Julian Assange has offered an interesting theory about the nature of conspiracies, in which they are not some guys sitting around a mahogany table, but rather are the product of network theory. We explain his ideas for how conspiracies thus form and how they are defeated.
If we were to look back at some of the most important cyberattacks and cyber-risks that occurred so far in 2016, a mid-year review would very closely resemble Game of Thrones: full of conspiracies, betrayals, shameless pretend-to-be friends and unexpected turns of events – we might even end up believing that the cyber-world served as an inspiration for George R. Martin.
OSDC 2014: Michael Renner - Secure encryption in a wiretapped futureNETWAYS
Since the beginning of publications by Edward Snowden last year many of the presumedly exaggerated threat models in cryptography have become reality. When operating sensitive services it's more likely than not that communcation data will be tapped at large carriers as well as internet exchanges and stored indefinitily - this calls for strong and forward-secure encryption.
On the other hand we're faced with the problem that much of the software we're using in the datacenter today is not very secure when it comes to default encryption settings. On top of that, most developers and system administrators are not very fluent in the basic workings of encryption systems.
The talk will give an introduction to SSL/TLS and explain how to check for weaknesses in existing services with tools like nmap, sslscan and sslyze. For common daemons like apache, nginx, exim, postfix and dovecot best practice on improving cryptographic strength will be discussed.
If we were to look back at some of the most important cyberattacks and cyber-risks that occurred so far in 2016, a mid-year review would very closely resemble Game of Thrones: full of conspiracies, betrayals, shameless pretend-to-be friends and unexpected turns of events – we might even end up believing that the cyber-world served as an inspiration for George R. Martin.
OSDC 2014: Michael Renner - Secure encryption in a wiretapped futureNETWAYS
Since the beginning of publications by Edward Snowden last year many of the presumedly exaggerated threat models in cryptography have become reality. When operating sensitive services it's more likely than not that communcation data will be tapped at large carriers as well as internet exchanges and stored indefinitily - this calls for strong and forward-secure encryption.
On the other hand we're faced with the problem that much of the software we're using in the datacenter today is not very secure when it comes to default encryption settings. On top of that, most developers and system administrators are not very fluent in the basic workings of encryption systems.
The talk will give an introduction to SSL/TLS and explain how to check for weaknesses in existing services with tools like nmap, sslscan and sslyze. For common daemons like apache, nginx, exim, postfix and dovecot best practice on improving cryptographic strength will be discussed.
An online newsletter of the Digital Natives with a Cause project, Links in the Chain is brought forth by the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, India. For more details, visit: http://www.cis-india.org/
Essay : The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Film Analysis | Year 11 HSC .... The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Essay-free - incpaper.web.fc2.com. The comparative analysis of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Essay. Walter Mitty Essay | PDF.
These slides are for my talk for the Somerville College Mathematics Reunion ("Somerville Maths Reunion", 6/24/17): http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/event/somerville-maths-reunion/
Distributing information in small world networks: Four cases of proves contagionSimone Belli
The case-study is part of a research project based in the Spain area between 2011 and 2014 on the social institutions and affective processes involved in what normally is referred to as social movement. Our purpose is to study how information circulates in small-world networks, in which the dynamics is modeled with a stochastic version of the Greenberg-Hasting's excitable model. This is a three state model, in which a node can be in an excited, passive or susceptible state. Only in the susceptible state a node interacts with its neighbors in the small-world network and it depends on a probability of contagion. We introduce an infection probability r, which is the only parameter of our implementation of the Greenberg-Hasting's model. The small-world network is characterized by a mean connectivity parameter K and by a disorder parameter p.
The resulting dynamics is characterized by the average activity in the network F. We have found transitions from inactive to active collective regimes, and we can induce this transition by varying r, K or p. We search for different dynamics within small-world networks of citizens’ organization by going through the following steps: identify alliance patterns; look for robust small-world attributes and how are constructed; interpreting the three modes of our model. Our interest here focuses on distributed information of different small-word networks and processes of contagion within specific local settings.
