Just for fun... Aldebaran Robotics Mini Robot Is a 'Global Superorganism' in our Future C|Net News (November 3, 2008) - I'm catching up after a week's vacation to places which, I'm happy to report, still don't speak Internet. So pardon for being late to comment, but Kevin Kelly's latest piece, "Evidence of a Global SuperOrganism" is a must read. Kelly's post is nuanced and complex and I hesitate to reduce his thesis to a simple (and simplistic) summary. Suffice it to say, though, he posits the ultimate emergence of a global digital superorganism. His point of departure is the uncontroversial assumption that the sum of the world's connected computational devices creates what essentially is a "superorganism of computation with its own emergent behaviors." "I define the One Machine as the emerging superorganism of computers. It is a megasupercomputer composed of billions of subcomputers. The subcomputers can compute individually on their own, and from most perspectives these units are distinct complete pieces of gear. But there is an emerging smartness in their collective that is smarter than any individual computer. We could say learning (or smartness) occurs at the level of the superorganism. But this transformation remains a work in progress. Kelly suggests that the One Machine will pass through four developmental levels, en route from its beginnings as a "plain superorganism" into something approaching consciousness. These phases include:
In one respect, his argument reminded me of Ray Kurzweil's writings on how machine intelligence, represented by the totality of information-based technologies, will eventually outnumber human intelligence. The idea being a merger of our biological existence with technology. Here is how Kurzweil puts it in The Singularity is Near: "It's a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that the human life will be irreversibly transformed...Our version 1.0 biological bodies are likewise frail and subject to a myriad of failure modes, not to mention the cumbersome maintenance rituals they require. While human intelligence is sometimes capable of soaring in its creativity and expressiveness, much human thought is derivative, petty, and circumscribed. The Singularity will allow us to transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains." "We will gain power over our fates. Our mortality will be in our own hands. We will be able to live as long as we want (a subtly different statement from saying we will live forever). We will fully understand human thinking and will vastly extend and expand its reach. By the end of this century, the non-biological portion of our intelligence will be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence." There's obviously no small amount of disagreement about the likely direction this will take. Letting your imagination go entirely, one might even construct a science fiction outcome in which the machines take control and snuff out the human race. The apocalyptic finish makes for the flashier headline but I thought Nova Spivack had as good an idea as any I've seen about where this is heading. "Because humans are the actual witnesses and knowers of what the OM does and thinks, the function of the OM will very likely be to serve and amplify humans, rather than to replace them. It will be a system that is comprised of humans and machines working together, for human benefit, not for machine benefit. This is a very different future outlook than that of people who predict a kind of "Terminator-esque" future in which machines get smart enough to exterminate the human race. It won't happen that way. Machines will very likely not get that smart for a long time, if ever, because they are not going to be conscious. I think we should be much more afraid of humans exterminating humanity than of machines doing it." | Technology |
Interview: EU to govern Internet of the future
Euractiv
(October 9, 2008) - The European Commission will
roll out a range of initiatives in the coming months to promote the
Internet of the Future, while remaining highly vigilant in protecting
citizens and networks, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding
told EurActiv in an interview.
European electronic ID framework gathers pace
vnunet
(October 9, 2008) - Further details of a new
European electronic ID interoperability scheme were revealed this week
at the ISSE 2008 security event in Madrid, with pilots set to go live as
early as 2010. In the first public discussion of the project, meeting
chair work group leader Miguel Alvarez Rodriguez claimed that the
Stork framework
would ultimately enable cross-border e-government services for
individuals and businesses. "Our mission is to develop and test common
specifications for secure and mutual recognition of national electronic
ID schemes," he said. "We will try to interact with other EU
institutions to maximise the usefulness of electronic ID services." Americans Clueless About Plans to Create New Life Forms Live Science (September 30, 2008) - If you've never heard of the exciting field of synthetic biology, you're not alone, but you might want to get wise to the field's controversial promise to create life from scratch. About two-thirds of U.S. residents are clueless as well, having never heard of the synthetic biology. Only 2 percent in a new telephone survey of 1,003 adults said they have heard a lot about the work, which crosses biology with technology and promises to create forms of life that Nature never thought of. Synthetic biologists engineer and build or redesign living organisms, such as bacteria, to carry out specific functions. The field is a scientific playground for the genetic code, where previously nonexistent DNA is formulated in test tubes. By taking genetic engineering to the extreme, synthetic biologists aim to make life in the lab. The promise is that the novel organisms will fight disease, create alternative fuels or build living computers. Already, researchers have transplanted genetic material from one microbe species into the cellular body of another, described last year as the living "equivalent to converting a Macintosh computer to a PC by inserting a new piece of software." "We face daunting problems of climate change, energy,
health, and water resources," a group of 17 leading scientists in the
field stated last year. "Synthetic biology offers solutions to these
issues: microorganisms that convert plant matter to fuels or that
synthesize new drugs or target and destroy rogue cells in the body." That in mind, scientists are concerned that the United States is falling behind other countries in many areas of science and technology and that the current administration has been downright hostile toward some fields of science. Obtaining federal funding for cutting-edge research can be challenging when the public doesn't even know what the research is about or what its benefits might be. And as the new poll showed, we tend to fear what we don't know. Respondents were asked how they viewed the potential risks and rewards of the new technology. "Those more familiar with synthetic biology are more inclined to have a positive assessment of the tradeoff," the pollsters found. "Early in the administration of the next president, scientists are expected to take the next major step toward the creation of synthetic forms of life," said David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. "Yet the results from the first U.S. telephone poll about synthetic biology show that most adults have heard just a little or nothing at all about it." The poll was conducted in August by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. The results were announced today. Nearly half of the poll respondents said they have
heard nothing at all about the broader field of nanotechnology. Again,
"there is a positive association between awareness of nanotechnology and
the belief that the benefits of nanotechnology will outweigh the risks,"
the analysts found.
Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with chips
Reuters
(August 21, 2008) - Affluent Mexicans,
terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands of dollars
to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so satellites can help
find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the trunk of a car.
