Tag: technology

The Latest Model Cars: Big Brother Is Watching You

Big Brother is a character in George Orwell’s novel 1984, the entity that governs Oceania, through the tyrannical single party – the Ingsoc. No one knows about it, but it is omnipresent through telescreens with strong propaganda and controlling everything.

An article written by Steve Watson in Modernity.news, gives an account of how the surveillance state has found its new frontier: the dashboard of your car. What was once a symbol of American freedom and independence, automobiles are rapidly transforming into a high-tech cage that watches their every move and can override their decisions at will.

In a post shared on X, users detailed the multiple complaints about Subaru’s improved “EyeSight” AI system, which is present in the latest models. According to drivers, the system gets quick glimpses beyond their intentions to plan their route. At the same time, Biden-era federal mandates were put in place to make this level of surveillance mandatory on every new vehicle by 2027.

They even catch a momentary glance to change a song or admire the landscape and activate constant alerts. Thus, its new Emergency Stop Assist with Safe Lane Selection function can detect an “unresponsive” driver and issue increasing alerts through sounds and vibrations at the steering wheel, and then take full control: automatically brake, reduce the vehicle’s speed, direct it to the side of the road, and activate hazard lights.

This is not an optional trick but would be imposed by the state. It’s being rolled out as standard “safety” technology, but drivers call it a domineering electronic babysitter who treats competent adults like children. It serves as a chilling preview of where the entire auto industry is headed under government pressure.

This type of intrusive surveillance is precisely the tool that a police state would dream of to exert total control over personal movements. If authorities achieve deeper integration with these systems, they could effectively decide when, where, and who can drive.

The launch of Subaru is just the latest sticking point in a broader push toward vehicle surveillance that goes far beyond basic security. A federal mandate – included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 – requires all new passenger vehicles sold in the US to include advanced drunk or drug-impaired driving prevention technology, starting with 2027 model years.

As detailed in the New York Post report, this means infrared cameras and sensors that constantly monitor eyes, faces, head position, and behavior for distractions, drowsiness, or deterioration, with the power to prevent the car from starting or limit its operation. It seems very appropriate, but it implies a great deal of arbitrariness if it comes into the hands of bureaucrats.

Manufacturers are already patenting and deploying even more aggressive systems, including biometric scans that analyze everything from gait to heart rate to AI face scanning, lip reading, and emotional monitoring. The problem is that the data won’t stay in the car: it could make its way to insurers for risk scoring, law enforcement, or worse, to the knowledge of Big Brother: as cross-checks of drivers with police databases, before the vehicle is even allowed to move.

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The Secret Race To Produce the First AI-Generated Blockbuster Movie

Movie-making is an artifice, so will creators embrace AI?

While many actors and filmmakers go out of their way to bash AI image-generating technology as hard as they can, there’s a secret undercurrent in which Hollywood is all-in on Artificial Intelligence, and the race is on to generate the first AI blockbuster.

Some sectors of the film industry are slow to accept change, with some still refusing to change 35mm film for digital.

The fact is: when creators shun utilizing new tech developments, they are just marrying themselves to an earlier-age’s technological solutions – after all, there’s nothing natural about film-making.

The New York Post reported:

“AI has officially been met with extreme skepticism by more entrenched filmmakers. However — as is always the way in two-faced, back-biting, cutthroat Hollywood — that also means behind the scenes, every studio, filmmaker, and screenwriter worth their salt are desperately trying to harness its power to push the boundaries and create something new to wow audiences with.

‘The space race was about being first, but it was also about inspiring the world that we should keep competing and keep investing [in the technology]. Bigger than being first, which is fleeting, is inspiring the world’, Bryn Mooser, who has two Academy Award nominations for documentary shorts, told The Post.”

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US citizen found guilty of helping export tech to Iran in violation of sanctions

A Massachusetts man was found guilty Monday of conspiring to unlawfully export electronic components to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, who worked at the global electronics company Analog Devices, was accused of helping an Iranian business associate get around American export control laws. U.S. prosecutors say the business associate’s Tehran-based company makes navigation systems for the military drone program of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Authorities say the scheme included the creation of a front company in Switzerland.

The second defendant, Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, called Abedini in court documents, was not on trial. He is believed to be in Iran after an apparent prisoner exchange for an Italian journalist.

