“BUT I DIDN’T ORDER THIS!”: PREDICTIVE BEHAVIOR AND ...

A few weeks ago I blogged about the emergence of massive databanks and predictive programs that can model aggregate population behavior. Indeed, when the Edward Snowden/NSA spying scandal broke, I was one of those who remained skeptical both about Snowden, and about whether the NSA surveillance program was ultimately about "combatting terrorism." It seemed then, and still seems to me now, that the computational power that one is talking about with the NSA program, and the massive capabilities alleged for its Utah data facility, are about more than terrorism. To be sure, it is about national security, but in a world so much in international finance(and stop and think about it for a moment, even in our personal lives and finance) is conducted online via computer trading algorithms and so on, that the ability to track such transactions and archive them is itself a legitimate national security concern, both against cyber warfare attacks, and against any external pressures or forces that could intervene in such markets via other external means and technologies.

I have also offered the speculation that such computational power and tracking is also a form of financial leverage, since such an enormous amount of data could also be used to model and game various scenarios of predictive behavior in targeted population groups, both as a matter for policy formation and even as a way to gauge the future behavior of this or that market.

Additionally, as regular readers here will be aware, over the past week or so, I have also been blogging about the various technologies that are emerging and changing the world at a pace never even approximated by any previous age of transition in human history. We are indeed living in a transhumanist, "psycho-physical" age, and here it is worth recalling that one of the four technologies mentioned by transhumanists in their basket of GRIN technologies - genetics, robotics, information, and nano-technologies - is precisely information processing and modeling.

Major corporations are now entering the data collection and modeling arena as never before, and it will shortly transform the corporate world with even greater capabilities not only to keep track of inventories, but more importantly, to predict behavior both of groups and of individuals and to plan their inventory stock and ordering accordingly, and this, in turn, will help to reduce overheard. One such corporation, one with which I deal on a regular basis, is amazon, the mega-sized online bookseller:

Amazon Patents The Use Of Predictive Behavior Technology For Future Shipments

For those who are old enough to remember, consider yet another area in which immense and detailed data collection on a local level, coupled with computer-aided modeling, has dramatically improved prediction: weather forecasting. Today's television weather reports are a far cry from those of even one or two decades ago, and for those of us living in tornado plagued states, this forecasting is now able to predict with an accuracy not even imagined when we were children, what path a tornado is likely to take.

And as the article already avers, this technology is already being used in the distopian Philip K. Dick "Department of Pre-Crime" ways. All the more reason as we enter this psycho-physical age to insist even more on the sanctity and sovereignty of the individual person. Just because statistics say an individual's behavior is 90% likely to be "this" and not "that" does not mean one can criminalize the "this" ahead of time.

But like it or not, all of us, be we Chancellors or Charwomen, are being watched, surveilled, and psychologically profiled.

So have fun with it... toss them a calculated monkey-wrench from time to time... but to do that, you not only have to know how to think analogically, but also what constitutes an inept analogy...

See you on the flip side.

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

21 Comments

  1. Milton Zentmyer on February 4, 2014 at 10:38 am

    I can see a flood of shipping going back to Amazon with the same statement…”I didn’t order this and I don’t want it”. They think they have our predictive behavior in their pocket, but they don’t. We are more complicated than that and that’s what drives them nuts!



  2. jedi on February 3, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    hal 9000 anyone….



    • jedi on February 3, 2014 at 7:29 pm

      driving Miss Daisy….Daisy, Daisy…



  3. LSM on February 3, 2014 at 10:24 am

    grossly off topic (but I would like at least one answer from anyone): I just accessed Rense (dot) com and listened to Dr. Farrell’s truncated (newest?) interview with Rense-

    Rense stated ‘Dr. Farrell has been with us for years’ (huh?- I’ve been following Rense as long as I’ve been following Dr. Farrell and I don’t recall any previous posting/interview from Rense regarding Dr. Farrell whatsoever- or did I miss something somewhere?- if so please inform me in no uncertain terms- I can take it)-

    Dr Farrell, if I recall correctly, you once stated you forgot a first interview term with Rense and he dropped you like a hot potatoe- so why Rense’s statement “he’s been with us for years” (well, maybe in Rense’s reading)-