Welcome to Planet Hoax 8th Issue Infowars Magazineinfowarrior78
Rod Sterling’s quote from the Obsolete Man, a much loved 1961
episode of The Twilight Zone, has never been so relevant for
today’s society, a world in which common sense has been sub-
verted and reality is frowned upon by an establishment that
sustains its own power on a steady diet of universal deceit.
Group Epistemology and Irregular Warfare (the chickens come home to roost)Peter Ludlow
Most work in epistemology (the theory of knowledge) focusses on how individuals can acquire knowledge and eliminate error. But recently attention has been turned to how groups acquire knowledge and eliminate error. In this talk I take up the question of how groups can maximize knowledge acquisition in hostile environments -- for example, when they are the targets of irregular warfare.
Digital humanities: Narrative GuidancePeter Ludlow
There are two approaches to the digital humanities. According to the first approach, digital technologies are applied to the humanities. According to the second, the humanities become a resource for digital technologies. In this talk I explore the idea that narrative and narrative understanding can guide digital technology.
An online newsletter of the Digital Natives with a Cause project, Links in the Chain is brought forth by the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, India. For more details, visit: http://www.cis-india.org/
Essay : The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Film Analysis | Year 11 HSC .... The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Essay-free - incpaper.web.fc2.com. The comparative analysis of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Essay. Walter Mitty Essay | PDF.
These slides are for my talk for the Somerville College Mathematics Reunion ("Somerville Maths Reunion", 6/24/17): http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/event/somerville-maths-reunion/
Distributing information in small world networks: Four cases of proves contagionSimone Belli
The case-study is part of a research project based in the Spain area between 2011 and 2014 on the social institutions and affective processes involved in what normally is referred to as social movement. Our purpose is to study how information circulates in small-world networks, in which the dynamics is modeled with a stochastic version of the Greenberg-Hasting's excitable model. This is a three state model, in which a node can be in an excited, passive or susceptible state. Only in the susceptible state a node interacts with its neighbors in the small-world network and it depends on a probability of contagion. We introduce an infection probability r, which is the only parameter of our implementation of the Greenberg-Hasting's model. The small-world network is characterized by a mean connectivity parameter K and by a disorder parameter p.
The resulting dynamics is characterized by the average activity in the network F. We have found transitions from inactive to active collective regimes, and we can induce this transition by varying r, K or p. We search for different dynamics within small-world networks of citizens’ organization by going through the following steps: identify alliance patterns; look for robust small-world attributes and how are constructed; interpreting the three modes of our model. Our interest here focuses on distributed information of different small-word networks and processes of contagion within specific local settings.
Welcome to Planet Hoax 8th Issue Infowars Magazineinfowarrior78
Rod Sterling’s quote from the Obsolete Man, a much loved 1961
episode of The Twilight Zone, has never been so relevant for
today’s society, a world in which common sense has been sub-
verted and reality is frowned upon by an establishment that
sustains its own power on a steady diet of universal deceit.
Group Epistemology and Irregular Warfare (the chickens come home to roost)Peter Ludlow
Most work in epistemology (the theory of knowledge) focusses on how individuals can acquire knowledge and eliminate error. But recently attention has been turned to how groups acquire knowledge and eliminate error. In this talk I take up the question of how groups can maximize knowledge acquisition in hostile environments -- for example, when they are the targets of irregular warfare.
Digital humanities: Narrative GuidancePeter Ludlow
There are two approaches to the digital humanities. According to the first approach, digital technologies are applied to the humanities. According to the second, the humanities become a resource for digital technologies. In this talk I explore the idea that narrative and narrative understanding can guide digital technology.
Hacktivism 2: A brief history of hacktivism.Peter Ludlow
From its roots in culture jamming, we look at the early days of hacktivism from the early manifesto by The Mentor to the exploits of The Electronic Disturbance Theater, The Electrohippies, the Hong Kong Blondes, et.