Kidnapping jumped almost 40 percent between 2004 and 2007 in Mexico,
according to official statistics. Mexico ranks with conflict zones like
Iraq and Colombia as among the worst countries for abductions. The
recent kidnapping and murder of Fernando Marti, 14, the son of a
well-known businessman, sparked an outcry in a country already hardened
to crime. More people, including a growing number of middle-class
Mexicans, are seeking out the tiny chip designed by Xega, a Mexican
security firm whose sales jumped 13 percent this year. The company said
it had more than 2,000 clients. Detractors say the chip is little more
than a gadget that serves no real security purpose. The company injects
the crystal-encased chip, the size and shape of a grain of rice, into
clients' bodies with a syringe. A transmitter in the chip then sends
radio signals to a larger device carried by the client with a global
positioning system in it, Xega says. A satellite can then pinpoint the
location of a person in distress. Cristina, 28, who did not want to give
her last name, was implanted along with seven other members of her
family last year as a "preventive measure." "It's not like we are
wealthy people, but they'll kidnap you for a watch. ... Everyone is
living in fear," she said. The chips cost $4,000 plus an annual fee of
$2,200. Most kidnappings in Mexico go unreported, many of them cases of
"express kidnapping" where the victim is grabbed and forced to withdraw
money from automatic cash machines. more...
U.S. green lights anything into oil
WorldNet Daily
(August 13, 2008) - A Georgia company
looking to solve America's energy problem has finally teamed up with the
federal government, hoping to make millions of barrels of oil every day
from virtually anything that grows out of the Earth.
Bell Bio-Energy,
Inc. says it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Defense
Department to build seven test production plants, mostly on military
bases, to quickly turn naturally grown material into fuel. "What this
means is that with the seven pilot plants – the military likes to refer
to them as demonstrations – with those being built … it gives us the
real-time engineering data that we need to finish the designs for a
full-scale production facility," J.C. Bell, the man behind the project,
told WND today. "In 18 months or so, we will start manufacturing oil
directly from waste and we will build up to about 500,000 barrels a day
within two years. In another six months, we'll reach a million barrels a
day." As the United States now imports about 13 million barrels of oil a
day, the only obstacle then to total energy independence from foreign
sources will be the money needed to develop the processing plants, he
said. "Working with the USDA we've identified enough waste material
around the country, we truly believe we can make the United States
totally energy independent of foreign countries in about five years," he
said.
WND originally reported on the project in March as Bell, an
agricultural researcher, confirmed he'd isolated and modified specific
bacteria that will, on a very large scale, naturally and rapidly convert
plant material – including the leftovers from food – into hydrocarbons
to fuel cars and trucks. That means trash like corn stalks and corn cobs
– even the grass clippings from suburban lawns – can be turned into oil
and gasoline to run trucks, buses and cars. He said he made the
discovery standing downwind from his cows at his food-production
company, Bell
Plantation, in Tifton, Ga. "Cows are like people that eat lots of
beans. They're really, really good at making natural gas," he said. "It
dawned on me that that natural gas was methane."
WND also
reported how the national news media more or less ignored his
announcement of a potential solution to America's dependence on Middle
East nations for its oil. But the U.S. military was listening. And Bell
now confirms his agreement with the Department of Defense, the Defense
Energy Support Center and the Army will have seven demonstration
facilities built at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart in Georgia, Fort Bragg
in North Carolina, Fort AP Hill in Virginia, Fort Drum in New York and
Fort Lewis in Washington, as well as one more installation in San Pedro,
Calif. "We should have all of the plants running within 60 days," he
said. "This is a big step in our growth, from the engineering that we
develop with these plants, we will be able to build our full-scale
production facilities and be in full production in the next 12 to 18
months. "Everyone now accepts the fact that we can make oil through
bacterial action and now it is just a matter of time and money until we
are turning out one million to two million barrels per day," he said.
more...
Sept launch for bid to crack secrets of universe
Reuters
(August 7, 2008) - The world's most
powerful particle accelerator, aimed at unlocking secrets of the
universe, will be launched on September 10, the European Organization
for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Thursday. The Large Hadron Collider
(LHC), housed in an underground tunnel 27 kilometers (17 miles) in
circumference, will recreate conditions just after the Big Bang which
many scientists believe gave birth to the universe. It will seek to
collide two beams of particles at close to the speed of light. "The
first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
will be made on September 10," the Geneva-based CERN said in a
statement. The LHC will study a new frontier of physics, producing beams
with seven times more energy than any previous machine. But starting it
up is not as simple as flipping a switch. Each of its eight sectors must
be cooled to their operating temperature of minus 271 degrees Celsius
(minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit), colder than outer space. This phase is
reaching a successful conclusion but electrical testing must follow.
"We're finishing a marathon with a sprint," said LHC project leader Lyn
Evans. "It's been a long haul and we're all eager to get the LHC
research program underway." Scientists hope the experiment will help
explain fundamental questions such as how particles acquire mass. They
will also probe the mysterious dark matter of the universe and
investigate why there is more matter than antimatter. Some 10,000
scientists from around the world have worked on the complex 10 billion
Swiss franc ($9.5 billion) apparatus since construction began in 1994, a
spokesman said.
Biometric ID bill comes under fire
The Jerusalem Post
(August 3, 2008) - The Association for
Civil Rights in Israel came out on Sunday in opposition to the
government bill that aims to establish a national biometric data bank
with the fingerprints and facial lines of all citizens and residents to
nearly eliminate the risk of counterfeit identity cards. The bill,
initiated by the Interior and Defense Ministries, was approved by the
cabinet earlier in the day. ACRI claimed that such a database would be
"a dangerous step" because of the sensitivity of such information, and
that there was no use of such a technology anywhere else among Western
democracies, even among those that issue chip-embedded "smart" identity
cards. Still, the Interior Security Ministry brushed off those concerns,
saying the step was necessary for the security of Israel's citizens.
