Linguistic Insight: Move Over, Parrots
February 7, 2020
DarkCyber noted an item sure to be of interest to the linguists laboring in the world of chat bots, NLP, and inference. “Penguins Follow Same Linguistic Patterns As Humans, Study Finds” states:
Words more frequently used by the animals are briefer, and longer words are composed of extra but briefer syllables, researchers say.
The write up also reveals:
Information compression is a general principle of human language.
Yep. Penguins better than parrots? Well, messier for sure.
Stephen E Arnold, February 7, 2020
Blockchain: Now What Is That Use Case?
February 7, 2020
The DarkCyber team invested some time in figuring out Amazon’s blockchain-related inventions. (A free executive summary is available at this link.) There were some interesting use cases explained in these public documents. But blockchain in Amazon is different in blockchain in the world of a specialist blockchain firm if the information in “Major Blockchain Developer ConsenSys Announces Job Losses” is accurate.
The write up states:
Major blockchain developer ConsenSys has laid off around 14% of its workforce, it said on Tuesday, a move that comes as companies around the world frantically search for applications for the much-hyped technology.
Blockchain in frantic search for applications? Yikes.
The issues blockchain faces range from “good enough”, better known alternatives to scaling.
The write up explains:
Companies from banks and oil traders to retailers and tech vendors, drawn to its promise of making cumbersome processes more efficient and secure, have invested billions as they look to find uses for the technology. Many have turned to blockchain development startups in the process for technical expertise. Yet there have so far there have been few major breakthroughs in the practical application of blockchain, despite the spate of tests and pilots.
Complexity, performance, cost, and security may be barriers. Just what catches Amazon’s attention?
Stephen E Arnold, February 7, 2020
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Blue Chip Consulting Firm: Killers of the American Middle Class
February 6, 2020
After reading “How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class,” I wondered if the company’s name should be McKroni & Co. For those who did not read the Akilattirattu Ammanai, Kroni was more evil than the demon Kali of the Mahabharata and Kalki Purana sharing similarities with Lucifer.
Kroni celebrating after closing a big deal for streamlining work flow processes.
If the information in the Atlantic article is on the money, MBAs are manifestations of evil. There are other candidates as well; for example, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Booz, Allen, SRI, and other blue chip consulting firms. These outfits are more similar than some people understand, including their clients. My information is first hand. I worked for one of these big outfits and did contract work for another. My boss at Booz, Allen went to SRI, and I know that he did not make any significant changes in his thought processes. In fact, one BAH professional told me, “We require that teams fly on separate airplanes. If one plane goes down, we can send in other team members. Most are inter changeable. Heart warming, no?
Now back to the write up:
The main idea is from a journalist who wrote in 2010:
consultants openly sought to “foment a stratification within companies and society” by concentrating the management function in elite executives, aided (of course) by advisers from consultants’ own ranks. Management-consulting firms deployed a panoply of branded processes against middle management.
News flash: The mind set of the major consulting firms was in place and humming along the first time a Booz, Allen person contacted me in 1970. He explained the objectivity and need for data as part of the analytic process the firm practiced. I agreed, but because I was working at a university and had zero “experience” in anything except studying, going to meetings, and fooling around with my analyses of language for Psychology Today magazine, I was not too engaged in the conversation. He said, “We will put you on file. We may come back to you.” By golly, Booz, Allen did. I met with a fellow who would become my boss. Guess what? He explained that the BAH approach was designed to increase efficiency and reshape organizations by reducing layers of management. The BAH charm school made clear that friendly Mr. Booz in 1917 had this very idea, and it was part of the Booz, Allen DNA.
Kiechel was right in the main idea; he just muffed how long the mindset was in play at Booz, Allen and the other firms. McKinsey was founded in 1926, a decade after BAH. In fact, one Booz, Allen professional with 30 years of continuous service under his belt said, “McKinsey borrowed from our method. They changed our dot points to dashes; otherwise, it is a copy of this firm.” True or false? I don’t know, but the date of McKinsey’s founding makes an interesting historical factoid.
The article’s objective is to make McKinsey into McKroni & Company. The inequality evident in the US today is a result of one company. I agree that the thought processes of the blue chip consulting firms lead to inequality. The write up also takes aim at a presidential candidate who worked at McKinsey. The same notions of efficiency help produce Google and other high performance firms as well. Amazon is a case study in efficiency, the blue chip consulting firm way. Warm and fuzzy, not the words I would use to describe Amazon.
Net net: Interesting write up. Not exactly in line with reality, but McKroni & Co. is a convenient peg on which to hang a polemic about the way the real world is.
