Weekly New/Digital Media homework Week 18

WEEK 18

1. US military aims to create cyborgs by connecting humans to computers

• Researchers hope to develop a high-bandwidth, implantable neural interface to open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics
• The US government is researching technology that it hopes will turn soldiers into cyborgs, allowing them to connect directly to computers.
• The US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has unveiled a research programme called Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) which aims to develop an implantable neural interface, connecting humans directly to computers.
• Human-computer interfaces are not a new research topic, but most have been hampered by slow, limited control, providing movement of robotic prosthetics or allowing humans to input text or similar into a computer by concentrating on certain feelings or thoughts of motions.

2.Google says Isis must be locked out of the open web

• Search company’s head of ideas sees short term wins against non-tech-savvy organisation, but says stifling group’s propaganda must not be neglected
• Google’s head of ideas, tasked with building tools to fight oppression, has said that to stop Isis being able to publicise itself on the internet requires forcing Isis from the open web.
• During a talk with the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, Jared Cohen said that it will not be possible to stop terrorists such as Isis from using Tor and the dark web. The key to stopping the terrorist group from propagating online is therefore to hound them from the traditional web – that which can be indexed by search engines.
• Isis propaganda has been effective at spreading information online. It has produced slick videos, hijacked existing social media trends including hashtags, and used bots to spread its messages. Online, it has made itself look bigger and more widespread than it physically is in Syria and surrounding areas.