"Any information in any database could potentially be dangerous," said
Udi Shalvy, a spokesman for the Interior Security Ministry. "But the
danger of not having the information outweighs the risks of what might
happen to it," he said. "This information will be protected by the
Interior Security Ministry unlike any other database," he added. But in
January of 2007, Vital Population Registry information was leaked and
posted on the Internet, prompting the Interior Ministry to demand an
investigation into the incident. The Jerusalem Post reported then, that
those data files, compiled by the Interior Ministry on all Israeli
citizens, contained personal information that could potentially be used
without authorization by Internet marketers and cyber-criminals. On top
of the potential financial harm poised to everyday citizens as a result
of that leak, the downloadable data also included particularly sensitive
information, such as the addresses of senior government and security
officials. The Interior Ministry, which was entrusted to protect that
information issued a statement at the time, saying it had passed the
data on to the political parties running for the Knesset in the last
election in accordance with the law, and only then did the information
show up in file sharing sites on-line. The current bill declares that
the production of fake passports and identity cards is a growing
phenomenon that increases illegal immigration and criminal and economic
crimes and poses a serious security risk. Ordinary identity cards and
passports, it says, are easy to counterfeit, and many groups are
interested in such fake documents. Each phony identity card or passport
sells for a few hundred to a few thousand shekels, while original cards
and passports sell for much more. The Interior Ministry said that in
2007, more than 155,000 Israeli identity cards were reported stolen,
lost or destroyed - more than during the previous year. Almost 59,000
residents asked twice for a new identity card to replace their old card
between 2003 and 2007, while almost 8,000 asked for a replacement three
times and 1,500 asked for a replacement four times during that period.
Biometric markers on the face and fingerprints can bring an end to this
risk, the government said, as these identification markers don't change
over time, except in a few rare cases.
Britain okays human-pig embryo
One News Now (July 9,
2008) - A license to create human-pig embryos has been granted in
Great Britain. An American professor says the moral and ethical
implications of that decision have not been thought out. There are moral
ethics involved, says Dr. Mark Mostert of Regent University. He believes
that, in this case, technology has "outstripped our thinking," and
contends that the creation of human-animal embryos presents the
potential for doing a great deal of harm. "...[W]e've not thought
through on a moral and ethical level what this means for the future," he
maintains. Plus, he points out that embryo research has not produced
results. "The truth, however, is that stem cells have provided very
little to this point for any kinds of diseases," says Mostert. "[W]hereas...cells
from [sources other] than embryos, for example in cord blood, [have
yielded] a number of successes," he notes. British law requires that the
human-animal embryos be killed after 14 days, but Mostert predicts some
researchers will violate that statute and let them grow even further. He
emphasizes that God created man and animals separately, intending for it
to stay that way. "Species were created to procreate among those of like
kind, and now this takes us a step closer to essentially saying, 'well,
whatever the Bible says or whatever a Christian perspective is doesn't
really matter,'" he continues. "We have now completely divorced what we
do in biology and in human engineering from acknowledging that we as
human beings are creations of God and that other species are made by the
creator. Now we're saying we are taking that role." Mostert argues that
the creation of human-pig embryos will create beings that God never
intended to be. He also stresses that many scientists are atheists or
agnostics and care nothing about biblical ethics.
Automatic License Plate Recognition Google Video - This video has some interesting implications for the future according to Bible prophecy. This may seem like just a good tool to catch criminals, but the problem lies in just who are called criminals and who is using the system to catch said criminals. Technology will be a huge tool of control and given the scenario of Bible prophecy regarding the war on the saints, those who are going through this time will find it difficult to hide with the lifestyle they probably have now. Not only will they be unable to buy or sell because of technology, but systems like this and other face recognition systems automatically acting as the intelligent eyes for whoever is in control of the system will have the ability to pick vehicles and people out of the crowd, not to mention the visible lack of the mark of the beast. What happens when it becomes criminal to not worship the beast?| Technology |
Bees 'killed by mobile phone signals'
Telegraph UK
(April 16, 2008) - An unusually high
number of honey bee deaths in Britain this year may be caused by
radiation from mobile phone signals, say experts. British beekeepers
have called for further research following the release of a German study
showing that radiation can interfere with bees' navigation systems. In
some cases, 70 per cent of bees exposed to radiation failed to find
their way back to the hive after searching for pollen and nectar,
according to the research by Landau University. The researchers placed
cordless-phone docking units, which emit electromagnetic radiation, into
bee hives. Bee experts are struggling to determine the cause of colony
collapse disorder (CCD), a mystery condition in which bees suddenly
abandon their hives and disappear to die. In America, 24 states are
affected and losses of 50 to 90 per cent of colonies have been recorded.
CCD recently spread to Poland, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal and
last week some keepers in Britain reported losses exceeding the 10 per
cent of colonies that usually die during winter. John Chapple, one of
London's foremost beekeepers, said 30 of his 40 hives were empty and
that other hives around London had lost up to 75 per cent of their bees.
If CCD does take hold in Britain it could have far-reaching implications
for farming, as bees pollinate millions of hectares of fruit trees and
crops. The pollination is worth £200 million to Britain's farmers each
year. The total contribution by bees to the economy is worth up to £1
billion. Brian Dennis, of the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeding
Association, said: "There is so much being said about CCD in America and
[radiation] hasn't been mentioned. "Until someone does a large study, it
is hard to be sure."
'The Grid' Could Soon Make the Internet Obsolete
Fox News
(April 7, 2008) - The Internet could
soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a
lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films
within seconds. At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical
broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling
Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.
The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created
the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to
transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds
of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for
the price of a local call. David Britton, professor of physics at
Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes
grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of
computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate
and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he
said. The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what
scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on
of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built
to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the
same time to capture the data it generates. Cern, based near Geneva,
started the grid computing project seven years ago when researchers
realised the LHC would generate annual data equivalent to 56m CDs -
enough to make a stack 40 miles high. This meant that scientists at Cern
- where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 - would no longer
be able to use his creation for fear of causing a global collapse. This
is because the Internet has evolved by linking together a hotchpotch of
cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for
telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data
transmission. By contrast, the grid has been built with dedicated fibre
optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated
components to slow the deluge of data. The 55,000 servers already
installed are expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.
Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: “We
need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about
getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern.
The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data
instantly to research centres in other countries.” That network, in
effect a parallel Internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that
run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East,
Europe and around the world. One terminates at the Rutherford Appleton
laboratory at Harwell in Oxfordshire. From each centre, further
connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions using
existing high-speed academic networks. It means Britain alone has 8,000
servers on the grid system – so that any student or academic will
theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet
from this autumn. Ian Bird, project leader for Cern’s high-speed
computing project, said grid technology could make the internet so fast
that people would stop using desktop computers to store information and
entrust it all to the internet. “It will lead to what’s known as cloud
computing, where people keep all their information online and access it
from anywhere,” he said. more...
We have created human-animal embryos already, say British team
Times Online UK
(April 2, 2008) - Embryos containing
human and animal material have been created in Britain for the first
time, a month before the House of Commons votes on new laws to
regulate the research. A team at Newcastle University announced
yesterday that it had successfully generated “admixed embryos” by
adding human DNA to empty cow eggs in the first experiment of its
kind in Britain. The Commons is to debate the Human Fertilisation
and Embryology Bill next month. MPs have been promised a free vote
on clauses in the legislation that would permit admixed embryos. But
their creation is already allowed, subject to the granting of a
licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
The Newcastle group, led by Lyle Armstrong, was awarded one of the
first two licences in January. The other went to a team at King’s
College London, led by Professor Stephen Minger. The new Bill will
formalise their legal status if it is passed by Parliament. Admixed
embryos are widely supported by scientists and patient groups as
they provide an opportunity to produce powerful stem-cell models for
investigating diseases such as Parkinson’s and diabetes, and for
developing new drugs. Their creation, however, has been opposed by
some religious groups, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland,
described the work last month as “experiments of Frankenstein
proportion”. The admixed embryos created by the Newcastle group are
of a kind known as cytoplasmic hybrids, or cybrids, which are made
by placing the nucleus from a human cell into an animal egg that has
had its nucleus removed. The genetic material in the resulting
embryos is 99.9 per cent human. The BBC reported that the Newcastle
cybrids lived for three days, and that the largest grew to contain
32 cells. The ultimate aim is to grow these for six days, and then
to extract embryonic stem cells for use in research. It is already
illegal to culture human-animal embryos for more than 14 days, or to
implant them in the womb of a woman or animal, and these
prohibitions will remain in the new legislation. more...
Laser plane could destroy tanks from 10 miles
Telegraph.uk
(March 29, 2008) - The United States Defence Department has
developed a prototype of an aircraft armed with a laser gun that could
destroy tanks 10 miles away. The weapon is capable of destroying targets
up to 15km (10m) away, according to
Defense Update online magazine. The ten-centimetre-wide beam will
heat targets almost instantly to thousands of degrees and will slice
through metal even at maximum range. It is intended both for battlefield
use and for missile defense. It is anticipated the beam will be
adjustable, allowing the gunner to choose between, for example,
targeting a vehicle's fuel tank to destroy it utterly, or slice through
a tyre to bring it to a halt without injuring the driver. The laser will
be housed in a rotating turret attached to the underside of the aircraft
and will be aimed independently of the plane. Early tests have focused
on testing the rotation of the laser housing. So far the laser itself
has not been tested in flight, but first trials are expected during
2008. Tests on a laser for destroying vehicles will be carried out on
the prototype based on the C-130 "Hercules" transport aircraft. A
separate version of the missile will be trialled on a Boeing 747.
China's Big RFID Market Beyond The National ID Program
RFID
News
(March 10, 2008) - China not only boasts the "world's largest"
RFID-enabled government ID card initiative, but a wide range of other
RFID projects in transportation, animal-tagging, anti-counterfeiting and
real-time location systems tracking. And it's a market that in 2008 will
reach $1.4 billion in revenue, according to ABI Research. Perhaps the
sexiest project in the works is the RFID e-ticketing apps for the
upcoming 2008 Olympic Games and 2010 World EXPO (in Shanghai). "We could
see more than 12 million e-tickets for the Beijing games," notes Michael
Liard, ABI's RFID research director.
Congress, watchdog probe passport security
The Washington Times
(March
27, 2008) - Three House leaders and the Government Printing
Office's watchdog said yesterday that they are investigating security
concerns about the production of electronic passports highlighted during
an investigation by The Washington Times. Rep. Bennie Thompson,
Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, criticized the GPO for using foreign components in new
electronic passports. "It is just plain irresponsible to jeopardize the
gold standard in document security by outsourcing production when U.S.
companies ought to be able to do the same work here," said Mr. Thompson,
who announced that his panel is investigating the outsourcing. Rep. John
D. Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak said they also are investigating the
overseas production of electronic passports. The two Michigan Democrats
said they are looking into whether profits made by the GPO through
selling blank passports to the State Department may have violated the
law limiting the GPO's business practices. The Times reported yesterday
that the GPO chose two European computer chip makers over U.S.
manufacturers to make tens of millions of electronic passports. The
passports are being assembled in Thailand by one company that was a
victim of Chinese economic espionage. "If true, these allegations raised
in today's press reports are extremely serious not only to the integrity
of our e-Passport program, but also to our national security," said Mr.
Dingell, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Mr. Stupak,
chairman of the subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said,
"Given all of the personal information contained in an e-passport, it is
essential that the entire production chain be secure and free from
potential tampering." Mr. Dingell and Mr. Stupak said in a letter
yesterday to GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden and Public Printer
Robert Tapella that they are investigating the management, production
and distribution of electronic passports. Mr. Thompson, commenting on a
report in yesterday's editions of The Washington Times, said in a
statement that the credibility of U.S. passports is "of the utmost
importance to our homeland security." "Questions alone about the
production and chain of custody of blank U.S. passports can send shock
waves through our homeland security infrastructure," he said. "The
Committee on Homeland Security will use all of the tools available to
determine if American technologies are being overlooked and what
implications there might be for other border security documents and
technologies." Mr. Ogden earlier said his office is conducting an
"end-to-end" review of the agency's production of electronic passports
and will look into the outsourcing of some passport components, such as
computer chips embedded in travel documents. "We do pay close attention
to the issue of passport manufacturing. It is a high priority of this
office," Mr. Ogden said in an interview. Mr. Ogden said his office's
current work plan includes the review "to help improve the process of
manufacturing passports. That's no secret." One of the companies
involved in passport production in Thailand, Smartrac, charged in a
court filing in the Netherlands last year that its technology was stolen
by China. The company issued a statement yesterday saying its passport
assembly plant was secure, CNN reported. The outsourcing has raised
concerns among investigators over the security of passports. GPO and
State Department officials have sought to play down security concerns
and have said they conduct regular checks of overseas manufacturers. Mr.