Sadeghi was found guilty on three of the five charges. He showed no visible reaction to the verdict, which came early in the fourth day of jury deliberations. He and his lawyers did not comment as they left court, and he will remain free until sentencing Oct. 13

Sadeghi, a 43-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, chose not to testify. A father of two, he lost his job at Analog Devices due to the charges. Although he was arrested in December 2024, long before the current war with Iran, his trial has unfolded during the conflict.

“At its core, this case is straightforward. You cannot send goods, especially the goods at issue in this case, to Iran. Period. Full stop,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter told the jury. “The defendant knew that, and conspired with Mr. Abedini to do that.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan, in his closing remarks, said documents, text messages and photos proved that the illegal acts were the “fruits of this relationship” between Sadeghi and Abedini.

“The evidence established that he knew what Abedini was doing because he told him in writing,” Dolan said. “He helped him anyway.”

Sadeghi’s attorney, William Fick, told jurors that the scheme laid out by the prosecution “makes no sense” and was full of holes. He said Sadeghi was only offering advice to a longtime friend about how to get business with the semiconductor company, and wasn’t responsible for procuring the parts for Abedini.

Fick said there was no proof the parts ended up in Iran, and he disputed that the Swiss company was a front.

“If you look at the world through dirty glasses, everything looks dirty,” Fick said. “That is fundamentally what the prosecution is asking you to do here.”

Fick also said prosecutors hadn’t shown Sadeghi gained anything from the alleged plan — although the prosecution pointed out that they didn’t need to prove a motive.

“He had nothing to gain and everything to lose,” Fick said. “He has lived in the country for decades. He was a well-regarded, respected employee on his way up in the company.”

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AI war machines hit the ground running: Marine Corps quietly orders autonomous ground vehicle fleet that can drive itself into combat

The United States Marine Corps has quietly placed its first production order for a fleet of fully autonomous ground vehicles that can navigate battlefields, plot their own routes, and execute resupply missions without a human behind the wheel. This is no longer science fiction. Under a $19.7 million production award issued through the Pentagon’s Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies program, Seattle-based Overland AI will deliver more than a dozen autonomous ground vehicles to the Marine Corps by early 2027, marking the first time a ground autonomy company has served as the prime contractor for a production contract of its kind. While military officials frame this as a logistical upgrade, the deeper implications point toward a future where machines not only drive themselves but eventually decide when and how to kill, and in the most efficient manner possible.

Key points:

  • The Marine Corps has awarded Overland AI a $19.7 million contract for autonomous ground vehicles.
  • Vehicles will operate without continuous human control using onboard navigation software.
  • First operational role focuses on resupply missions for the Marine Air Defense Integrated System.
  • Overland AI CEO Byron Boots confirmed extremely high demand from U.S. operational units.
  • Autonomous platforms could expand into intelligence, surveillance, and breaching missions.
  • Contract delivered through Pentagon APFIT program designed to accelerate battlefield technology.
  • Vehicles use open architecture allowing integration with Joint Light Tactical Vehicle platforms.

When machines decide where to go

What separates Overland AI’s platform from previous unmanned ground vehicles is the degree of independence these machines possess. Traditional robotic vehicles require a remote operator to steer, accelerate, and brake, essentially a video game controller attached to a military vehicle. Overland AI’s system operates differently. Operators assign a destination point, and the onboard software handles everything else. The vehicle plans its own route, interprets terrain conditions, controls acceleration and braking, and navigates obstacles without continuous human input. Personnel can still assume remote control when necessary, but the default mode is machine autonomy.

This represents a fundamental shift in military robotics. The Marine Corps is no longer testing remote-controlled equipment. It is buying vehicles that make driving decisions on their own. Overland AI Chief Executive Officer Byron Boots stated that demand for autonomous ground systems has increased sharply as militaries evaluate lessons from recent conflicts. “Ground autonomy matters now more than ever,” Boots said. “We’re registering extremely high demand from U.S. operational units who want to incorporate this technology into their concepts of operation.”

The company expects to deliver the vehicles in roughly nine months, though officials did not disclose the exact number of platforms or technical specifications including payload capacity and vehicle type. This opacity is deliberate. The military does not want adversaries knowing how many autonomous systems are entering the battlefield or what they are capable of carrying.

