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Will IBM Watson Be Your Next Mayor?
MrSeb writes "When we think of computer networks, we think of routers and servers and fiber optic cables and laptops and smartphones — we think of the internet. In actuality, though, the visible internet is just the tip of the iceberg. There are secret military networks, and ad hoc wireless networks, and utility companies have sprawling, cellular networks that track everything from the health of oil pipelines and uranium enrichment machines through to the remaining capacity of septic tanks — and much, much more. What if we connected all of these networks to the internet, to form an internet of things? What if we then put a massive computer at the middle of this internet of things and used this wealth of data to power smart cars, smart homes, smart supermarkets, and smart cities? Unsurprisingly, IBM and Cisco are already working on such smart cities. For nearly two years, Rio de Janeiro's utilities, traffic systems, and emergency services has been managed by a single 'Ops Center,' a huge hub of technologies provided by both IBM and Cisco. With 300 LCD screens spread across 100 rooms, connected via 30,000 meters of fiber optic cable, Ops Center staff monitor live video from 450 cameras and three helicopters, and track the location of 10,000 buses and ambulances via GPS. Other screens output the current weather, and simulations of tomorrow's weather up to 150 miles from the city — and yet more screens display heatmaps of disease outbreaks, and the probability of natural disasters like landslides. There's even a Crisis Room, which links the Ops Center to Rio's mayor and Civil Defense departments via a Cisco telepresence suite. This sounds awesome — but is it really a good idea to give a computer company (IBM is not an urban planner!) so much control over one of the world's biggest cities?"
I just hope that the user interface doesn't include the disaster bar. I know that setting off a volcano in your city center can add excitement and all, but that would be going too far.
I cannot wait for the first sex scandal.
The malware purveyors are peeing themselves in excitement at the very thought.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
It was called Paranoia.
God spoke to me
All the traffic lights are computer controlled
Speed sensors and cameras on the roads
They are installing fiber optics in the subways
What exactly is the problem?
Is it really a good idea to give hackers so much control over one of the world's biggest cities?
Hell, I'd rather have a Cardassian as mayor than a Kardashian.
Funny to see this posted barely a month after http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/03/20/1410215/the-risk-of-a-meltdown-in-the-cloud given that a similar reasoning as in the former article can be applied here, and catastrophic failures in both sorts of systems are likely inevitable. The difference is that a failure in the cloud won't have the disastrous consequences of a failure of a fully automated and integrated, largely autonomous City Management System. Having humans in the mix adds human error, but it likely decreases the likelihood of some types of massive system-wide failures that common sense would otherwise avert; more importantly, the high level of integration implied by such a system is the biggest problem, just as much as it's the biggest contributor to the expected increased efficiency.
I'd rather live in a poorly run city than in one where large-scale non-natural disaster strikes and potentially causes significant death and destruction, or worse (imagination is the limit).
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
looks like capitalism is finally catching up. i doubt it'll go well.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
As someone linked yesterday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_Law_of_Headlines
Betteridge's Law of Headlines is an adage that states, "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'".
AccountKiller
As soon as a terrorist group (or even some group wanting to only "fiddle" with the controls) finds it or learns how to hack into it's controller's seat, it's value sinks or clears to Zero.
Why this need - on small, not-so-smart minds for ONE of anything? Yes, you've gotta have a "whole" city's paying-power to make such systems affordable is one possible defense. But why not a more hierarchical arrangement, with fail-over backup capabilities to handle other sectors' work, if that sector gets hacked or knocked out? ...a bit like the Internet.
Is politics malware for people?
"IBM" = rot1("HAL")
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
If you don't want a computer company tying together and coordinating such data center systems, who would you like to have do so?
The media companies? Health care providers, perhaps? How about game companies like Nintendo?
Uncoordinated and unmanaged data is all but useless. The fact that all this data feeds into reporting by a central system does not mean the system is in control. I have no doubt there are still a few hundred actual operations staff involved.
Or did you think the monitors were for the benefit of an AI like Watson?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Yeah I'm sure that the public sector arm of IBM has more than a few people with Phd's in urban planning working for them if it's a market they take seriously. Oh, and a quick Google found these two examples of phd's in urban planning working for IBM...
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
CHRISTIANITY is the most destructive malware
Citation needed.
Pretty sure Christianity is more compassionate and charitable than destructive malwaric.
Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition!
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Is Watson NP hard on crime?
"This sounds awesome — but is it really a good idea to give a computer company (IBM is not an urban planner!) so much control over one of the world's biggest cities?"
I feel this question is moot considering the number of professionals likely consulting on these jobs. Just as it has been with the computer automation of any industry. You can't expect a group of computer scientists / engineers to slap this together on their own.
I also highly doubt that this is a centralized system with single attack vectors as some have speculated. This system is the culmination of multiple points of reference collected from multiple sub systems and quite intelligently parsed. It isn't as if the network that controls the traffic lights is wired directly into the water and electrical grids.
All of which make it sound like a fucking *great* city to implement an integrated control center for - even if it doesn't work flawlessly, it'll likely provide some significant benefits in alleviating some of the issues you've just described - helping to ease some of the traffic jams & keep public transport flowing more smoothly.
I'm pretty sure the first robot mayor in Asimov's universe, prior to the story you're referring to, is supposed to be elected while disguised as a human. Kinda like Mitt Romney, except the robot in the story followed the First Law.
somehow the headline and summary imply that it's ibm employees working at the ops centre making decisions about where to send ambulances and where to (try to) route traffic, while actually ibm is just the contractor who built the thing.
the fact that there's a telepresence connection to the mayor kinda suggests otherwise, that the control is with the mayor and whoever he put to work in the central ops. the summary is essentially claiming that the us military is controlled by whoever built the presidents phone too.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
A kind of animal that dams but isn't damned?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The version I heard was that HAL in 2001 was actually named from the very high level Houston Aeronautical Language, the assumption being that it and the systems it ran on would evolve into HAL.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
every company has a POS division... the VB programmers have to be put somewhere