Hacktivism 7: Epistemology and irregular warfarePeter Ludlow
Epistemology typically focusses on how individuals can maximize knowledge, but when we look to group knowledge we must also consider forces that seek to undermine our knowledge. This talk explores those threats and offers ways groups can armor themselves against such threats.
Repairs and extends David Lewis' theory of "Truth in Fiction" to handle cases of fan fiction. Also discusses post-colonial literature and archonic fiction.
What Can We Learn from the Unabomber?: Nothing.Peter Ludlow
These are my slides from the Unabomber panel at Rutgers and at SXSW.
The SXSW presentation is written up here: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/tech-vs-society-why-unabomber-still-makes-us-think-1C8780230
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
2. The Plan
1. A Primer on Network Theory
2. Assange, Networks, and Conspiracy
3. Analysis of Assange on Conspiracy
Then…
4. A primer on Dynamic Systems in the Military
5. The Empire Strikes Back!
3. Assange, Networks and Conspiracy
• What are Conspiracies?
• What are their Harms?
• How Can they be dismantled?
4. What are conspiracies? (for JA)
• he doesn't mean 'conspiracy' in the usual
sense of people sitting around in a room
plotting some crime or deception.
5. What are conspiracies? (for JA)
• he doesn't mean 'conspiracy' in the usual
sense of people sitting around in a room
plotting some crime or deception.
• As I understand Assange's view it is entirely
possible that there could be a conspiracy in
which no person in the conspiracy was aware
that they were part of the conspiracy.
6. What are conspiracies? (for JA)
• he doesn't mean 'conspiracy' in the usual
sense of people sitting around in a room
plotting some crime or deception.
• As I understand Assange's view it is entirely
possible that there could be a conspiracy in
which no person in the conspiracy was aware
that they were part of the conspiracy.
• How is this possible?
7. Conspiracy as an emergent property
Suppose that you have some information that
is valuable -- say some inside information
about the financial state of a corporation.
8. Conspiracy as an emergent property
Suppose that you have some information that
is valuable -- say some inside information
about the financial state of a corporation.
If you immediately make that information
public without acting on it, it is worth nothing
to you.
9. Conspiracy as an emergent property
Suppose that you have some information that
is valuable -- say some inside information
about the financial state of a corporation.
If you immediately make that information
public without acting on it, it is worth nothing
to you.
On the other hand, if you keep it to yourself
you may not fully profit from the information.
10. Conspiracy as an emergent property
Ideally, you would like to seek out someone
that you could trade the information with, and
who you could be sure would keep the
information close so that it remained valuable.
Let's say that I have similar information and
that we trade it.
11. Conspiracy as an emergent property
You may trade with other friends and I may do
likewise. In each case we have simply traded
information for our own benefit, but we have
also built a little network of information
traders who, hopefully, are keeping the
information relatively close and are giving us
something equally valuable in kind.
12. Conspiracy as an emergent property
We may not know the scope of the network
and we may not even realize we are part of a
network, but we are, and this network
constitutes a conspiracy as Assange
understands it.
13. Conspiracy as an emergent property
We may not know the scope of the network and
we may not even realize we are part of a
network, but we are, and this network
constitutes a conspiracy as Assange understands
it.
No one sat down and agreed to form a network
of inside information traders -- the network has
simply naturally emerged from our local
individual bargains. We can say that the network
is an emergent property of these bargains.
14. Emergent Conspiracies: example 2
• Suppose that I am a reporter. I would like to
have some hot news to report. You agree to
give me the inside information, but you do so
with the understanding that you and your
network friends will act on your information
before you give it to me and it becomes
worthless when published.
15. Emergent Conspiracies: example 2
• I get my scoop, and you get to control the
conditions under which the information is
made public. I, as reporter, am now
unknowingly part of the conspiracy.
