It’s easier to say what one of the major causes of the war will be: the failure by many Americans — notably politicians, journalists, think tankers, and other elites — to employ a specific mental power that we’re all capable of employing. That power is called cognitive empathy, and it’s not what you might … Continue reading “Think tanks” and mass media are making war more likely
Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones
Google has partnered with the United States Department of Defense to help the agency develop artificial intelligence for analyzing drone footage, a move that set off a firestorm among employees of the technology giant when they learned of Google’s involvement. Google’s pilot project with the Defense Department’s Project Maven, an effort to identify objects in drone … Continue reading Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones
11% increase in Pentagon’s budget
For starters, it’s about an $80 billion increase in the Pentagon’s budget from 2017 to 2019. In real terms, that’s about 11 percent — a larger two-year increase than the DoD received during the height of the Reagan military buildup in the mid-1980s. To put this massive increase in perspective, here are a few other … Continue reading 11% increase in Pentagon’s budget
The human tragedies of ‘precision’ bombings
by Azmat Khan and Anand Gopal, the New York Times A key part of the coalition’s investigation process is to match civilian casualty accusations against its own logs. Chris Umphres, an Air Force captain at Udeid who assesses allegations of civilian casualties, told us that military investigators possess the coordinates of “every single strike conducted … Continue reading The human tragedies of ‘precision’ bombings
“No significant improvement” on the reliability of F-35s
Efforts to improve the reliability of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 are “stagnant,” undercut by problems such as aircraft sitting idle over the last year awaiting spare parts from the contractor, according to the Pentagon’s testing office. The availability of the fighter jet for missions when needed -- a key metric -- remains “around 50 percent, a … Continue reading “No significant improvement” on the reliability of F-35s