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While The Political Circus Distracts Us, Flock Builds The Digital Police State

“You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”

– George Orwell, 1984

While Americans remain transfixed by the political circus – cheering for their preferred party, jeering at the opposition, obsessing over every manufactured outrage and waiting for the next spectacle – the Surveillance State continues its steady march forward.

The government is watching.

It watches where you go, whom you meet, where you worship, what medical offices you visit, what political rallies you attend, what protests you join, what books you read, what websites you visit and what causes you support.

It watches through your phone, your car, your doorbell, your appliances, your purchases, your social media accounts and the cameras positioned along the roads you travel every day.

This is how freedom dies in the digital police state: not always through dramatic declarations of martial law or soldiers stationed on every street corner, but through the gradual construction of a technological dragnet—an electronic concentration camp—so pervasive that privacy becomes impossible and anonymity becomes suspicious.

Enter Flock Safety, a private surveillance technology company whose automated license plate readers have spread throughout thousands of American communities.

These cameras, which do much more than photograph license plates, represent the next evolution of the government’s public-private surveillance partnership.

They document the time and location of every passing vehicle and record identifying characteristics such as its make, model, color, damage, roof racks, bumper stickers and other distinctive features. That information can then be placed in a searchable database and used to retrace a vehicle’s movements over time.

Yet the real power—and the real danger—of Flock does not come from the cameras alone.

It comes from artificial intelligence.

A camera can photograph a car. Flock’s AI-powered platform can identify and categorize a vehicle, compare an observation with stored records, generate alerts, identify connections and help police reconstruct where that vehicle has been.

AI is what transforms a photograph into the building blocks for a suspect society.

With AI, every driver becomes a data point. Every data point becomes a pattern. And every pattern becomes a suspicion.

This is how ordinary movements become potentially suspect and subject to government scrutiny. It allows law enforcement agencies to search not only for a complete license plate number but also for partial plates and physical descriptions such as vehicle color, make, model, damage, roof racks, bumper stickers and other identifying characteristics.

A police officer might ask the system to locate every red pickup truck with a ladder rack seen near a protest, every vehicle that repeatedly visited a particular address, or every car observed traveling between two locations.

The artificial intelligence does the sorting. The database supplies the history.

The government receives a list of potential suspects.

This is no longer surveillance conducted by individual officers following particular leads. It is surveillance conducted at machine speed, across entire populations, with algorithms deciding whose movements merit further scrutiny.

Consider the scale of what is taking place.

License plate cameras now log approximately 20 billion vehicle scans every month.

Twenty billion.

That is not targeted policing. That is mass collection.

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US Government Approves Satellite That Turns Night Into Day

A California startup has received FCC approval for a mirrored satellite that will reflect the sun’s rays onto Earth’s dark side, providing light on demand across an area roughly three miles wide. The company, Reflect Orbital, paints a picture of a futuristic utopia, promising enhanced safety for search and rescue operations, extended hours for agricultural and solar panel productivity, and a world where the shadows of night are banished at the flip of a switch.

However, the project has sparked a firestorm of controversy, drawing the scrutiny of both regulators and the scientific community. These critics warn that the intense, concentrated beams could pose serious hazards to drivers, potentially causing flash-blindness, and wreak havoc on sensitive astronomical observations. The reaction online has been equally sharp, with one Reddit user sarcastically quipping, “Yay!!! More wildfires!!!”

For now, the FCC’s decision covers only a single demonstration satellite, not the company’s much larger long-term vision of 50,000 similar devices. Nevertheless, the debate illuminates a bigger question: if we can engineer artificial daylight, should we?

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DARPA Project ‘PROPHECY’ Reengineered Vaccine Development by Building Future Pathogen Blueprints First and Systems to ‘Validate’ Them Later

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) spent the early 2010s constructing what may have been the most ambitious predictive vaccine-development infrastructure ever attempted: a sprawling, multi-institution effort designed to determine the future characteristics of purported pathogens before they emerged and ultimately use those predictions to develop drugs and vaccines before they were needed.

The program, known as PROPHECY—short for Pathogen Defeat—was announced in 2010 under Broad Agency Announcement DARPA-BAA-10-93 and was managed by DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

DARPA itself described the vaccine-centric purpose of the program unambiguously.