16. Emergent Conspiracies: example 2
• I get my scoop, and you get to control the
conditions under which the information is made
public. I, as reporter, am now unknowingly part of
the conspiracy.
• I am participating in the conspiracy by respecting
the secrets that the network wishes to keep, and
releasing the secrets (and sometimes
misinformation) only when it is in the interest of
the network to do so. I have become a part of the
network, and hence part of the conspiracy.
18. Emergent Conspiracies: example 3
• The network need not start out as a
conspiracy.
• Suppose that the leader of an Arab country
wants the United States to take strong action
against Iran. If the Arab leader's people knew
he took such a position there would be strong
political blowback and resistance (and
possible political risk for him), hence he
conducts his discussions with the United
States in secret.
19. Emergent Conspiracies: example 3
• The network need not start out as a conspiracy.
• Suppose that the leader of an Arab country wants
the United States to take strong action against
Iran. If the Arab leader's people knew he took
such a position there would be strong political
blowback and resistance (and possible political
risk for him), hence he conducts his discussions
with the United States in secret.
• He has become part of a conspiracy.
20. Assange on Conspiracy Again
• These three illustrations all show the central
feature of what Assange takes to be a conspiracy
-- secrecy and exchange of information within a
closed network.
• this is conspiracy in the sense of the original
etymology of 'conspire' -- as in "breathe with" or
"breathe together".
• The individuals are acting in concert, whether by
plan or not, and the secrecy ensures that the
benefits of the network accrue to those inside
the network and not outside it.
21. Assange on Networks
• “We will use connected graphs as a way to
apply our spatial reasoning abilities to political
relationships. First take some nails
("conspirators") and hammer them into a
board at random. Then take twine
("communication") and loop it from nail to
nail without breaking.”
22. Assange on Networks
• “Call the twine connecting two nails a link [in
network theory an ‘edge’]. Unbroken twine
means it is possible to travel from any nail to
any other nail via twine and intermediary
nails...Information flows from conspirator to
conspirator [in network theory a ‘path’].”
23. Assange on Networks
• “Not every conspirator trusts or knows every
other conspirator even though all are
connected. Some are on the fringe of the
conspiracy, others are central and
communicate with many conspirators and
others still may know only two conspirators
but be a bridge between important sections or
groupings of the conspiracy…” [Conspiracy as
Governance, p. 2] [i.e. it is a ‘small worlds
network’]
25. Assange on Networks
• “Conspirators are often discerning, for some
trust and depend each other, while others say
little. Important information flows frequently
through some links, trivial information
through others. So we expand our simple
connected graph model to include not only
links, but their "importance.””
26. Assange on Networks
• “Return to our board-and-nails analogy.
Imagine a thick heavy cord between some
nails and fine light thread between others. Call
the importance, thickness or heaviness of a
link its weight. Between conspirators that
never communicate the weight is zero. The
"importance" of communication passing
through a link is difficult to evaluate apriori,
since its true value depends on the outcome
of the conspiracy.”
27. Conspiracies as Cognitive Devices
“Conspiracies are cognitive devices. They are able
to outthink the same group of individuals acting
alone. Conspiracies take information about the
world in which they operate (the conspiratorial
environment), pass through the conspirators and
then act on the result. We can see conspiracies as
a type of device that has inputs (information
about the environment), a computational
network (the conspirators and their links to each
other) and outputs (actions intending to change
or maintain the environment).” ["Conspiracy as
Govenance", p. 3]
28. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
1) Problems arise when networks become
extremely powerful, because whatever the
intentions of the individuals within the
network, the network itself is optimized for its
own success, and not for the benefit of those
outside of the network. Again, this is not by
design, it is just an emergent property of such
systems that they function in this way.
29. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
People that do not act to benefit their
neighbor nodes in the network will eventually
be expunged from the system because their
neighbor nodes will minimize contact. Those
acting in concert with their neighbor
node/conspirators will form stronger ties and
will benefit from the information and financial
goods that participation in the network
delivers.
30. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
• This is true even at the edges of the network.
Reporters that violate the trust of their
neighbor nodes in the network will be cut off
from the network -- they will no longer get
their hot scoops.
31. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
• Conspirators in the network may think they
are working for the benefit of others (the
individuals in the
military/industrial/congressional complex may
well think they are acting for the benefit of
the American people, but this only so much
self-deception); they are actually acting for
the network.
32. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
2) Even if you are a member of the network it is not
clear that you ultimately benefit except in the
obvious ways that one has power and wealth -- the
cost of this Faustian bargain is that one must
surrender one's creativity.
33. What’s Wrong with Conspiracies?
3) Assange also talk about such networks/conspiracies
acting against "people's will to truth, love and self-
realization", and here I can only speculate that he
means members of the conspiracy are not acting for
love of other individuals or for finding truth outside
of the network but rather are acting for the survival
of the conspiracy/network. If your actions do not
ensure the health of the network the network will
expunge you.
34. How do we dismantle conspiracies?
• The genius insight of Assange is his
observation that these conspiracies don't have
heads. It is pointless to try and target a single
leader, or even a handful of leaders. The
conspiracy is a scale free network; it is too
hard to take down.
35. How do we dismantle conspiracies?
• Let's go back to Assange's illustration of the
nails connected by the twine. Imagine that
this board had 100 nails all connected by a
single length of twine wrapped around the
nails. How many nails would you have to pull
out before the network of twine fell apart?
10? 20? 50?
36. How do we dismantle conspiracies?
• Assange thinks that this is not the way to
target the network; Rather what we want to
do is to intercept and cut the information flow
in the network so that the twine unravels of
its own accord.
37. Ways leaking works
1) Once the information flowing is leaked it is no
longer closely held and is no longer valuable --
it is no longer a source of power for the
network. The network no longer has an
advantage.
38. Ways leaking works
1) Once the information flowing is leaked it is no
longer closely held and is no longer valuable -- it
is no longer a source of power for the network.
The network no longer has an advantage.
2) the network may detect a leak, and will act to
preserve its information. In this case the
network undergoes a kind of fission. It severs
the leaky link and in effect separates from the
part of the network where the leak occurred.
39. Assange:
“How can we reduce the ability of a conspiracy
to act?...We can split the conspiracy, reduce or
eliminating important communication
between a few high weight links or many low
weight links.” ["State and Terrorist
Conspiracies," Nov. 10, 2006, p. 4]
40. Ways leaking works
3) The more secretive or unjust an organization
is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in
its leadership and planning coterie. This must
result in minimization of efficient internal
communications mechanisms (an increase in
cognitive "secrecy tax") and consequent
system-wide cognitive decline resulting in
decreased ability to hold onto power as the
environment demands adaption.
41. Assange
• Hence in a world where leaking is easy,
secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit
relative to open, just systems. Since unjust
systems, by their nature induce opponents,
and in many places barely have the upper
hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely
vulnerable to those who seek to replace them
with more open forms of governance. (The
Nonlinear Effects of Leaks on Unjust Systems
of Governance." Dec. 21, 2006
42. Open Questions
1) Is it necessarily the case that the conspiracy
can't act to the benefit of others? Arab leaders
are conspiring with the United States to defeat
Iran's nuclear program, but isn't this a good
thing?
43. Open Questions
1) Is it necessarily the case that the conspiracy can't act
to the benefit of others? Arab leaders are conspiring
with the United States to defeat Iran's nuclear
program, but isn't this a good thing?
Alternatively, it might be observed that rogue states
like Iran are often the product of a population's push
back against some puppet that was part of a US
involving conspiracy (e.g. the Shah of Iran). Perhaps
conspiracies end up creating the very rogue states they
refer to justify their existence?
44. Open Questions
2) The conspiracy relies on lots of innocent
people to do its business (Iraqi civilian
informants, for example). Leaking network
secrets may put these people at risk. What
safeguards should an operation like Wikileaks
have to protect such people?