How does one change this obvious problem? May I suggest calling one of the blue chip consulting firms. You may be surprised how useful their through processes are. But wait. Publishing companies have got this revenue, credibility, and information trifecta figured out.
Begging for dollars is not a business model that inspires confidence.
Stephen E Arnold, February 6, 2020
United Arab Emirates: Smart Push
February 6, 2020
DarkCyber works from a ramshackle cabin in a hollow in rural Kentucky. Most of those in my vicinity are not sure what a “UAE” is and may not be able to locate it on a map. United Arab Emirates is a nation state with money and a desire to embrace smart technology.
DarkCyber recommends “UAE’s push for AI” for a reasonable summary of the country ambitions for artificial intelligence infused methods. The article states:
the UAE has a clear strategy, AI Strategy 2031, and has appointed a Ministry of AI to oversee its goals and objectives. The strategy outlines the need for AI to be deployed across key sectors such as logistics, healthcare, education and so on. The overall objective of UAE’s push towards AI is to transform the UAE economy to become transparent, paperless and automated.
The write up is not comprehensive; for example, it omits the country’s interest in intelware and its use of technology from the likes of Amazon and other interesting companies.
Stephen E Arnold, February 6, 2020
Acronym Shadow: Good Enough Presages the Future of US Technical Capabilities
February 6, 2020
Apps are nothing but drag and drop programming. The database stuff? A no brainer for Shadow. What other half informed generalizations contributed to the technical, managerial, and political issues with the Iowa caucus app. The New York Times, definitely a paragon of technical acumen, analyzed the situation. Navigate to “The App That Broke the Iowa Caucus.” Remember the NYT was the outfit that fumbled its original online play, ably directed my Jeff Pemberton—what, 40 years ago?—and then lost revenue by pulling its “exclusive” from the LexisNexis service a few years later. Now the NYT is a techno master, happily pointing out that failure took place.
There was no mini failure. Maybe some underhanded activity, maybe some carelessness, and maybe some “we’re experts and know what to do” thinking going on.
DarkCyber believes that the misstep, if that’s what it was, was a reminder that technical expertise and excellence are not as easy as writing a proposal, pulling some influence strings, or assuming that code actually works in the real world.
Nope, the good enough approach is operating.
But the larger message is that if the US expects to maintain a place among technology leaders, a different mind set is needed.
What is that mind set? For starters, big thinkers and MBA types must recognize that planning, attention to detail, quality checks, live tests, and making software usable are necessary.
A failure in a core democratic process is a signpost. For anyone who believes the baloney manufactured about artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and advanced analytics—good enough is not.
Is this a bright signal that American technologists cannot deliver when it matters and when those who seek to disrupt America are getting the clown show of a lifetime.
Stephen E Arnold, February 5, 2020
Bezos-tics: A Billionaire and an Alleged Political Alignment
February 6, 2020
Jeff Bezos heads Amazon, but he allegedly has goals beyond changing the face of retail. The Strategic Culture Foundation examines Bezos’s political views in the article, “Jeff Bezos’s Politics.” Heads up. DarkCyber thinks this “strategic culture” write up is a one-sided argument about Mr. Bezos’ goals to spread American imperialism, control other nations, and spread the ideals of neo-conservatism.
Bezos’s political power exploded when he purchased the Washington Post from Donald Graham (Washington D.C.’s daily newspaper) and negotiated with CIA Director John Brennan a ten-year cloud computing contract hosted by Amazon. As this quote says he is definitely wise about business:
“He was now the most influential salesman not only for books, etc., but for the CIA, and for such mega-corporations as Lockheed Martin. US imperialism has supercharged his wealth, but didn’t alone cause his wealth. Jeff Bezos might be the most ferociously gifted business-person on the planet.”
The article continues that Bezos, like all of American billionaires, ally themselves with neo-conservatism and imperialism. They seek to preserve these systems at all costs. Also Bezos has this going for him:
“Bezos also wants to privatize everything around the world that can become privatized, such as education, highways, health care, and pensions. The more that billionaires control those, the less that everyone else does; and preventing control by the public helps to protect billionaires against democracy that would increase their taxes, and against governmental regulations that would reduce their profits by increasing their corporations’ expenses. So, billionaires control the government in order to increase their takings from the public.”
But, use the word coined by DarkCyber, the Amagenic responses to Amazon a moving, just slowly. With employee push back and dissention in a close friend’s brother sister bond, is negativism being pulled to the man and the Amazon machine.
Worth monitoring to see if this “house divided against itself” is a myth or a reality.