Ogden said deficiencies in passport manufacturing detailed in an Oct. 12
report cited by the paper were related to older, non-electronic
passports. He declined to specify the deficiencies but said the agency
has been responsive in addressing many of the problems.
Feds Cite Hassles if ID Law Not Followed
GOP USA (March
4, 2008) - Homeland Security officials are pushing recalcitrant
states to adopt stricter driver's license standards to end a standoff
that could disrupt domestic air travel. States have less than a month to
send a letter to the Homeland Security Department seeking an extension
to comply with the Real ID law passed following the 2001 terror
attacks. Some states have resisted, saying it is costly, impractical
and an invasion of privacy. Four states -- Maine, Montana, New Hampshire
and South Carolina -- have yet to seek an extension. Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff argues that the law fixes a critical gap in
security identified by the commission that investigated the 9/11
attacks: the ease of obtaining government-issued ID. It will also hinder
would-be con artists and illegal immigrants, he said. Real ID-compliant
driver's licenses would have several layers of new security features to
prevent forgery. They would also be issued after a number of ID checks,
including verification of birth certificates, Social Security numbers
and immigration status. Officials acknowledge it will take years to
phase in all the different security measures. To bring the states in
line, Chertoff warned that any state that does not seek an extension by
the end of March will find that, come May, their residents will not be
able to use their licenses to board domestic flights. Chertoff's
assistant secretary, Stewart Baker, sent letters to several governors
Monday reminding them of the looming deadline, and urging the holdouts
to seek an extension. In recent years, 17 states passed legislation or
resolutions opposing Real ID, but now only a handful appear willing to
challenge the government publicly. Officials in Maine and Montana
insisted Monday they would not seek an extension. A spokesman for South
Carolina's governor said he was still considering it. New Hampshire
passed a law last year prohibiting the state from participating in the
Real ID program, and Gov. John Lynch wrote Chertoff last week asking him
not to impose the requirements on New Hampshire citizens. A fifth state,
Delaware, has sent a letter asking for an extension, but DHS officials
are still weighing whether the wording of the letter legally adds up to
an extension request. If the states do not seek an extension by March
31, their residents will be subjected to secondary screening by security
workers before boarding any domestic flight beginning May 11. ''We're
not going to buckle under here,'' said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
''My guess is the people of Montana would be proud to walk through that
line.'' Schweitzer called the Real ID proposal a bureaucratic boondoggle
that will cost his state a fortune and give a false sense of security
without actually making ID more reliable. He has sought to rally
opposition to Real ID, but the vast majority of states have decided not
to test whether Washington is bluffing. As the high-stakes game of
chicken continues, federal authorities are not publicly saying whether
seeking an extension actually counts as complying with the law. In his
recent letters, Baker said only that the 45 states that have sought
extensions are ''on track toward improved security.''
Why cash is no longer king
Canada.com
(February
25, 2008) - Inside a popular Canadian electronics store, a woman
trying to pay for a DVD is being refused at the register. Her money is
no good there. The snubbed customer is not a counterfeiter or a
shoplifter barred from shopping in the store, she's simply a woman who
wants to pay for a purchase with dollars and cents. Increasingly, cold
hard cash is the victim of a digital economy that favours symbols of
money -- plastic cards, electronic key fobs, and online payments -- over
the real deal. Nowhere is this more evident than in the diminishing
presence of automated teller machines, which in 2007 saw their biggest
drop in the U.S. (nine per cent) since their debut in the 1970s. In
Canada, the latest data point to a future similar to that of our
American neighbours, as cash withdrawals steadily decline and shoppers
prefer to pay with plastic. According to Moneris, Canada's largest
processor of debit, credit and gift card transactions, one of the
strongest aggressors "directly attacking cash" is technology that allows
consumers to use plastic for small purchases. Examples include No
Signature Required credit card programs, as well as "tap and go" key
fobs. "In the past, you may have heard a heavy sigh from the person
behind you in line if you pulled out your credit card for a transaction
under $20," says Brian Green, senior vice-president of marketing at
Moneris. "This removes the taboo of using a credit card in a
small-ticket environment." The past few years have seen the cash-only
lineup be supplanted by the no-cash lineup. Mr. Green says it's all part
of merchants' plan to "train" Canadians to lessen their cash use. "A
fast form of payment is beneficial to the quick-service operator because
they can greatly increase their through-put and therefore their amount
of revenue," explains Mr. Green. "And as plastic becomes more
convenient, we're going to become more accustomed to using it and will
draw on cash less often, which means fewer withdrawals at the ATM."
After falling victim to debit-card fraud last summer, Derek Moscato
swore off plastic and wrote in the Vancouver Province: "Better for that
wad of hundreds to live in your pocket than the billfold of some
high-tech gangster." Despite his resolve, however, his planned lifestyle
change couldn't be sustained. "(Plastic) is just an easier, cleaner way
to pay for things. "You're not fumbling around with bills and change and
so forth," explains Mr. Moscato, a communications professional from B.C.
"But I've learned there's a price to pay for that convenience."
