2004-02-10


GI Joe Meets the Ubergeeks: Many-to-Many Technologies in the Defense Department
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2004/view/e_sess/4642

(with JC Herz)


First guy:

Neuro cosmology
[what the hell:
http://qube1.mindtel.com/~projects/topper/4-14-01neurocozgraf/neurocozgraf.jpg]
Intra-somatic infrastructure
How information moves through brains and people
"the last millimetre problem"

1994 - quadraplegic kids hooked up the VR system with control by facial muscles
(expressions)

now this same tech is on the shelves for $100.

belt with ultrasound on it. blindfold the user, they can feel their way through
the building with the vibrations on the belt.

give raw data to human nervous system and it can figure stuff out.

[this guy is more like stand-up, but with hard core military tech. gotta listen
to the audio of this.]

complex data, different languages between UN, military, contractor: develop 3d
diagrams to represent complex data. people understand that, he says.

neurological point of view: text is the stupidest way to get information into
the human nervous system ever contrived.

looking at lots of articles:

human eye can't scan. even colours don't help, with 10000 datasets. GIS and
toroid topologies on maps. dynamically render these things, map features across
timezones so people can see changes over time.

"situational awareness"

vr representation of the control room

"synergy strike force"


Second guy:

[sales pitch. shouting navy person.]


Third guy:

corporate strategy of defense: office of force transformation.

this is rumsfeld's office. bright guy. network effects.

space.

bouncing 1 megawatt-class lasers off high-altitude blimps to target things.

"it's not just kinetic destruction we're interested in."

oh, also communication.

[it's just pitch after pitch. algorithm: 1. show off cool tech. 2. we can do
this and this. 3. where you guys come in is how to get information to/from
people, and social dynamics understanding. 4. Want To Know More?]

network warfare: people under the age of 30 intuitively understand this. people
over the age of 30 don't, then they retire.

[the whole metaphor of network warfare is something i want to know more about.
lots of thoughts there. and what's the *next* metaphor?]

the dept is:
"moral, legal and unconstrained"

[...]