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Understanding Eisenhower’s Warning Of Technological Elite Takeover


pipedreams
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This article explores the revolving door between private companies and top government positions, many of which are fraught with conflicts of interest and yet rarely in the national interest. Eisenhower warned of the dangers posed by a “technological elite”. ⁃ TN Editor

 

"In June 2019, Susan Gordon stood on a stage at the Washington Convention Center. Behind her loomed three giant letters, “AWS,” the abbreviation for Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division of the giant Internet retailer. After three decades at the Central Intelligence Agency, Gordon had risen to one of the top jobs in the cloak-and-dagger world: principal deputy director of national intelligence. From that perch she publicly extolled the virtues of Amazon Web Services and the cloud services the tech giant provides the CIA.

Gordon left government in August 2019, two months after her  AWS summit talk. In November 2019  she became senior advisor to a consultancy with close Amazon connections and in April joined the board of  defense contractor with extensive AWS business.

Gordon is one of scores of former government officials who have landed lucrative work in Big Tech."

https://www.technocracy.news/understanding-eisenhowers-warning-of-technological-elite-takeover/

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/02/23/60_years_after_eisenhowers_warning_distinct_signs_of_a_digital-intelligence_complex_127207.html

"Critics of tech industry power and influence point out that Big Tech is now among the biggest employers of lobbyists, hiring primarily those who formerly worked for government. In 2010 Amazon fielded eight lobbyists. Last year the company flooded the zone with 118, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

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Edited by pipedreams
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Sue Gordon is about the worst example of this you could possibly imagine. She was a IC lifer and if anyone else had been President she likely would have been DNI. She never intended to leave service.

She’s on the board at CACI now, which is lucky to have her. Yes, they have a huge AWS business — because literally everyone in the defense intelligence community has a huge AWS business, because Amazon has most of the high security cloud computing business. Pointing at AWS is like pointing at Microsoft Windows — it’s literally just part of the infrastructure, everyone uses it. It’s more secure than what the government has built.

Edited by devildog2067
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"To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been."--- Theodore Kaczynski

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26 minutes ago, holyjohnson said:

"To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been."--- Theodore Kaczynski

You do know a geosynchronous orbit also known as a Clark orbit because science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark was the fist to say park it there (at that orbit) and it will stay in place.

He also explained out a 10 CM area of the atmosphere is responsible for bouncing radio waves.   That is called...the Clark belt.

Isaac Asimov published (among God knows how many books) a college text book on physics and another on chemistry?

 

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5 minutes ago, Historian said:

You do know a geosynchronous orbit also known as a Clark orbit because science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark was the fist to say park it there (at that orbit) and it will stay in place.

He also explained out a 10 CM area of the atmosphere is responsible for bouncing radio waves.   That is called...the Clark belt.

Isaac Asimov published (among God knows how many books) a college text book on physics and another on chemistry?

 

i did actually.

i love his 2001 series of Novels and think they are probably a window to the future (hopefully only to a point)

and i have also heard NASA keeps going back to Clark`s 'Space Elevator' as a probable next step in Space Flight.

its interesting that both had the same fears of Technological Singularity one being a Servant to it and the other a Servant of it.

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35 minutes ago, holyjohnson said:

i did actually.

i love his 2001 series of Novels and think they are probably a window to the future (hopefully only to a point)

and i have also heard NASA keeps going back to Clark`s 'Space Elevator' as a probable next step in Space Flight.

its interesting that both had the same fears of Technological Singularity one being a Servant to it and the other a Servant of it.

It's true!  The space elevator idea.  I forgot that one.

Yeah, Clark was the real deal. Asimov too.

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20 minutes ago, Historian said:

It's true!  The space elevator idea.  I forgot that one.

Yeah, Clark was the real deal. Asimov too.

yeah newer methods of lighter and stronger Carbon Fiber make the Space Elevator way more feasible.

i was fascinated by the Nuclear Bomb Propulsion system of Discovery 1 in 2001.

again the duality of Technology.

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