45. Open Questions
2) The conspiracy relies on lots of innocent people to
do its business (Iraqi civilian informants, for example).
Leaking network secrets may put these people at risk.
What safeguards should an operation like Wikileaks
have to protect such people?
Alternatively, could you argue that if there was no
conspiracy such people would not be put at risk in the
first place? Is it credible to think that in the long run
breaking apart conspiracies protects innocent people
from being caught up in dangerous spy games?
46. Open Questions
• 3) While acting against the conspiracy might
place a cognitive tax on it, does it not also
make the network stronger in the end? That
is, won't the conspiracy become more
secretive and more draconian in its actions?
47. Open Questions
4) To what extent is Wikileaks itself a
conspiracy? To this end, are there good
conspiracies and bad conspiracies? Should we
distinguish between conspiracies of the
powerful and conspiracies of those who seek
to level the playing field? At what point would
a network like Wikileaks become too
powerful?
48. Open Questions
5) Suppose Assange were “neutralized.” If
Wikileaks is itself a kind of conspiracy then
only one nail has been pulled from the board.
Will the network unravel? Will it undergo
fission resulting in the proliferation of many
LittleWikileaks? Or will it lead to copycats and
possibly the emergence of Leaker culture? If
the latter, then what consequences will there
be for traditional conspiracies of the
powerful?
49. Danaher’s reconstruction of the
argument
(1) The goal of a democratic system of governance
(or, alternatively, an "ideal system of
governance") is to serve the common good
(i.e. the good of everybody in society).
(2) Conspiracies are self-sustaining closed
information networks.
(3) These networks will fight for their own survival,
not for the common good.
(4) Therefore, conspiracies are contrary to the
common good.
51. Danaher’s Counterargument I: The
Non-Zero Sum Argument
(5) Assange's initial argument assumes that survival
is a zero-sum game: that one network's (CN's)
success comes at another network's loss (CS's)
and so must be contrary to the common good.
(6) But survival is not a zero-sum game, as is
revealed in many models of social and cultural
evolution.
(7) Therefore, (4) is not necessarily true.
52. Counterargument II: Principal-Agent
Alignment of Interests
(8) Assange assumes that the interests of the
network are necessarily non-aligned or
antagonistic to the interests of the broader
society.
(9) But the network may function as the agent of
some principal.
(10) Agents are, by definition, supposed to serve
the interests of the principal.
(11) Therefore, (4) is not necessarily true.
53. Counterargument III: Necessity of Concealed
Information in Strategic Interactions
(13) Suppose the network (i.e. the government) is
the agent of society and so is tasked with serving
the common good.
(14) Suppose further that the network is engaged in
a strategic interaction with another agent (i.e.
another government) such as in a military conflict
or international treaty negotiation.
(15) Concealment of information is often necessary
to succeed in strategic interactions.
(16) Therefore, a closed, conspiratorial network
might be necessary to serve the common good.
54. Aaron Brady on Assange
• He begins by positing that conspiracy and
authoritarianism go hand in hand,
• arguing that since authoritarianism produces
resistance to itself — to the extent that its
authoritarianism becomes generally known —
it can only continue to exist and function by
preventing its intentions (the authorship of its
authority?) from being generally known.
• It inevitably becomes a conspiracy
55. Assange quote
• Authoritarian regimes give rise to forces which
oppose them by pushing against the individual
and collective will to freedom, truth and self
realization. Plans which assist authoritarian
rule, once discovered, induce resistance. Hence
these plans are concealed by successful
authoritarian powers. This is enough to define
their behavior as conspiratorial.
56. A. Brady
• if the conspiracy must operate in secrecy, how
is it to communicate, plan, make decisions,
discipline itself, and transform itself to meet
new challenges?
• The answer is: by controlling information
flows.
57. A. Brady
• if the organization has goals that can be
articulated, articulating them openly exposes
them to resistance.
