Cold war-Risks and responsibilites

Coldwar-Risks and responsibilities

Coldwar:-

                The Cold War (1947–1991), was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II (1939–1945)  between the Communist World and the powers of the Western world. Although the primary participants' military force never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. After worldwar2 the world was literally split into two(USSR and USA),they started increasing their powers by developing their technologies in military forces etc. The arms race and the technological competition between the US and the Soviet Union in the Cold War period resulted in extensive scientific research, which gave birth to computers. But there is a certain risk involved in this justification. Computers are used to speed up some applications in military ,we can directly do some applications through computers. Thus every country tried to increase their technology in military after world war2.

 By taking nuclear weapons as example I will explain this context. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device which derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or combination of fission and fusion. These weapons are advanced techniques in military .These are originated for national security and to show the strength to the world. A modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg) can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tons (1.1 million metric tons) of TNT.Thus, even a small nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate an entire city by blast, fire and radiation. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction, and their use and control has been a major focus of international relations policy since their debut. Defense is the main responsibility of these weapons but if they went to terrorists it will cause so much damage. We have to Protect  these nuclear weapons from terrorist forces

Correct usage of this weaponry People should be informed about the needs and consequences of these nuclear attacks.

 After the Bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki there is no specific need to really highlight the risks. Everyone knows the risks of nuclear attack from other county and also the radiation caused due to the testing of nuclear weaponry. We knew how much damage can these nuclear causes to the people and it will continues to the next generations also.

In recentyears UNO is taking the responsibility of checking the least usage of the nuclear weaponry . But these nuclear weaponry testing is still going on. There are many risks if these nuclear weapons fall into wrong hands like terrorists whocan create dangerous situation in country for their purposes. So there are many risks for having and testing these nuclear weaponry. 
By
J.santosh kumar
EE09b085

Module 5

The "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" via personalized search results, news feeds and other customized content is threatening to limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook.

Google is also guilty of tweaking what it shows users based on past online behavior. Two users can receive drastically different Google search results after querying the same term because the search engine monitors 57 signals to tweak and personalize results. In fact, there is no standard Google anymore. This moves us very quickly towards a world in which the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see. Because of algorithms that determine what we see online, based on our browsing, reading, and clicking history, we risk being exposed to fewer viewpoints and a limited array of opinions, content sources, and viewpoints.

If we take all of these filters together, all of these algorithms we get can be called a filter bubble. Our filter bubble is our own personal unique universe of information that we live in online. The contents of our filter bubble depend on who we are and what we do. Unfortunately, we don't decide what gets in, and more importantly, we don't actually see what gets edited out.

We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. The thing is that the algorithms do not yet have the kind of embedded ethics. So if algorithms are going to curate the world for us, then we need to make sure that they're not just keyed to relevance. We need to make sure that they also show us things that are uncomfortable, challenging or important.

Smarter, more "concerned" algorithms are necessary to ensure we have a balanced information diet. The best editing gives us a bit of both. It gives us some information vegetables and some information dessert as well. Otherwise, we risk consuming too much "fast food" content. Instead of a balanced information diet, we may end up surrounded by information junk food!

Personalized Search-- A Risk

The "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" via personalized search results, news feeds and other customized content is threatening to limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook.

Google is also guilty of tweaking what it shows users based on past online behavior. Two users can receive drastically different Google search results after querying the same term because the search engine monitors 57 signals to tweak and personalize results. In fact, there is no standard Google anymore. This moves us very quickly towards a world in which the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see. Because of algorithms that determine what we see online, based on our browsing, reading, and clicking history, we risk being exposed to fewer viewpoints and a limited array of opinions, content sources, and viewpoints.

If we take all of these filters together, all of these algorithms we get can be called a filter bubble. Our filter bubble is our own personal unique universe of information that we live in online. The contents of our filter bubble depend on who we are and what we do. Unfortunately, we don't decide what gets in, and more importantly, we don't actually see what gets edited out.

