with specific individuals for specific purposes… A technocracy, then, should in time produce a race of men superior in quality to any now known on earth…”
Thus, Loeb saw Technocracy (the society) as producing a superior quality of man by applying advanced technology to the human condition.
4 Ethics-Breaking Biological Experiments Touted by Chinese Scientists as ‘World Firsts’
Throughout the world, scientific research and experiments involving ethical issues must first pass the scrutiny of ethics committees. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conducted many experiments in the field of biomedical and genetic engineering that break human ethical boundaries.
China began implementing the Ethical Review of Biomedical Research Involving Humans on Dec. 1, 2016. However, 122 Chinese scientists who co-signed an open letter in 2018 to oppose gene-edited babies criticized China’s biomedical ethics review as a “sham.”
In the United States, as ethical and moral regulations on animal research have become stricter, budgets and funding have tended to decrease in recent years, making China the most attractive place for such experiments. For example, in 2014, the U.S. government imposed a funding pause of gain of function research involving influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronaviruses, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses. In 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would stop conducting or funding studies on mammals by 2035.
In 2011, the CCP made it a national development goal to create primate disease models through cloning and other biotechnologies. According to the 2020 China Biomedical Industry Development Report published by Chinese Venture, “the overall biopharmaceutical market in China increased from $28.7 billion to $49.6 billion from 2016 to 2019, at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 20 percent. It is expected to reach $130.2 billion in 2025.”
Orwell nails it again!
Your IoT Device is Likely Spying on You through Backdoor Security Flaws
Many people are used to trading privacy for convenience these days. After all, this is how those with nefarious agendas get people to adopt technology that continually spies on them. IoT technology is no different. A recently discovered security vulnerability from a major manufacturer of IoT devices has exposed just how dangerous this technology can be. The following article from TweakLibrary details how this sort of surveillance technology can wreak havoc upon our lives. – Truth Unmuted Editor Jesse Smith
This Security Vulnerability Could Change An IoT Device Into A Nasty Spy
IoT has had a remarkable impact on our lives. We now have devices connected over a network that are capable of making our lives much easier and comfortable. From smartphones to smartwatches to internet-powered doorbells, door alarms, security cameras, speakers, door locks, lights, bulbs, and baby monitors, the list is just endless. However, with this boon, a bane looms around and that is, miscreants can hack into these devices and if not acted upon promptly, they can wreak havoc on our lives. But, when can hackers feed on IoT devices? The answer is when they sniff a security vulnerability or when we as users don’t practice healthy security habits.
We’ll get into the security habits on a user’s part later in the blog but, let’s first discuss how a security vulnerability can lead a hacker into your IoT device and then into your personal or professional life. Quite recently, a security vulnerability has hit IoT devices. This security flaw can give access to your IoT audio and video feeds and turn into a spying tool.
What is This Security Vulnerability All About? How Severe Is The Security Flaw
As per the researchers at Nozomi Networks Lab and DHS, the security flaw can let malicious attackers tamper with an IoT device. They can easily convert a given IoT device such as a home security camera, a baby monitor, or a smart doorbell into a spying tool. Owing to this vulnerability, they can steal crucial data or spy on video feeds as well. Apart from intruding into one’s personal lives through the aforementioned channels, an attacker can even steal crucial business data such as data related to customers, employees, or even production techniques. The security flaw is indeed very severe. So much so that the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) rates it at 9.1/10 on a severity scale.
How Did This Security Flaw Surface?
The flaw is a supply chain bug that was discovered in a software component (P2P SDK) manufactured by a company called ThroughTek who is one of the prominent suppliers of IoT devices. The P2P’s SDK gives remote access to audio/ video streams over the internet. The SDK is found in smart sensors, security cameras such as baby and pet monitoring cameras, doorbells, etc. and it help a viewer gain access to audio/ video streams. The flaw affects P2P’s version 3.1.5 or before. As Nozomi has demonstrated, the older versions of the SDK allow data packets to be intercepted while in transit. A hacker can refurbish these packets into complete audio or video streams.
ThroughTek’s Defence
ThroughTek has countered this bug in version 3.3 that was released in mid-2020. Though the issue is that quite many devices still run the older build. Secondly, as per ThroughTek, to conduct an attack, a prospective attacker will need to have extensive knowledge of network sniffer tools, network security, and encryption algorithm.