• But at the same time, failing to articulate
those goals to itself deprives the organization
of its ability to process and advance them.
• Somewhere in the middle, for the
authoritarian conspiracy, is the right balance
of authority and conspiracy.
58. A. Brady
• [Assange’s] model for imagining the
conspiracy, then, is not at all the cliché that
people mean when they sneer at someone for
being a “conspiracy theorist.” After all, most
the “conspiracies” we’re familiar with are pure
fantasies, and because the “Elders of Zion” or
James Bond’s SPECTRE have never existed,
their nonexistence becomes a cudgel for
beating on people that would ever use the
term or the concept.
59. A. Brady
• For Assange, by contrast, a conspiracy is something
fairly banal, simply any network of associates who act
in concert by hiding their concerted association from
outsiders, an authority that proceeds by preventing its
activities from being visible enough to provoke
counter-reaction.
• It might be something as dramatic as a loose coalition
of conspirators working to start a war with Iraq/n, or it
might simply be the banal, everyday deceptions and
conspiracies of normal diplomatic procedure.
60. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• Such a network will not be organized by a flow
chart, nor would it ever produce a single
coherent map of itself (without thereby
hastening its own collapse). It is probably
fairly acephalous, as a matter of course: if it
had a single head (or a singular organizing
mind which could survey and map the
entirety), then every conspirator would be one
step from the boss and a short two steps away
from every other member of the conspiracy.
61. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• too much centralization makes the system
vulnerable.
• To use The Wire as a ready-to-hand example,
imagine if Avon Barksdale was communicating
directly with Bodie. All you would ever have to do
is turn one person — any person — and you
would be one step away from the boss, whose
direct connection to everyone else in the
conspiracy would allow you to sweep them all up
at once. Obviously, no effective conspiracy would
ever function this way.
62. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• To function effectively, the primary authority has to be
disassociated from all other members of the
conspiracy, layers of mediation which have to be as
opaque as possible to everyone concerned (which a
paper trail unhelpfully clarifies). But while the
complexity of these linkages shield the directing
authority from exposure, they also limit Avon
Barksdale’s ability to control what’s going on around
him. Businesses run on their paperwork! And the more
walls you build around him, the less he might be able
to trust his lieutenants, and the less they’ll require (or
tolerate) him.
63. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• This, Assange reasons, is a way to turn a feature
into a bug. And his underlying insight is simple
and, I think, compelling: while an organization
structured by direct and open lines of
communication will be much more vulnerable to
outside penetration, the more opaque it
becomes to itself (as a defense against the
outside gaze), the less able it will be to “think” as
a system, to communicate with itself.
• The more conspiratorial it becomes, in a certain
sense, the less effective it will be as a conspiracy.
64. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• If you’ve seen The Battle of Algiers, for
example, think of how the French counter-
terrorist people work to produce an
organizational flow chart of the Algerian
resistance movement: since they had
overwhelming military superiority, their
inability to crush the FLN resided in their
inability to find it, an inability which the FLN
strategically works to impede by
decentralizing itself
65. A. Brady, on Assange’s network
metaphor
• Cutting off one leg of the octopus, the FLN
realized, wouldn’t degrade the system as a
whole if the legs all operated independently. The
links between the units were the vulnerable spots
for the system as a whole, so those were most
closely and carefully guarded and most hotly
pursued by the French. And while the French won
the battle of Algiers, they lost the war, because
they adopted the tactics Assange briefly
mentions only to put aside…
66. the tactics Assange briefly mentions
only to put aside:
• How can we reduce the ability of a conspiracy
to act?…We can split the conspiracy, reduce or
eliminating important communication
between a few high weight links or many low
weight links. Traditional attacks on
conspiratorial power groupings, such as
assassination, have cut high weight links by
killing, kidnapping, blackmailing or otherwise
marginalizing or isolating some of the
conspirators they were connected to.