According to Canadian Interac data, the number of shared cash-dispensing
transactions (money withdrawn from machines not associated with the
user's bank) has plummeted, dropping from 375 million in 2001 to 285
million in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are
available. Tina Romano, public relations manager for Interac, says the
decline is "likely the result of cardholders using their own banks' ABMs
to avoid paying fees, as well as the fact that more Canadians are moving
to electronic payments." Indeed, debit usage nationwide continues its
dramatic rise. In 1998, 1.4 million Interac transactions were processed;
in 2001, it was 2.2 million; and in 2006, 3.3 million Interac payments
were made in Canada, making us among the highest users of debit in the
world.
Electronic tattoo display runs on blood
Physorg.com (February
21, 2008) - Jim Mielke's wireless blood-fueled display is a true
merging of technology and body art. At the recent Greener Gadgets Design
Competition, the engineer demonstrated a subcutaneously implanted
touch-screen that operates as a cell phone display, with the potential
for 3G video calls that are visible just underneath the skin. The basis
of the 2x4-inch "Digital Tattoo Interface" is a Bluetooth device made of
thin, flexible silicon and silicone. It´s inserted through a small
incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin
to align between skin and muscle. Through the same incision, two small
tubes on the device are attached to an artery and a vein to allow the
blood to flow to a coin-sized blood fuel cell that converts glucose and
oxygen to electricity. After blood flows in from the artery to the fuel
cell, it flows out again through the vein. On both the top and bottom
surfaces of the display is a matching matrix of field-producing pixels.
The top surface also enables touch-screen control through the skin.
Instead of ink, the display uses tiny microscopic spheres, somewhat
similar to tattoo ink. A field-sensitive material in the spheres changes
their color from clear to black, aligned with the matrix fields. The
tattoo display communicates wirelessly to other Bluetooth devices - both
in the outside world and within the same body. Although the device is
always on (as long as your blood´s flowing), the display can be turned
off and on by pushing a small dot on the skin. When the phone rings, for
example, an individual turns the display on, and "the tattoo comes to
life as a digital video of the caller," Mielke explains. When the call
ends, the tattoo disappears. Could such an invasive device have harmful
biological effects? Actually, the device could offer health benefits.
That´s because it also continually monitors for many blood disorders,
alerting the person of a health problem. The tattoo display is still
just a concept, with no word on plans for commercialization.
Big Media and the New World Order
Global Research (February
7, 2008) - For Big Media, truth is a scarce commodity and in
times of war it's the first casualty, or as esteemed journalist John
Pilger noted: "Journalism (not truth) is the first casualty (of war).
Not only that: it('s)....a weapon of war (by its) virulent
censorship....by omission (and its) power....can mean....life and death
for people in faraway countries, such as Iraq." Famed journalist George
Seldes put it another way by condemning the "prostitution of the press"
in an earlier era when he covered WW I, the rise of fascism, and most
major world and national events until his death in 1995 at age 104. He
also confronted the media in books like "Lords of the Press." In it and
others, he condemned their corruption, suppression of the truth, and
news censorship before the television age, and said "The most sacred cow
of the press is the press itself, (and the press is) the most powerful
force against the general welfare of the majority of the people." Orwell
also knew a thing or two about truth and said telling it is a
"revolutionary act in times of universal deceit. " Much else he said
applies to the man this article addresses and the state of today's
media. He was at his allegorical best in "Animal Farm" where power
overwhelms freedom, and "All animals are equal but some....are more
equal than others." And he observed in "Nineteen Eighty-Four" that
"Those who control the present control the future (and) Those who
control the future control the past." Today's media barons control
the world as opinion makers. Like in Orwell's world, they're our
national thought control police gatekeepers sanitizing news so only the
cleansed residue portion gets through with everything people want most
left out - the full truth all the time. They manipulate our minds and
beliefs, program our thoughts, divert our attention, and effectively
destroy the free marketplace of ideas essential to a healthy democracy
they won't tolerate. None more ruthlessly than Murdoch and the
info-entertainment empire he controls. Its flagship US operation is Fox
News that Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) calls "the most biased
name in news....with its extraordinary right-wing tilt." In response,
Murdock defiantly "challenge(s) anybody to show me an example of bias in
Fox News Channel" because in his world the entire political spectrum
begins and ends with his views. For him and his staff, "fair and
balanced," we report, you decide" means supporting the boss. Alternative
views are biased, verboten and rarely aired. But they're hammered when
they are as the "liberal" mainstream that's code language for CNN and
other rivals at a time all media giants match the worst of Fox and are
often as crude, confrontational and unprofessional. Distinguished
Australian-raised journalist Bruce Page wrote the book on Murdock called
"The Murdoch Archigelago." It's about a man he calls "one of the world's
leading villains (and) global pirate(s)" who rampages the mediasphere
putting world leaders on notice what he expects from them and what he'll
offer in return. It's "let's make a deal," Murdock-style that's
uncompromisingly hardball. Acquiesce or get hammered in print and on-air
with scathing innuendo, misinformation and outright lies. Few
politicians risk it. Others with alternative views have no choice, and
world leaders like Hugo Chavez are used to this type character
assassination. He mostly worries about the other kind and with good
reason as long-time Latin American expert James Petras reported November
28. Four days before a crucially important constitutional reform
referendum, he published an article headlined: "Venezuela's D-Day - The
December 2, 2007 Constituent Referendum: Democratic Socialism or
Imperial Counter-Revolution." In it, he reported that the Venezuelan
government "broadcast and circulated a confidential (US embassy) memo to
the CIA" revealing "clandestine operations....to destabilize (the
referendum) and coordinate the civil military overthrow of the elected
Chavez government." It's because independent polls predicted the
referendum would pass even though they proved wrong. The dominant media
readied to pounce on the results but instead went into gloat mode on a
win Chavez called a "phyrric victory" but Murdock headlines trumpeted
"Chavez's president-for-life-bid defeated." This is the type vintage
copy Page covers with reams of examples in his book. Its central theme
is that the media baron wants to privatize "a state propaganda service
(and manipulate it) without scruple (or) regard for the truth." In
return he wants "vast government favors such as tax breaks, regulatory
relief, and monopoly" market control free from competitors having too
much of what he wants solely for himself and apparently feels it's owed
to him. Because of his size and media clout, he usually gets his way and
mostly in places mattering most - in the biggest markets with greatest
profit potential in a business where truth is off the table and
partnering with government for a growing revenue stream and greater
influence is all that counts. more...