We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. The thing is that the algorithms do not yet have the kind of embedded ethics. So if algorithms are going to curate the world for us, then we need to make sure that they're not just keyed to relevance. We need to make sure that they also show us things that are uncomfortable, challenging or important.

Smarter, more "concerned" algorithms are necessary to ensure we have a balanced information diet. The best editing gives us a bit of both. It gives us some information vegetables and some information dessert as well. Otherwise, we risk consuming too much "fast food" content. Instead of a balanced information diet, we may end up surrounded by information junk food!

RISK (PERSONALIZED SEARCH)

The "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" via personalized search results, news feeds and other customized content is threatening to limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook.

Google is also guilty of tweaking what it shows users based on past online behavior. Two users can receive drastically different Google search results after querying the same term because the search engine monitors 57 signals to tweak and personalize results. In fact, there is no standard Google anymore. This moves us very quickly towards a world in which the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see. Because of algorithms that determine what we see online, based on our browsing, reading, and clicking history, we risk being exposed to fewer viewpoints and a limited array of opinions, content sources, and viewpoints.

If we take all of these filters together, all of these algorithms we get can be called a filter bubble. Our filter bubble is our own personal unique universe of information that we live in online. The contents of our filter bubble depend on who we are and what we do. Unfortunately, we don't decide what gets in, and more importantly, we don't actually see what gets edited out.

We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. The thing is that the algorithms do not yet have the kind of embedded ethics. So if algorithms are going to curate the world for us, then we need to make sure that they're not just keyed to relevance. We need to make sure that they also show us things that are uncomfortable, challenging or important.

Smarter, more "concerned" algorithms are necessary to ensure we have a balanced information diet. The best editing gives us a bit of both. It gives us some information vegetables and some information dessert as well. Otherwise, we risk consuming too much "fast food" content. Instead of a balanced information diet, we may end up surrounded by information junk food!

RISK Presentation

The "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" via personalized search results, news feeds and other customized content is threatening to limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook.

Google is also guilty of tweaking what it shows users based on past online behavior. Two users can receive drastically different Google search results after querying the same term because the search engine monitors 57 signals to tweak and personalize results. In fact, there is no standard Google anymore. This moves us very quickly towards a world in which the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see. Because of algorithms that determine what we see online, based on our browsing, reading, and clicking history, we risk being exposed to fewer viewpoints and a limited array of opinions, content sources, and viewpoints.

If we take all of these filters together, all of these algorithms we get can be called a filter bubble. Our filter bubble is our own personal unique universe of information that we live in online. The contents of our filter bubble depend on who we are and what we do. Unfortunately, we don't decide what gets in, and more importantly, we don't actually see what gets edited out.

We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. The thing is that the algorithms do not yet have the kind of embedded ethics. So if algorithms are going to curate the world for us, then we need to make sure that they're not just keyed to relevance. We need to make sure that they also show us things that are uncomfortable, challenging or important.

Smarter, more "concerned" algorithms are necessary to ensure we have a balanced information diet. The best editing gives us a bit of both. It gives us some information vegetables and some information dessert as well. Otherwise, we risk consuming too much "fast food" content. Instead of a balanced information diet, we may end up surrounded by information junk food!

Risks and Responsibilities in wikileaks

Are risks from WikiLeaks overstated by government?
National Security Archive historian: "The Pentagon is hyping"
By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press


Although the Pentagon warns that WikiLeaks could have blood on its hands for publishing classified U.S. war documents that name Afghan sources, history shows that similar disclosures have not always led to violence.

It is difficult to find clear-cut examples of the public exposure of informants leading to their deaths, although there are documented cases of a deadly ending to the secret unmasking of foreign agents. Recall the Aldrich Ames espionage case of the early 1990s: The now-jailed CIA turncoat ratted on Soviet informants and at least nine of them were believed executed by the KGB.

The WikiLeaks leak is unrivaled in its scope, but so far there is no evidence that any Afghans named in the leaked documents as defectors or informants from the Taliban insurgency have been harmed in retaliation.

.

