Cybernetics / NSA Spying - June 10 2013 - Coast to Coast Am - C2CAM Date: 06-10-13
George Noory interviews Dr. Peter Breggin, Kevin Warwick, and David Seaman
About the show:
During the first half, Professor of Cybernetics
at the University of Reading, England, Kevin Warwick spoke about
advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and cyborgs. He defined
the concept of a cyborg as a human who is enhanced through technology to
have extra abilities. It's an intriguing question to explore-- would
you have implants in your eyes if they could give you X-ray vision, or
undergo a procedure so you could communicate telepathically?, he
pondered. If it was a simple, safe procedure to have small implants
installed, many people might consider it, kind of like laser eye
surgery, he suggested. Currently, three students have small magnets
implanted in their fingers as an experiment into expanding their sensory
inputs with sonar, he reported.
Warwick shared details about
robots being developed with biological brains using rat neurons, and how
research like this is helping people with neurological problems. He
touched on his research project involving a robot named Morgui that has
five senses-- vision, hearing, infrared, ultrasonics, and radar, and how
this data is fused together. He also talked about the Turing test, in
which people try to guess whether they are communicating with a human or
artificial intelligence. Warwick foresees robotic or autonomous cars
coming in the near future, in which drivers might switch into this mode
like they do with cruise control when they're on a freeway or toll road.
------------------------------------
In
the latter half, reporter David Seaman discussed the breaking news
about whistleblower Edward Snowden, and the ramification of his
disclosures regarding NSA surveillance of American citizens via the
Internet and telephone. Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first
received the leaked information, has said that Snowden has given him
thousands of documents, many of which are significant stories. "So, it's
quite possible that by early next week, you and I could be living in a
different kind of world," Seaman remarked, adding that he believes we're
seeing a massive abuse of power, and the disassembling of 4th Amendment
rights.
Seaman suspects that we have not learned the full extent
of the NSA surveillance of American phone calls-- and that in spite of
what we've been told, they may actually have transcripts of all
conversations. We do know they have logs of all calls over the past
seven years, including the numbers you've called, the numbers that have
called you, the length of the calls, and the location data, he said.
Snowden called this an "existential threat to democracy," and while
Pres. Obama and various Senators have defended the surveillance, other
Senators have expressed concern. Seaman is particularly galled by Pres.
Obama presenting himself to voters as a constitutional law scholar, and
now backing these actions. Seaman suggested that the ultimate goal of
such surveillance is to prevent or stifle civil unrest.
Overconfidence
During
the first half-hour, psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin reacted to a new
study about overconfidence, which finds that people can draw inaccurate
conclusions when they underestimate what they don't know. Genuine
confidence comes from the ability to think for yourself and solve
problems, Breggin commented.
News segment guest: Will Thomas
This is cool!
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