Embryos created with DNA from 3 people Associated
Press (February 5, 2008) - British
scientists say they have created human embryos containing DNA from two
women and a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one
day to produce embryos free of inherited diseases. Though the
preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility of
genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are
still only primarily the product of one man and one woman. "We are not
trying to alter genes, we're just trying to swap a small proportion of
the bad ones for some good ones," said Patrick Chinnery, a professor of
neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the research. The
research was presented at a scientific conference recently, but has not
been published in a scientific journal. The process aims to create
healthy embryos for couples to avoid passing on genes carrying diseases.
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source,
which are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes
in the mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like
muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation. In their
research, Chinnery and colleagues used normal embryos created from one
man and one woman that had defective mitochondria in the woman's egg.
They then transplanted that embryo into an emptied egg donated from a
second woman who had healthy mitochondria. The research is being funded
by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, a British charity. Only trace
amounts of a person's genes come from the mitochondria, and experts said
it would be incorrect to say that the embryos have three parents. "Most
of the genes that make you who you are are inside the nucleus," Chinnery
said. "We're not going anywhere near that."
more...
Animal-human embryo research is approved
Reuters
(January 18, 2008) - Experiments to create
Britain’s first embryos that combine human and animal material will
begin within months after a government watchdog gave its approval
yesterday to two research teams to carry out the controversial work.
Scientists at King’s College London, and the University of Newcastle
will inject human DNA into empty eggs from cows to create embryos known
as cytoplasmic hybrids, which are 99.9 per cent human in genetic terms.
The experiments are intended to provide insights into diseases such as
Parkinson’s and spinal muscular atrophy by producing stem cells
containing genetic defects that contribute to these conditions. These
will be used as cell models for investigating new approaches to
treatment, and to improve the understanding of how embryonic stem cells
develop. They will not be used in therapy, and it is illegal to implant
them into the womb. The decision, taken by the by the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to grant one-year
licences to both teams ends more than a year of uncertainty for the
researchers, who first applied for permission in the autumn of 2006.
Last January the authority deferred its decision and began a
consultation on the issue, which reported in September that the public
was broadly supportive. In late November, it again delayed ruling
because of concerns about procedures for obtaining consent from the
donors of the human DNA to be used. While the HFEA was deliberating, the
Government proposed a ban on the creation of human-animal embryos, also
known as “cybrids”, but retreated after a revolt by scientists. The
creation of human-animal embryos will be explicitly permitted by the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently passing through
Parliament, subject to HFEA licensing. An amendment that would have
blocked such research was defeated in the House of Lords on Monday by a
majority of 172. Stephen Minger, who leads the King’s team, said
yesterday he was delighted that he would be able to start the
experiments. “I am pleased that the HFEA has finally after a year and a
half realised the importance that the work that we and the group from
Newcastle have been licensed for,” he said. more...
AT&T and Other I.S.P.’s May Be Getting Ready to Filter
NY Times (January
8, 2008) - For the last 15 years, Internet service providers have
acted - to use an old cliche - as wide-open information super-highways, letting
data flow uninterrupted and unimpeded between users and the Internet. But
I.S.P.’s may be about to embrace a new metaphor: traffic cop. At a small panel
discussion about digital piracy at NBC’s booth on the Consumer Electronics Show
floor, representatives from NBC, Microsoft, several digital filtering companies
and the telecom giant AT&T said discussed whether the time was right to start
filtering for copyrighted content at the network level.
Homeland Security
Department Announces Deeply Flawed Regulations for National ID
System Electronic
Privacy Information Center (January 11,
2008) - Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff today released the agency's final regulations for REAL ID,
the national identification system. The law was passed in 2005 and
will require the states to make significant changes to the state
driver's license. EPIC and other civil liberties and privacy
organizations have objected to the federal identification system,
which will include the sensitive information of 245 million license
and state ID cardholders across the country. The proposal has drawn
sharp criticism from state governments, members of Congress, civil
liberties advocates, and security experts. The Secretary scaled back
some of the requirements, reduced the cost, and extended the
deadline for state compliance. However, Secretary Chertoff also
indicated that the REAL ID card would be used for a wide variety of
purposes, unrelated to the law that authorized the system, including
employment verification and immigration determination. He also
indicated that the agency would not prevent the use of the card by
private parties for non-government purposes. As part of the
cost-saving effort, Homeland Security has decided not to encrypt the
data that will be stored on the card. Melissa Ngo, Director
of the EPIC Identification and Surveillance Project, said, "REAL ID
creates a United States where individuals are either 'approved' or
'suspect,' and that is a real danger to security and civil rights."
The REAL ID proposal has been widely criticized. Seventeen states
have passed legislation against REAL ID, and Congress is debating
its repeal. The Department of Homeland Security has also been
criticized for its own poor security practices. In May 2007, a
Homeland Security office lost the personal data of 100,000
employees. According to security expert Bruce Schneier, "Measures
like REAL ID have limited security benefit. Identification systems
are complex, and the unforgability of the plastic card is only a
small part of the security equation. Issuance procedures,
verification procedures, and the back-end database are far more
vulnerable to abuse, and -- perversely -- a harder-to-forge card
makes subverting the system even more valuable. Good security
doesn't try to divine intentionality from identification, but
instead provides for broad defenses regardless of identification."
EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C. EPIC
was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil
liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and
constitutional values. In 2007, EPIC led a grassroots coalition of
organizations and bloggers that urged the Department of Homeland
Security to withdraw the REAL ID plan. Papers please! Beyond the recollection of history and how this kind of system was used during WWII and elsewhere, this article brings up the issue of trust and security. Can you really trust a plastic card to be secure and applicable only to yourself? What if its stolen? With identity theft running rampant, a new system that still uniquely identifies everyone initiated into it is necessary, but a method that cannot easily be stolen will be needed. This is where I think RFID tattoo ink comes in. I think Real ID is just a stepping stone to the next level. It prepares the consciousness of the population and the need for security will cause the next step to be taken. With the issue of terrorism causing fear in those with no hope, many will be more than willing to pledge allegiance to the beast and to the global government for which he stands under Lucifer to save their mortal lives, only to lose their eternal souls. Eternity apart from God, who IS love, is not an eternity anyone really wants.
