★ Artificial Intelligence – Forces, Drivers and Stakes

Here we shall present the drivers and forces behind the current exponential development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Deep Learning, a sub-field of AI, leads this expansion, as we explained in “When Artificial Intelligence will Power Geopolitics – Presenting AI” (open access) and in “Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning – The New AI-World in the Making” (semi-open …

Signals: U.S. Sponsored Kurdish-led Border Army in Syria and Responses

Impacts and ConsequencesThe main critical uncertainty related to the American move is first the level of this commitment and then its consistency over time. As a result the survival of the Syrian autonomous region, the Kurdish-led Federation of Northern Syria has also become more uncertain.  The outcome in terms of American regional and global influence is also uncertain.The main other impacts areLower likelihood to see rapidly a constructive peace settling in for SyriaLower likelihood to see the creation of a Federal SyriaRising Middle East tensionRising global tensions, notably with the U.S. on the one hand, Russia, China, Turkey, and Iran on the other.(Nota: The symbolic board has been moved to the end of the analysis and before the sources/signals)Facts and analysisFor …

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Signal: China – France Strengthening Relations

Impacts and Consequences Increased likelihood to see a return to a more influential and independent foreign policy of the European states holders of veto power at UN Security Council (France and UK); Increased likelihood to see a multipolar world settling in, however with also an Increased likelihood to see a global perception of a rising …

Featured Interview in ‘A New Era without Certainties’ by J. Nascimento Rodrigues – Exame Expresso

The Red (Team) Analysis Society was featured in a very interesting article, “A New Era without Certainties” (Uma nova era sem certezas), by Portuguese author and journalist Jorge Nascimento Rodrigues, published in the December 2017 edition of the business and economy magazine Exame (group Expresso). Among other references, a detailed interview of Dr Helene Lavoix, RTAS Director, …

The Deep-Sea Resources Brief

Human societies currently face dwindling resources and rising competition for them in the contemporary “resources order.” Thus, besides and in accordance with other ways to handle this challenge, new types and sources of resources are increasingly valuable and can make a strategic difference for polities, as well as for humanity as a whole. Meanwhile, if we are to ever learn from our worrying present, we must also, continuously, make sure that the extraction and use of those new potential resources will not have any unfavourable impact on the planet and its ecosystem, including this biodiversity to which we belong.* As has now been known since the end of the nineteenth century (Ifremer, les Nodules, 2012), mineral resources lie on the …

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Season’s Greetings 2017 – 2018

2018 is likely to be overshadowed by the relationships between the U.S. on the one hand, a rising China and its strategic partnership with Russia on the other. There is no fatality towards increased tension. It seems to be, however, more likely than a wise and cooperative approach, considering notably the overall transitional setting and …

Signals: Jerusalem – The U.S. Defeated at the U.N., China Seeks Advantage?

Impacts and Consequences Increased likelihood to see a global perception of the global U.S. influence and power lowered; Increased likelihood to see a global perception of the regional (Middle East) U.S. influence and power lowered. Should China step in successfully as peace broker between Israelis and Palestinians Increased likelihood to see global perception of a …

Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning – The New AI-World in the Making

This article focuses on Deep Learning, the sub-field of Artificial Intelligence that leads the current exponential development of the sector. As we seek to envision how a future AI-powered world will look and what it will mean to its actors, notably in terms of politics and geopolitics, it is indeed fundamental to first understand what is AI.
We shall first give examples of how Deep Learning is used in the real world. We distinguish two types of activities: classical AI-powered activities and totally new AI-activities, related to the very emergence of DL. In both cases we shall point out their revolutionary potential.
Then, we shall take a deeper dive in the world of Deep Learning, taking as practical example the evolution of Google’s DeepMind AI-DL program initially developed to win against human Go masters: AlphaGo, then AlphaGo Zero and finally AlphaZero. After briefly presenting where DL is located within AI, we shall focus first on Deep Neural Networks and Supervised Learning. Second we shall look at the latest evolution with Deep Reinforcement Learning and start wondering if a new AI-DL paradigm, which could revolutionise the current dogma regarding the importance of Big Data, is not emerging.

Signal: Google Opens Google AI China Center and Chinese Reactions

Impacts and Consequences Resulting from the Google AI China Center’s opening and then operations, we estimate rising likelihoods to see : Redrawing of the power map of the world along AI-power status lines Rising competition regarding AI between U.S. and Chinese mammoth Companies Human talents as stake in rising AI competition “Forced” introduction of “open …

Signal: U.S. President Trump’s Statement on Jerusalem

On 6 December 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and, as a result will move its embassy there (see sources below), while also reasserting commitment to the peace process and specifying that the U.S. would support a two-state solution, if approved by both the Israelis …

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