    I don’t mean to chastise anyone for whatever reason whatsoever and cast no aspersions whatsoever against anyone; am just a very curious person (the world’s foremost expert on nothing) looking for logical answers (is thinking logically a sin against the universe?)-

    if someone somewhere could help me I’d be very grateful-

    peace and health to all-

    Larry in Germany



    • Margaret on February 3, 2014 at 6:01 pm

      Hi Larry, I don’t know if this answers your question, but I remember hearing Dr. Farrell on Rense. In fact, those interviews are what brought me to GDS, I’m happy to say! There are at least two older interviews on youtube. One is titled The Nazi A-Bomb (4/25/12). Another is Covert Wars & Hidden System of Finance (5/15/13). Someone posted the latest full interview titled “Scratching the Surface of WW2”. If those are all of the recent ones, it seems a long time between interviews, but maybe that will change …
      I echo your wish for peace and good health to all 😉



  4. emlong on February 2, 2014 at 11:29 pm

    http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2003/07/bookmakers_for_the_bombmakers.html

    Remember the “terrorism futures” market idea being promoted by the Pentagon? Mighty easy money when you are plugged into the false flag network. And why really is predictive programming really required when steering the planet by way of manufactured crises is already plugged in?



    • DanaThomas on February 3, 2014 at 11:11 am

      What a relief, “they” say the idea was quashed…



  5. duncan mckean on February 2, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    the present narrative .predictable behavior indeed…
    “I see you have gangrene on your toe. I’m going to have to amputate it. Oh, that’s just some black paint you stepped in? Well, I’m going to amputate anyway. Because that’s what I said what I was going to do.”

    “My brother stole my watch. I’m going to take 100 bucks out of his wallet to pay for it. Oh, my watch is right here on the nightstand where I left it? Well, I’m taking the money anyway. Let that be a lesson to him.



  6. Frankie Calcutta on February 2, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    Just a far fetched thought, but I wonder if our psychopathic elite ever thought of using that computer generated predictive power to determine the outcome of professional sports? Once they deduce what American city was on the cusp of having a banner year in sports, they could orchestrate a false flag terrorist attack in that city before the victories in order to ride the jingoistic propaganda wave that these sporting events easily provide too so many people. You could make sure the massacre is videotaped so millions can see the carnage and also use crude explosive devices which would maim and not kill numerous people so they could later be rolled out in front of the slack-jawed crowds and network cameras during the Big Game. (Or use well trained crisis actors). As far as cheap and effective propaganda goes– that is a home run. It works every time. Not to mention all the money a cash strapped elite could rake in with this info in the sports betting parlors in Vegas, etc. to pay for their GRIN technologies.

    Timeline: Boston bombing April 15. Bruins in Stanley Cup April 30. Red Sox win World Series that fall.

    Note to psychopathic elite who may be trolling this website:

    I am available to place sports bets and I am also a self-trained crisis actor and can work on 24 hours notice. See my adds in Variety and Game Plan Magazine.



    • LSM on February 3, 2014 at 7:50 am

      Hi Frankie,

      just taking your commentary to an earthly, mundane level: the outcome of all major sports events are rigged (it’s called Mafia betting)- one just needs to read Cathy O’Brien’s “Trance Formation of America” for starters-

      even Scotsman Andy Murray who just recently won the Wimbledon tennis tournament has publically stated (has even named names) that certain tennis players have been bribed to lose certain matches- what more proof do we need?-

      as for the Boston bombings, Sandy Hook and Colorado “Batman” incidents: these are topics for an endless thread-

      be well-

      Larry



  7. marcos toledo on February 2, 2014 at 1:54 pm

    Here goes WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGH, ADDICTION IS DRUG FREE.



    • Robert Barricklow on February 2, 2014 at 4:09 pm

      Loved your
      Add-On:
      Addiction Is Drug Free!



  8. Jon on February 2, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    One of the greatest dangers of databases and models is the lack of accuracy checking in the data collection.

    Many people online deliberately use flase information to game/confuse the system, and even the design of the data collection, say in a Medical database system, can corrupt the data in unforseen ways.

    I have been researching the healthcare system for a white paper, and have been privy to certain aspects of the implementation of just such a system in a small hospital.

    What I know scares the daylights out of me.

    Most databases are designed by people with no knowledge of the field whose data they are collecting. Data are collected out of context, and the programmers seldom do the kind of research into the target field that would be required to do a proper job (no time – deadlines).

    The administrators who should know about the parameters required to set up a database program properly are often poorly trained and ignorant of the real functions of those whom they supervise. They are the ones determining the priority/structure of data collection, and their choices, along with the prejudice of the programmers, can skew the collection process so badly that it actually makes the functioning of workers far worse, by several hundred percent.

