EU: Will Be Watching These Faces during 2017: Ten to watch for Europe

The European Union enters 2017 under siege from without and within, facing challenges to the east, west and south and experiencing a surge by anti-EU nationalists across the continent itself.

These are 10 faces Europe will be watching in 2017:

DONALD TRUMP – USA

JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI – POLAND

GEERT WILDERS – Netherlands

THERESA MAY – UK

MARINE LE PEN – FRANCE

VLADIMIR PUTIN – RUSSIA

SERGIO MATTARELLA – ITALY

ANGELA MERKEL – GERMANY

THE AFRICAN MIGRANT

THE MEN AND WOMEN IN BLACK - ISIS

Read more: Faces of 2017: Ten to watch for Europe

Artificial Intelligence: genuine concern, or fearmongering?

Dozens of prominent scientists have put their names to an open letter warning the public about the danger of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They are, specifically, worried about potential developments in autonomous weapons, made possible by the progress of robotics and AI.

Among those endorsing the letter are Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky and Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame.

In the letter, the signatories claim “the deployment of such systems is – practically if not legally – feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”They highlight a large list of possible drawbacks to consider, should such weapons become reality.

For example, the signatories argue that they are relatively cheap to mass-produce, which could lower the boundaries for going to war, since fewer (if any) human lives would be lost.
The ‘human factor’ is also listed as one of few advantages of autonomous weapons, however, it is followed by:

“There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans, especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.”

Mass-production could mean the weapons would easily end up on the black market or in the hands of terrorists wishing to destabilise nations, or war lords “wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc.”

They write: “the key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting.”

Their response: “A military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity.”

Read more: Artificial Intelligence: genuine concern, or fearmongering? | euronews, world news

Geopolitical Forecasts: What U.S. Intelligence Predicted the World Would Look Like in 2015 - by Urie Friedman

Nine months before the September 11 attacks—and just days after the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount, handing the presidency to George W. Bush—U.S. intelligence officials published an 85-page prediction for what the world would look like in 2015.

It's a world that seems familiar in some ways, and utterly foreign in others. And it's a world in which power is diffusing and decaying—reflecting one of the most significant trends of 2014 and perhaps the coming year as well.

 Read more: What U.S. Intelligence Predicted the World Would Look Like in 2015 - The Atlantic