In an overzealous move to block WikiLeaks, the communist regime also blocked the unrelated
sites Wikipedia, Wikisource.
When WikiLeaks released Nov. 29 classified documents involving sensitive issues in China, the
communist regime’s Central Propaganda Department (CPD) ordered: "No news reports about
the WikiLeaks."
Meanwhile, a number of websites with names similar to WikiLeaks are also being blocked,

China Blocks WikiLeaks

apparently as insurance that no Web site that includes “Wiki” in the name gets through,
including the popular Wikipedia.
WikiLeaks released more than 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables on the 29th. The
organization’s editor-in-chief, Australian-born Julian Assange dubbed this release, “Cablegate.”
These recent documents also reveal some embarrassing relations: China’s association with the
arms trade between North Korea and Iran, China's Politburo member(s) ordering the intrusion
into Google's computer systems, and China’s wariness ("scared to death") over a visit by U.S.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
According to The Telegraph, "The files contain 3,297 cables from [U.S. embassy in] Beijing,
555 from Shanghai, 662 from Guangzhou, 260 from Chengdu 260, 120 from Shenyang, 120
and 950 from Hong Kong, and Beijing will be watching anxiously to see what they contain."
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that, previously, China commended WikiLeaks for publishing
nearly 400,000 documents in October of classified information about the Iraq War. QQ.com, the
largest web portal in China, published an article about these documents that was sent to its over
100 million users. The incident was acclaimed by Chinese netizens as the highest level news
publication in China.
This time, however, the CPD ordered, "No news reports about WikiLeaks." Further, online
articles, such as "Diplomatic Risks Caused By WikiLeaks," were also deleted.
According to RFA, "A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called on Washington to 'properly
handle' the situation arising from the WikiLeaks release of documents."
After the release of the documents, WikiLeaks received DDos (distributed denial of service)
cyber attacks, similar to those Goggle received previously. The Great Firewall has been
employed to prevent the majority of Chinese people from visiting WikiLeaks, reported RFA. The
above denial tactics were not seen when documents regarding the Iraq War were released.
This censorship order also affected websites with similar names. The Wikipedia and the
Wikisource library were blocked by China.
In the past, Wikipedia has been blocked by China for a few times. After 2008, however, people
in China could visit webpages on Wikipedia, except those related to the Tiananmen Square
Massacre and Falun Gong.
Chinese Wikipedia spokesman Shizhao told RFA, "I don't know why the Wikisource has been
blocked. It's a bit strange, because Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, and Wikisource have no connection
with each other."

by:D.Chaitanyakumar (ee09b084)

Module 4: What was the vision for science and War in the 1930's. Have things changed since then?

Introduction:

During the enlightenment period, between 16th and 17th centuries, when philosophers celebrated the power of human reason, there were new techniques of science and mathematics which started to play a role in making human activities much more easy and productive. Science and technology were looked at as highest order of learning and civilization.

Scientists, mathematicians, and engineers theorize and create. Politicians, military commanders, bureaucrats, and business leaders then use those creations for a multitude of reasons. Though science was meant for human development is has been adapted and modified and for destructive purposes like war since ages. Archimedes formalized a method to setting enemy ships on fire using sunlight. In 17th century French military under Napoleon Bonaparte started adapting mathematical techniques in designing fortress to measuring the size of cannon balls. Though these examples show the early adaptations of science, they were of little impact on determining the outcome of a war. This was situation until the beginning of 20th century.

Science and technology have always made substantial impacts on the field of war. The World Wars are no exception. Indeed, WWII saw some of the most substantial advances in technology for good and bad, brought about by advances in science and math that history has ever seen.

World War 1:

It was in World War I that countries realized the potential of science in war. World War I was often referred as the 'The Chemists' war’ because of the extensive use of chemicals like nitrites, poison gas. Germans used chlorine from powerful die industries. Realizing the potential of these chemicals, chemists from these countries were pushed to develop more harmful chemicals to countermeasure the chemicals from the other country. Physicist contributed by developing wireless communication technologies and sound-based methods of detecting U boats. This marked beginning of the scientific research dedicated for war.