WiMax seen growing fast globally Reuters (January 8,
2008) - An emerging long-range,
high-speed wireless technology is expected to spread quickly and be available
globally within two years, a key backer of the so-called WiMax technology said
on Tuesday. "In a year or two, we will see it
in many metro zones and areas of heavy demand," Dan Eldar, head of Intel's
(INTC.O) design center in Israel
where the WiMax technology was being developed, told Reuters. "It will
take time to reach a massive deployment." Sprint Nextel
(S.N), the number three U.S. wireless carrier, said on Tuesday it was
soft-launching its Xohm mobile Internet service for employees in Chicago,
Baltimore
and Washington D.C. ahead of a commercial WiMax launch later in 2008 in
select U.S. cities. Sprint Nextel has said it will spend $5 billion by 2010 on a
WiMax network using the new 802.16e standard. Smaller mobile carrier Clearwire (CLWR.O)
is also planning a WiMax network. WiMax, which is expected to bring in higher
revenues to the telecoms sector, allows for high-speed Internet connections in
the tens of megabits per second -- far faster than the very popular WiFi, which
users connect to networks over short distances. "It will enable the same type of
(broadband Internet) on the road as you have at home," said Gaby Waisman,
general manager of Europe
for Alvarion (ALVR.O) (ALVR.TA), an Israeli maker of WiMax modems and
equipment. WiMax can cover a stretch of as much as tens of kilometers, depending
on the number of users. In New York City,
for example, many base stations will be required around the city to meet the
heavy demand, while a sparsely populated region will need fewer, Eldar noted. He
said that in addition to the United States, mobile WiMax is close to being
rolled out in some European and Asia-Pacific countries including Russia and
Japan.
"Estimates for the number of subscribers to WiMax ranges from the high tens of
millions to more than 100 million in the next four, five years," Eldar said
before a news conference to mark the start of a WiMax trial by Intel,
Alvarion and 012 Smile.Communications (SMLC.O) in the southern city of
Sderot. Sderot, which has been hit hard by rocket fire from Palestinian
militants, will be the first test of WiMax in Israel.
Further rollout in the country depends on the success of the trial and how
quickly the Communications Ministry allocates licenses to telecoms providers.
Intel, the world's largest microprocessor maker, has made a large bet that
mobile WiMax will take off and is the developer of chipsets for WiMax.
more... Trends to a New World Order: Part 1 Transnational Elites and Pernicious Globalization Old-Thinker News (January 3, 2008)
As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent. When keeping an eye on current events and reading various think tank projections regarding the future of the world, a sobering picture begins to emerge. Forecasts are being made of a world in which a sharp divide exists between the elite and the rest of humanity. Advanced technology offers those who can afford it a means of personalized "auto-evolution". "Pernicious globalization" takes its toll on the world and global elites thrive, leaving the rest of us in the dust. Increasingly open borders, unchecked immigration and trends to world governance cause communal conflict between various groups. The middle class becomes revolutionary as economic hardship hits hard on millions of Americans. Dictators utilize life extension technologies to prolong their reign of terror. A computer simulation offers government agencies and corporations a system to test marketing strategy and psychological operations on a virtual mirror of the real world in real time. "Gen-rich" and "Gen-poor" classes emerge to form a new "biological caste system". All of this would make for a thrilling Sci-Fi novel, but these trends come not from science fiction - though science fiction has proven to be a prophetic precursor to these developments -, but from present day realities seen by the U.K. Ministry of Defense, the CIA and other prominent individuals in the fields of technology, science and government. This short two part report will attempt to answer these questions: What impact has globalization had on us and how will it effect us in the future? How do present day trends in technology, globalization, politics and government relate to the prospect of a New World Order? The New World Order A "New World Order" has been heralded by global elites for many years. We are told by these elites that trends to a system of world governance are only natural, that national sovereignty must be eliminated. James Paul Warburg, speaking before the US Senate in 1950, stated that, "We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent." Globalization and advances in technology have undoubtedly impacted our lifestyles, world-views, and lives dramatically. A "global outlook" has planted itself in our society, but more so among elites. Zbigniew Brzezinski writes of this global outlook in his 1970 book, Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era,
The dissemination and injection of globalist ideology into the collective vocabulary and consciousness of society has been a leading goal of such transnational elites. Regional governance in conjunction with regional economic systems inside a world government has also been a long term goal of globalist organizations. In order for these regional systems to operate smoothly and to be generally accepted, think tanks have undertaken projects of social engineering on a massive scale to rid the population of "outdated" ideas of national sovereignty. [2] The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a conference in 2002 which was dedicated to the development of strategies to overcome such "outdated" ideas. The political, social and economic integration of the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a union similar to the European Union was discussed. America was acknowledged by the conference panelists as being one of the largest obstacles to globalist planning. Expanding the definition of "we", framing integration in a non threatening manner and a "winner at the polls" were some of the suggested social engineering strategies. A summary of the conference states, "Further economic, political, and social integration will depend on how citizens of the three countries define their national identities and the degree to which they are willing to cede some of their countries’ sovereignty to a larger entity." [3] As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent. The United Nations has recently begun an initiative to bring more into agreement with the "global consciousness" with a comic book geared towards children. Marvel Comics has teamed up with the UN to create a comic book that will teach children "...the value of international cooperation." [5] Another example comes from the London based think tank mi2g, which released a statement in late December of 2007 that stated in part,
Combating climate change with a "global unified approach" is a concept that Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, is quite familiar with. In an article carried in the Taipei times, Haass writes that sovereignty must become weaker in a globalized world faced with climate change, "Some governments are prepared to give up elements of sovereignty to address the threat of global climate change..."more... | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Technology | NewWorldOrder | America | Earth Changes | |
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