Whitney Grace, February 6, 2020
Founder of Autonomy: Extradition Action
February 5, 2020
DarkCyber noted this CBR Online story: “Mike Lynch Submits Himself for Arrest.” The write up states:
Former Autonomy CEO Dr Mike Lynch has submitted himself for arrest this morning, in what his legal team described as a formality required as part of an extradition process initiated by the US Department of Justice. Lynch is still contesting extradition.
The story about the founder of Autonomy and DarkTrace continues. A free profile about Autonomy is available at this link. (Note: this document is a rough draft prepared for a client before the Hewlett Packard purchase of the company. Also, Autonomy was a client of mine before I retired in 2013.)
Stephen E Arnold, February 5, 2020
A Former Search Wizard Explains Why Artificial Intelligence May Be a Bit of a Challenge
February 5, 2020
Artificial intelligence is the next evolution of digital technology and experts predict we are going to rely on AI as much as the Internet. While AI is amazing, many projects built around AI fail to deliver the promised results. Louis Monier, the Chief Scientist at Node, one of the founders of Altavista, and headed Airbnb’s AI Lab, spoke with Forbes about his opinions on AI in the interview: “The Little-Acknowledged Truth About AI—According To The Founder Of Altavista,” DarkCyber wants to mention that Monier worked at the Google, which, for DarkCyber, is an important factoid.
Monier remembered that when AI first premiered and was integrated into many projects such as chatbots, automated translations, self-driving cards, and even search engines the potential for it was limitless. However, AI, like many new technologies, has issues:
“Unfortunately, AI’s promise has been obstructed by a glass ceiling of sorts, whereby only those with sufficient monetary and human resources are granted entry to the exclusive club. There is a widespread belief that, for a company to realistically reap rewards, it needs a full-fledged lab, replete with Ph.D. students and top data scientists, access to massive amount of proprietary data, as well as large capital expenditures. Even with these resources, AI is laden with obstacles. Today’s data scientists, for example, typically waste 80% of their time cleaning and preparing data so that it is usable.”
Monier explained that AI is only as good as the data used to train and design it. Most companies have subpar data ranging from incomplete to incorrect. If companies make decisions based on AI results felt the garbage data, then they will not flourish.
AI does have the potential to change every industry and field, but the technology is still new and needs to become more standard operating procedure like a Windows OS. Once AI is embedded in software. That means good news.
Optimism is good. Search has benefited, right?
Whitney Grace, February 5, 2020
Buzzword Alert: Programmable Networks
February 5, 2020
DarkCyber noted “University Researchers Succeed in Boosting Computer Speeds by 2.5 Times.” The headline suggests zippy computers. Well, sort of. One bottleneck is accessing data written to a storage device. The innovation or insight, if it is economically and technically implementable, trims data access bottlenecks. DarkCyber noted:
Current data storage systems use only one storage server to process information, making them slow to retrieve information to display for the user. A backup server only becomes active if the main storage server fails. The new approach, called FLAIR, optimizes data storage systems by using all the servers within a given network. Therefore, when a user makes a data request, if the main server is full, another server automatically activates to fill it, the scientists state.
The approach exploits programmable networks. A network of servers is like a microprocessor. The shift is to meta-think about these components. Therefore, create a wrap up layer like the one described in the write up.
Popping up a level sometimes make sense. Marketing a meta-play may be even more beneficial.
Stephen E Arnold, February 3, 2020
Paris Museums: More Art Online. Search Means Old Fashioned Hunting Around
February 5, 2020
Oh, boy—it is a collection of art from the many Paris Museums available online at Paris Musées Collections. This artist’s daughter is delighted!
Unfortunately, the site’s search functionality disappoints. Unless your goal is either to find a specific work or to aimlessly browse the 150,213 public domain images, it is another almost unusable collection. I suppose trusting to serendipity has its place, but most of us are looking for something a bit more specific, even if we don’t have a particular title or artist in mind.
There is a section titled “Thematic Discovering,” which might be useful to some. They have put together 11 preconfigured themes that span museums, like “Sport, Jeux Olympiqes et Paris” (Sports, Olympic Games, and Paris) or “Elements: Air, Terre, Feu, Eau” (Elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Water). They do make for interesting guided tours. There are also a highlighted Virtual Exhibition and a few suggested works at the bottom of the page.
I was excited to find this resource—it really is a valuable collection to have at our fingertips. If only it were easier to navigate. Check it out if you feel persistent.
And for those who think search is really great. None of the visual art collections feature a search which delivers what most users seek.
Cynthia Murrell, February 5, 2020
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