At the end of the First World War the nations realized the significance of science and technology in war. Until this time there were just adaptations of existing scientific and technology in war and the scientific research was meant to development. The purpose of science started transforming from 'human development' to 'human destruction'. Governments started funding the research which had a potential in war. The view of war has changed from a mode on 'settlement of issues' to mad race of destruction. Some technologies like atom bomb were developed that could wipe-out an entire city in seconds. Many new mathematical and computational tools like 'game theory’, 'operational research' were developed, all for the purpose of enhancing defense system.

World War 2:

By the late 1940s, Secrecy concerns influenced the practice of science and international communications, and new career opportunities arose as science and technology became significant. Through bilateral efforts, World War II thus nurtured two critical developments that would shape science and technology in the post war world: the imposition of secrecy systems to protect national security concerns, and the creation of scientific intelligence programs to discover foreign progress in science and technology. After the Second World War, the advent of the Cold War solidified the links between military institutions and academic science. Whole new field like digital computing and networking were developed under the military patronage. The extensive military patronage since 1930 changed the face and vision of science.

Conclusion:

In the twentieth century physics is the language of war, dynamics, and mechanisms. Scientists dedicated to military research if interfered in conflict resolution then it was only a matter of politics. War has changed a lot since the past few years and the methodologies will keep changing as technology advances to greater heights.

Saptarshi Prakash,

EE09B076

What was the vision for science and War in the 1930's. Have things changed since then

In 1900 countries started using technology for best services .In defence of a particular civilization it has to develop new ways for  protection. This  led to research and development of new technology. In the 1900 after computing transferred from mechanical to electronic systems the defence start to design wide variety of monitoring, computing and taking action for enemy activities. Now for complex system there should be an organisation of  programming labs, electronic manufactures and for accommodation buildings also manufacturing testing and installing.

Wiener who coined the term cybernetics in 1947 to designate what he hoped would be a new science of control mechanisms in which the exchange of information would play a central role. The vision of science for war in the early 1900's was cybernetic. With the help of feedback loops, efficient control and communication was achieved which was a key point in a warfare. The battlefields were mechanized. Enemies were viewed as cybernetic entities and a man-machine. Well, even in modern war the basic cybernetic vision hasn’t changed, but technology has improved largly. Size of the equipments has decreased, but the complexity has surged, more and more systems being automatic.

The three closely related sciences which engaged in calculating the enemy were: Operational research, game theory, and cybernetics. Operational research focused on maximizing the efficiency in locating and destroying. Game theory is the way of analyzing what two opposing forces ought to do when each expected the other to act in a maximally rational way.

To the Americans, British, and Australians, the Japanese soldiers were often thought of a lice, ants, or vermin to be eradicated.The V-2 rocket was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany. The rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile. As a counter measure for this, British and American scientists developed radar technology to "see" for hundreds of miles. Long-range precision strike weapons, coupled to very effective sensors and command and control systems, have come to dominate much of warfare. Rather than closing with an opponent, the preferable operational mode will be destroying him at a distance. It seems plausible that long-range precision strike operations may also play a prominent role in power projection, war at sea, and space operations. Secondly, use of information warfare as a new tactic in defeating your enemy. Protecting the effective and continuous operation of one's own information systems, and being able to degrade, destroy, or disrupt the functioning of the opponent's, has become a major operational priority or focus.                                                                                                                 

In 19^th century where defense was a major emphasis, pre-emptive strike is a modern warfare tactic to gain advantage of initiative and harm the enemy at a moment of minimal protection. Motives in 1900 was mainly increasing boundries and to be a dominant country. Now power  is for political goals such as access to rule on religion. wars were between armies the military capture of territory through battle,now they are between technological achievment. there are several ways in which science can be used because of the multiplicity of disciplines. In the twentieth century physics is the language of war, dynamics ,mechanisms. Scientists dedicated to military research if interfered in conflict resolution then it was only a matter of politics. War has changed a lot since the past few years and the methodologies will keep changing as technology advances to greater heights. 
               references 
1)SAGE SYSTEM
2)wikipedia technology used in defence system
                                                                                                                                                                                           praveen kumar
                                                                                                                                                                                           NA09B019
                                                                                                                                                                            
 

"What was the vision for science and War in the 1930's. Have things changed since then?"