Former Intel Chief Calls For “Larger Discussion” On UFOs, Warns They Display Technology US Doesn’t Have
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), also known as UFOs, appear to display technology that the United States does not have and could not defend against.
Ratcliffe made the remarks in an interview on Fox News that aired Saturday, one day after the public release of a much-anticipated government report on UAPs or UFOs (pdf), which found “no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation” for the aerial phenomena, although it left open the possibility of an alien origin.
“I’m actually glad that there’s a report out there,” Ratcliffe said in the interview, adding, “the bottom line is, unidentified aerial phenomena—many, many cases we’re able to explain it away for reasons like visual disturbances, or weather phenomenon, or foreign adversaries and their technologies, or even our own experimental technologies with certain aircraft and vehicles.”
At the same time, he said were are a number of cases where none such explanations applied.
“What this report really underscores … is that there are a number of instances—and the specific number remains classified—but a number of instances where we’ve ruled all of that out,” he said.
“And there are technologies that we don’t have and frankly that we are not capable of defending against—based on those things that we’ve seen, multiple sensors, in other words, where not just people visually see it but where it’s picked up on radar, where it’s seen on satellites,” Ratcliffe said, adding that, “it’s an issue of national security.”
New Air Force weapon can take out hundreds of drones instantly — and silently
The U.S. Air Force unveiled a weapon this month designed to take out hundreds of drones at once with barely a sound.
The Tactical High Power Operational Responder (THOR) uses a beam of energy to scramble the electronics inside hundreds of drones at once.
“This unique system allows base defense forces to stop [unmanned aerial system] attacks at long range before they threaten critical infrastructure,” the Air Force Research Lab said in a June 16 animated video.
Increasingly sophisticated drones are becoming more threatening in the hands of enemy militaries as attack and surveillance capabilities grow, the Air Force said in the video. THOR is more effective than small arms and more efficient than heavy arms, which are currently used against drones.
When THOR identifies a target, it shoots a beam of microwaves in less than a second, providing an instant effect on the drones.
The system is different from a laser, which shoots a beam capable of destroying one drone, according to the Air Force. Instead, THOR’s utilization of high-powered microwaves allows it to scuttle swarms of unmanned aerial systems.
Think about it…
The U.S. Marines Are Getting Suicide Drones — Lots Of Them
In the near future, the United States Marine Corps will begin fielding a so-called suicide drone, essentially a quickly deployable — and expendable — flying bomb. Based on the UVision Hero-120, the loitering munition is the largest of the company’s short-range systems.
What It Can Do
Don’t let “short-range” fool you, however. Powered by an electric motor and controlled by a “man-in-the-loop” the Hero-120 has a maximum range of 40 kilometers, or nearly 25 miles, and can stay aloft for an hour. The canister launched drone has 8 pop-out fins and is remarkably lightweight.
The entire drone weighs just 12.5 kilos and packs a 4.5-kilo explosive warhead, presumably in its nose. Packed into multiple canister launcher-type pods, it is not hard to imagine large numbers of the Hero-120 sent aloft at once — and in fact, that is exactly what the Marine Corps wants to do.
The Marine Corps contracted with Mistral, an American weapon system company, to integrate the Hero-120 onto the LAV and JLTV land vehicles, as well as onto the LRUSV, a long-range remotely operated drone boat. When mated to a vehicle, multiple Heros could be stacked together, not unlike a multiple rocket launcher system.
The Marine’s new suicide drone will differ slightly from the Hero-120 however, though it is not exactly clear what this difference will be exactly.
US Senate Finally Admits that Neuroweapons Exist, Passes Bill to Help Diplomat-Victims
In a reversal of the established commentary that those claiming victimization by electronic weaponry are crazy and delusional, the US Senate has passed a Bill authorizing payment to CIA and State Department officials who have been attacked by this weaponry. Recent news reports have detailed these attacks on US diplomats in Cuba and China.
Dubbed “The Havana Syndrome,” it was recently reported that CIA personnel have also suffered such attacks in Europe and Asia.
Senate Bill 1828, the “Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021, or the HAVANA Act of 2021,” authorizes payment to qualified employees for brain injuries inflicted by neuroweaponry.
In a letter to the Bill’s sponsors, Senators Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen, former NSA analyst Karen Melton-Stewart asked the following question: “Did you know that you are actually accidentally excluding a large and significant body of victims… who need help NOW?”
Hellbound and Down 
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