According to the agency:

“The Prophecy (Pathogen Defeat) program will explore the evolution of viruses in the hopes of predicting viral mutations and ultimately developing drugs and vaccines in advance of need.”

The effort was not limited to coronaviruses, influenza, or any other single disease category.

DARPA repeatedly stated that the goal was understanding:

“the natural evolution of any virus.”

The result was a massive architecture that brought together machine learning researchers, statisticians, bioinformaticians, computational biologists, laboratory scientists, surveillance specialists, universities, contractors, and national laboratories into a single “predictive” framework.

Yesterday, this website reported that DARPA’s PROPHECY program expanded into the laboratory of coronavirus researcher Ralph Baric years before the COVID-19 pandemic and nearly a decade before the DARPA/DEFUSE proposal documented all three defining structural features of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein prior to the outbreak.

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Quote of the day by Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy: ‘You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it’ — an early declaration foreshadowing the modern era

Sun Microsystems was a huge force in the technology landscape, with its co-founder and CEO Scott McNealy an outspoken and brash maverick in the early Silicon Valley ecosystem. The company had just launched a new system, and McNealy was quick to push back on any critique centering around the implications for user data.

During an informal Q&A session with reporters, McNealy slapped down concerns that the newly launched Jini platform could pose a risk to user privacy.

The system, as it was engineered, was a revelation – but ultimately failed to catch on due to some pretty significant hardware hurdles. Designed to allow devices to communicate with and share resources, the Jini network architecture allowed unadulterated communication without configuration, driver installations, or human intervention.

It was an early and ambitious effort to establish a vision for smart homes and offices. The trouble was that it required devices to continuously upload data and lease space on networks, with the system creating a massive digital footprint.

Erosion of privacy

McNealy’s comments, unsurprisingly, drew immediate and sharp criticism from privacy advocates and campaigners. Lori Fena, then chairman of the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the comments were “completely irresponsible”, for example.

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Humanoid Robots Perform Successful Gallbladder Surgery in Major Medical Breakthrough

Humanoid robots have successfully performed gallbladder removal surgeries in live pigs for the first time, marking a significant milestone in the development of robotic surgery and paving the way for future human trials.

The procedures were carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, with the findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The first operation involved a humanoid robot working alongside a surgeon. In the second, two humanoid robots completed the procedure together without direct human assistance.

Researchers say the successful surgeries represent an important proof of concept as the technology moves toward clinical testing in humans.

“As a proof of concept, it absolutely worked,” Dr. Ryan Broderick, interim director of the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego, told ABC News.

Unlike conventional robotic surgical platforms, the humanoid robots feature a head and two arms.

This allows them to work in operating rooms without the bulky equipment typically required for robot-assisted procedures.

“The space constraints didn’t exist like in traditional robotic surgery,” Broderick said.

“It was a human-type bedside assistant, so it just fit into the space that we’re traditionally used to being in for laparoscopic surgery.”

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Doll-Heads Apparently Fooling Tesla FSD. Is Facial-Recognition Update Next?

Chinese e-commerce platforms are selling miniature heads that, according to Fred Lambert at the EV blog Electrek, are being used to “trick Tesla’s cabin camera into thinking a driver is paying attention.”

Priced at $20 to $50 and marketed as dashboard decorations or “travel companions,” these miniature heads are mounted near the rearview mirror to mimic a human face while Autopilot or Full Self-Driving is engaged.

via Instagram user “decentmiss_” … 

While FSD is engaged, Tesla’s cabin camera monitors driver attentiveness, including whether the driver repeatedly looks away from the road, and issues warnings when attention appears to lapse. Tesla requires increased supervision when FSD is in “Mad Max” or “Hurry” mode.

Videos of the miniature heads recently went viral on social media, suggesting that some users in China are employing them to trick Tesla’s driver-attention safeguards.

Here is Lambert’s first take:

Let me be direct: anyone mounting a fake head to defeat their Tesla’s driver monitoring system is putting their life and the lives of everyone around them at risk. And the sellers profiting from these devices are enabling potentially fatal behavior for $30 a pop.

Over the years, drivers have used various defeat devices, such as counterweights attached to the steering wheel to trick the torque sensor into believing someone was holding it. Tesla countered that workaround with the cabin camera, but now must address the issue of miniature heads.

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