67. Brady on Assange on killing
conspiracies
• This is the US’s counterterrorism strategy —
find the men in charge and get ’em — but
it’s not what Assange wants to do: such a
program would isolate a specific version of the
conspiracy and attempt to destroy the form of
it that already exists, which he argues will
have two important limitations.
68. Brady on Assange on killing
conspiracies
• For one thing, by the time such a conspiracy has a
form which can be targeted, its ability to function
will be quite advanced. As he notes:
• “A man in chains knows he should have acted
sooner for his ability to influence the actions of
the state is near its end. To deal with powerful
conspiratorial actions we must think ahead and
attack the process that leads to them since the
actions themselves can not be dealt with.”
69. Brady on Assange on killing
conspiracies
• This is however, not where Assange’s
reasoning leads him. He decides, instead, that
the most effective way to attack this kind of
organization would be to make “leaks” a
fundamental part of the
conspiracy’s information environment.
70. How to kill conspiracies
1. Cut links, pull nails? Not so much
2. Feed it bad information? No…
So what then?
71. Brady on killing conspiracies.
• You destroy the conspiracy, in other words, by making
it so paranoid of itself that it can no longer conspire:
• The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the
more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership
and planning coterie. This must result in minimization
of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an
increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent
system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased
ability to hold onto power as the environment demands
adaption. [Assange]
72. Assange
• Hence in a world where leaking is easy,
secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit
relative to open, just systems. Since unjust
systems, by their nature induce opponents,
and in many places barely have the upper
hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely
vulnerable to those who seek to replace them
with more open forms of governance.
73. Brady
• Wikileaks wants to provoke the conspiracy into
turning off its own brain in response to the
threat. As it tries to plug its own holes and find
the leakers, he reasons, its component elements
will de-synchronize from and turn against each
other, de-link from the central processing
network, and come undone. Even if all the
elements of the conspiracy still exist, in this
sense, depriving themselves of a vigorous flow of
information to connect them all together as a
conspiracy prevents them from acting as a
conspiracy.
74. Assange
• If total conspiratorial power is zero, then clearly
there is no information flow between the
conspirators and hence no conspiracy. A
substantial increase or decrease in total
conspiratorial power almost always means what
we expect it to mean; an increase or decrease in
the ability of the conspiracy to think, act and
adapt…An authoritarian conspiracy that cannot
think is powerless to preserve itself against the
opponents it induces.
75. 4. A Primer on Dynamic Systems
in the Military
• The traditional view: Military Organizations
are structured in top-down manner.
• But are they?
77. Command and Control
(with adversary)
Adversary Controller
Plant (Battlespace)
State
Esti-
mation
Control
Signals
Friendly Controller
Control
Signals
State
Esti-
mation
78. Some historical examples of dynamic
military strategies.
• Napolean: “Contrary to most of the literature
which presents Napolean as a centralizer,
what actually took place was an
unprecedented decentralization of command
from General Headquarters to the corps.”
• Alexander Kott, Advanced Technology
Concepts for Command and Control
79. Napolean as Decentalizer
• “Though Napolean was perhaps the greatest
military genius who ever lived, even for him to
command eight corps amidst the stress of
battle could prove too much. At Jena in 1806,
for example, he only oversaw the operations
of four, forgetting about the rest, and
operating in complete ignorance of the fact
that one of them (Davout’s) was fighting and
winning a major battle against the Prussians.
80. Napolean (cont.)
• “At Leipzig in 1813, where he had no fewer
than 180,000 men, he only commanded one
of the three battles that were going on
simultaneously, while letting the other two
take care of themselves.”
• Kott
81. More Generally
• “The Roman Legions, Napoléan’s Grande
Armée, Moltke’s armies in 1866 (and 1870-
71), and Ludendorff’s storm troops all had this
in common: that they did not wait for detailed
C2 from above. To the contrary, in all four
cases they whole idea was to organize and
train the armies in such a way that they
should be capable of operating when that
command and that control broke down”. Kott,
p. 43