Here we will be talking about the developments of science and technology during the wartimes of 1930s. It started with disorganization chaos leading to organization. It was Vannevar Bush who first proposed the idea of putting science to use in organizing the vast record of human knowledge. His idea of push-button linking between documents is commonly held to be the forefather of modern hypertext. And then came, Wiener who coined the term cybernetics in the summer of 1947 to designate what he hoped would be a new science of control mechanisms in which the exchange of information would play a central role.

Inspired by his previous work in microfilm mass storage, Bush envisioned an information workstation, “the memex”, capable of storing, navigating, and annotating an entire library’s worth of information. 

Britain was under unrelenting aerial attack, and a Nazi invasion seemed imminent. Weiner suggested procedures to improve Bush's computational device, the so-called differential analyzer, in ways that would facilitate faster design of war materiel from airplane wings to ballistic shells. Battle of Britain had begun with an assault of almost 1500 aircraft flown against British air stations and aircraft factories. Londoners had died under the rain of bombs.

Over the next few years, Wiener's attention focused increasingly on the problem of destroying enemy airplanes. The “antiaircraft (AA) predictor” was designed to characterize an enemy pilot’s zigzagging flight, anticipate his future position, and launch an antiaircraft shell to destroy his plane. In the course of characterizing the enemy pilot's actions and designing a machine to forecast his future moves, Wiener's ambitions rose beyond the pilot, even beyond the World War. Step by step, Wiener came to see the predictor as a prototype not only of the mind of an inaccessible Axis opponent but of the Allied antiaircraft gunner as well, and then even more widely to include the vast array of human proprioceptive and electrophysiological feedback systems. The model then expanded to become a new science known after the war as "cybernetics”. Here we track the ontological claims of cybernetics into a collocation of vacuum tubes, resistors and condensers designed to replicate the intentions of a hidden enemy pilot. All the enemies were not alike. To the Americans, British, and Australians, the Japanese soldiers were often thought of a lice, ants, or vermin to be eradicated. They followed the slogan “Kill him or he will kill you”

As the AA predictor came to fruition, Wiener came to see it as the articulated prototype for a new understanding of the human-machine relation, one that made soldier, calculator, and firepower into a single integrated system.

Germany looked small and individual people appeared to be invisible. The distinction between human and non-human status was blurred. Where Darwin had assiduously tracked the similarities between human and animal in order to blur the boundary between them, Wiener's efforts were devoted to effacing the distinction between human and machine.

The man-airplane-radar-predictor-artillery system is a closed one in which it appeared possible to replace men by machines and machines by men. To an antiaircraft operator, the enemy really does act like an auto-correlated servomechanism. During 1930, publishing of newspapers was banned.

The three closely related sciences which engaged in calculating the enemy were: Operational research, game theory, and cybernetics. Operational research focused on maximizing the efficiency in locating and destroying German U boats in the North Atlantic and along and along the coast of America. Game theory is the way of analyzing what two opposing forces ought to do when each expected the other to act in a maximally rational way but were ignorant both of the opponent's specific intentions and of the enemy's choice of where to bluff. Weiner divided the enemies into two categories, and regarded them as devils. One was the "Manichean devil" "who is determined on victory and will use any trick of craftiness or dissimulation to obtain this victory." The other, the "Augustinian devil" was characterized by the "evil" of chance and disorder but could not change the rules unlike the “Manichean devil”. 

People were regarded as fundamentally selfish. But perhaps disorganization, noise, and uncontrollability are not the greatest disasters to befall us. Perhaps our calamities are built largely from our efforts at superorganization, silence, and control.

By

Sunaina Donimath

EE09B037

The vision for Science and War since 1930’s

Throughout history of warfare has spurred scientific and technological innovations. Conversely, science and technology have always made substantial impacts on the field of war. WWII is no exception. Indeed, WWII saw some of the most substantial advances in technology for good and bad – brought about by advances in science and math that history has ever seen.

Scientists, mathematicians, and engineers theorize and create. Politicians, military commanders, bureaucrats, and business leaders then use those creations for a multitude of reasons.

Physicists in Wartime Japan

Between 1935 and 1955 a handful of Japanese men turned their minds to the unsolved problems of theoretical physics. Much of the time their lives were in turmoil, their homes demolished and their bellies empty. But the worst of times for the scientists was the best of times for the science.

Their achievements were all the more remarkable in a society that had encountered the methods of science only decades earlier. Japan realized that without modern technology it was militarily weak. The new regime sent young men to Germany, France, England and America to study languages, science, engineering and medicine.

"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophes," Albert Einstein.

Indeed, the development of nuclear weapons utterly transformed human warfare, as the mass destruction wreaked by bombs dropped on Japan a year earlier made chillingly clear. Yet devastating though the outcomes often were, this was a time of extraordinary discoveries in the field of physics.
In this issue, leading authorities discuss the science--and the scientists--that delivered us into the nuclear age, from Lise Meitner's long-overlooked contributions to the discovery of nuclear fission to Manhattan Project member Philip Morrison's reflections on the first nuclear war and how a second must be avoided. 

Science and Technology - World War II and the early cold war

By the late 1940s, Secrecy concerns influenced the practice of science and international communications, and new career opportunities arose as science and technology became significant.

Through bilateral efforts, World War II thus nurtured two critical developments that would shape science and technology in the post war world: the imposition of secrecy systems to protect national security concerns, and the creation of scientific intelligence programs to discover foreign progress in science and technology (particularly but not limited to advances in weaponry).

A principal challenge was to secure reliable information on the scientific and technological capacity of other nations, since such intelligence was necessary to match enemy advances in weaponry. A major point of intersection between physicists and U.S. policymakers came in developing methods to detect and analyze.

Antiaircraft fire control was the key to “cybernetics”, a science that would embrace intentionality, learning, (and much else within the human mind) providing firmer foundation for regulating larger systems, such as nations, and even the whole world. Wiener brought to bear his own established interest in feedback (cybernetic principle of feedback) mechanisms, communication technology, and nonlinear processes. 

The man-airplane-radar-predictor-artillery system is 
a closed one in which it appeared possible to replace men by machines and machines by men.

Weiner: “I think that I can claim credit for transferring the whole theory of the servomechanism bodily to communication engineering.”

World War I1 elevated the stakes of understanding the enemy's intention to survival itself; it stripped human behaviour to moves of pursuit, escape, and deception; and it introduced a new class of self-regulating weapons.

The increasing role of technology in warfare in the modern era has brought science and war into an increasingly intimate relationship with the development of the computer and the information sciences, particularly cybernetics. One contemporary example of this:

Cyber Terrorism- The Dark Side of the Web World

A phrase used to describe the use of Internet based attacks in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet, by the means of tools such as computer viruses. This use of information technology by terrorist groups furthered their agenda. This can include use of information technology to organize and execute attacks against networks, computer systems and telecommunications infrastructures, or for exchanging information or making threats electronically. Examples are hacking into computer systems, introducing viruses to vulnerable networks, web site defacing, Denial-of-service attacks, or terroristic threats made via electronic communication.

The emergence of the notion of command-and-control epitomised a centralising approach which sees military organisation purely as a top-down process, a vast techno-social machine to be integrated and directed through a strict hierarchy on the basis of the predictions of mathematical models. Born of Second World War research, “science of control and communications” articulated a new worldview of self-regulated systems sustained through the flow of information and corrective feedback loops.

MANEKA

BT09B009

Vision for science and war in the 1930's..Have things changed since then ???

                         Technology and science plays a very prominent role during wars ,day by day the involvement of science in wars .Not only in wars but also in various fields we are becoming more dependent on technology .But in the 19th century the change is high.During the time of world wars so many new inventions have taken place which led to research and development of new technology.

                        During 1930's one of the major emphasized field in which science played was defense services .One of the major part in defense services is naval forces .In Naval forces ,a pre-emptive strike is a modern warfare tactic to gain advantage of initiative and harm the enemy at a moment of minimal protection was procured.

                      A navy (sometimes called a ,maritime force) is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface ships, amphibious ships, submarines, and seaborne aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields; recent developments have included space related operations. The strategic offensive role of a navy is projection of force into areas beyond a country's shore

Naval warfare developed when humans first fought from water-borne vessels. Prior to the introduction of the cannon and ships with sufficient capacity to carry the large guns, navy warfare primarily involved ramming and boarding actions

The first practical military submarines were developed in the late 19th century and by the end of World War I had proven to be a powerful arm of naval warfare. During World War II, the German Navy's submarine fleet of U-boats almost starved the United Kingdom into submission and inflicted tremendous losses on U.S. coastal shipping. The German battleship Tirpitz, a sister ship of the Bismarck, was almost put out of action by miniature submarines known as X-Craft. The X-Craft severely damaged her and kept her in port for some months.
A major paradigm shift in naval warfare occurred with the introduction of the aircraft carrier. First at Taranto in 1940 and then at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the carrier demonstrated its ability to strike decisively at enemy ships out of sight and range of surface vessels. The Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944) was arguably the largest naval battle in history; it was also the last battle in which battleships played a significant role. By the end of World War II, the carrier had become the dominant force of naval warfare.

World War II also saw the United States become by far the largest Naval power in the world, with over 70% of the world's total numbers and total tonnage of naval vessels of 1,000 tons or greater. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the United States Navy would maintain a tonnage greater than that of the next 17 largest navies combined. Of that 30% 19% of the tonnage comes from the Royal Navy.

  by 

J. santosh kumar     

EE09b085

           

INTELLIGENCE IS IN THE MIND NOT IN THE ATTENTIVE CRAFTING BODY

Charles Babbage a mathematician,philosopher,inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of computer programming. Babbage is remembered for his inventions –the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine like computing machines. He located intelligence in the mind and not the attentive crafting body of a labourer.In those days, the word computer referred to a human being.a


In this case the  employee to perform the exhausting reckoning  in which every astronomical operation required. Numerical tables were calculated by humans who were called computers meaning one who computes.Babbage himself applied for the post of computer.This required intensive labour work (body work) which doesn't require use of brain.The intelligent people (one with the mind) does only intellectual work where as the labour has to do the tedious calculations.This prompted him to develop the difference engine.

 
Babbage borrowed many of his ideas from the French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard. Jacquard came from a family of silk weavers.Weaving then was long,tedious,repetitive process with little automation.To create a pattern a draw boy had to sit inside the loom and move threads according to the directions of the weaver.The one with the mind is instructing to the one doing physical work.This shows intelligence is in mind not in the body. So Jacquard thought of creating a system that would be controlled by a set of cards that would mechanically produce any patterns.Skill was recognised as something inherent in the persons of the workers themselves. So the issue of science and intelligence embodied in the automatic system and the fate of the worker's body was constantly debated. Soon after the attempt at making the difference engine crumbled, Babbage started designing a different, more complex machine called the Analytical Engine. The main difference between the two engines is that the Analytical Engine could be programmed using punched cards. The added advantage with these cards were that they enabled the computer to not only perform tasks but also have a memory which mimicked the action of the brain. He explained his view of the property of skill involved in the calculating engines. The idea of using punch cards to instruct and control a system became the basis of computer programming.


He lectured several times a week to around three hundred workers on chemistry and mechanics and viewed these lectures as a means to improve the morals of the labouring population. Although Babbage did not teach at any of the institutions for the education of the working population, he did donate the third edition of the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures to the Mechanics Institutes.

As Babbage among the political economists showed ,the disaggregation of the production process into a simplest components allowed a series of economics and parts of surveillance.The master manufacturer by dividing the work to be executed into different processes , each requiring different degrees of skills.So one does the surveillance and other does the physical work.This is control of work force by masters. If workers cooperate with factory owners, they will soon be in the position to let their "intelligent principle" contemplate their immortal- their transcendent, not their historical-interests, although this spiritual freedom. view this type of technical pedagogy as a mode of power knowledge that transforms the worker's body into both a productive body and a subjugated body. Certainly this was one of the more or less unspoken intentions of the movements to educate workers.

 




Jacuard could replace physical work with a mechanism. Babbage calls as "triumph of  mind over matter".This is replacement for the body.But it cant create a pattern.It requires a mind or one with mind for that.This shows intelligence is in mind .A body can be replaced by a machine .intelligence can be automated only upto a certain limit, the boss will be always mind . 

 References
1)article by Zimmerman on Babbage 
2) article by schaffer 
3)Bedini, Silvio A. "The Role of Automata in the History of Technology."
4)The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy London:
 Cambridge
                                                                                                                                       praveen kumar 
                                                                                                                                       na09b019

 

Babbage located Intelligence in the Mind not the attentive crafting body

Following Vaucanson's creation of the defecating duck, a wide assortment of mechanical devices and contraptions were developed over the next century, designed as substitutes for intelligence, human labour and time. These machines tried to mimic the behaviour of humans, and could usually perform only one specific task. In this environment, Charles Babbage an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer, popularly known as the 'father of computers', came with a 'calculating engine' which he advertised as 'Mechanized Intelligence’. However, the Analytical Engine planned by Babbage was different. Though only a small part of it was completed, Babbage designed it so that it could perform tasks which were then considered intellectual in nature.

During the World War 2, all tedious numerical calculations were carried out by human workers. These were performed mostly by female corps of young mathematicians, known as ‘computers’. Babbage’s Analytical engine was initially built to replace the human computers. He thought that the introduction of machine would increase accuracy. Babbage’s definition of intelligence is the combination of memory and foresight. He understood that intelligence is of the mind and not of the body. As Simon Schaffer aptly puts it,

“To make machines look intelligent it was necessary that the sources of their power, the labour force which surrounded and ran them, be rendered invisible”.

The machinery of the factory and the calculating engines precisely embodied the intelligence of theory and abolished individual intelligence of the worker. In other words, the owner of an article is the person who designs, rather than a person who crafts it. This was extended to the way he understood 'factory', systematize the unintelligent work to make the product of the intelligent. For Example, Introduction of machines made the labourers work in a programmed fashion, without using their own knowledge. By this we can say intelligence exists in mind of the inventor rather than the skillful artisan. There is no use of his skill as all the thinking is done by the inventor or the supervisor and the artisan does a work of very low significance. This made the skilled labour to be seen as an equivalent to the machine, handled by an unskilled labour (to be given lesser wage).

It can be seen when Babbage laid claims to owning the means of production, while his engineer thought he could make more calculating engines if they went into production. In Babbage own words on the 'Calculating engine':

“My right to dispose, as I will, of such inventions cannot be contested; it is more sacred in its nature than any hereditary or acquired property, for they are the absolute creations of my own mind.”

Such declarations demonstrated his control over the engine and camouflaged the work force on which it depended. So it clearly states the importance he gives to the mind than “crafting body”. According to Babbage, the machines in a factory will help to keep a check on the workers and increase their productivity. In Babbage' words:

"One great advantage which we may derive from machinery is from the check which it affords against the inattention, the idleness, or the dishonesty of human agents"

By this he makes a worker in a factory a 'slave of the machine', while factory represent 'admirable adaptations of human skill and intelligence' where we see 'the triumph of mind over matter'. Babbage puts machines between the mind and body, as the workers (body) are its slave while mind triumphs over machine.

In my opinion, Babbage's take on intelligence reflects his primarily mechanistic worldview. Today, we know that intelligence exists in several forms, analytic, synthetic and perhaps even emotional. Though it may reside in the mind, such a form of intelligence is severely limited unless expressed by the body or some automaton capable of capturing it. At this stage in our development of AI, we still have a long way to go before we can claim that our machines truly embody a genuine form of intelligence.

Saptarshi Prakash

EE09B076

http://www.saptarshi.co.nr