    Case in point: Nurses, whose training is in patient care and advocating, now spend something like 80 percent of their time doing data entry instead of patient care. This is not only economically stupid (paying a highly trained specialist to do minimum wage data entry), it is antithetical to the very nature of their profession. Yet, this is the “wave of the future” in US hospitals.

    The database systems they must use are far more time consuming to enter data and to look up data than a simple stack of papers they used to use. (Paper is a far more mature, robust, and reliable technology than computers – which few are willing to admit.)

    The nurses and doctors cannot record notes and medical information in a manner that is natural to the processes (best practices) they have developed over a hundred years, and must conform to structures created by people (programmers and administrators) with virtually no knowledge of the real process.

    Consequently, doctors and nurses are developing “workarounds” for the stupidity of the systems, in order to do patients care properly (and legally). This information is moving and being used outside the computer based “data generation.” Critical information is not present in the data, and the shortened data picture, created more for the generation of nice looking reports than model accuracy, will be used to make decisions about health care and medical practice.

    Drug administration is being decided by administrators and pharmacists, neither of whom have the knowledge of (nor legal scope of practice!) to administer drugs to patients. (Pharmacists are trained and licensed to dispense drugs, NOT administer them. They know little more than what is on the package inserts as far as actual use of the drugs in real patient care situations.)

    Allopathic medicine is already the leading cause of death in the US, and it is getting worse by the minute. (Funny how the CDC never includes that in their published list . . . .)

    Meanwhile, the data juggernaut chugs merrily along, using bad and corrupted data to make life and death decisions for everyone. Sort of a medical hockeystick generator, if you will. “Healthcare Warming,” anyone?

    You should be very, very concerned about this, because the people running it are not.

    This is just one example of the over-reliance on computer data corrupting
    decision making. If it is that messed up in an arena as important as healthcare, imagine what it is like where people care even less . . . or have an agenda!

    I work in IT and have been a computer hobbyist (nerd) since the 1980s. I am not a computerphobe or Luddite. I do know, however, that computers are tools, and as with any tool, they can be misused or used poorly, sometimes with disasterous results. Would you have a computer driven wood carving system developed by someone with no direct knowledge or wood or carving?

    As we have also begun to see, highly complex AI-like systems which cannot be monitored by humans can easily be gamed and even go off on their own, with unpredictable and unpleasant results. How can we have Artificial Intelligence when we don’t even have a handle on natural stuff?

    Yeah, “Pre-crime,” that’ll work. Sure. You betcha. Wanna buy a bridge in New York? I hear some Nigerian Prince has one for sale cheap, if you can just help him out . . . .



  9. amunaor on February 2, 2014 at 11:57 am

    A wet dream within the hands of predatory capitalism!

    As for the Weather Channel, it should be called the Commercial Channel!



  10. Robert Barricklow on February 2, 2014 at 10:26 am

    So, the GRIN Transhumanists have won the war
    according to “they’re” predictions?



    • amunaor on February 2, 2014 at 12:27 pm

      If it isn’t already bad enough. Just wait! The ‘Free-Marketeers’ will be chasing you, from womb to tomb, with designer pop-up ads…….24/7…..even as you sleep.



  11. emlong on February 2, 2014 at 10:09 am

    The ultimate app would predict stock market moves, but then the predictions themselves get thrown into the algorithm. It could be an infinitely receding hall of mirrors until finally the market would reach a point of perfect stasis and investors would just leave.



  12. Aridzonan_13 on February 2, 2014 at 8:47 am

    The military also has a ver. of the WebBot software.. That uses predictive linguistics.. It’s a total ripoff of the original HPH Clif High work. Not to mention the RV types that the MIC has employed. And that’s probably the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what other assets they are using against us? As CAF sez, $4T MIA at DOD buys a lot of technology.



  13. RAJM on February 2, 2014 at 7:40 am

    I recommend some daily corporate mis information. Spend a little time looking at utterly irrelevant and random products in no pattern what so ever. At least we can waste some AI time. I had a similar policy at university regarding the idiotic extremist graffiti. The uproar commenced when someone scribbled ‘IRA will eliminate Islamist Jihadists’



  14. bruski1212 on February 2, 2014 at 7:24 am

    You won’t be surprised to hear this, but 15+ yrs ago I worked with an Electronic Engineer whose specialty was databasing who said, “Oh, yeah, ‘for a fee’ we could tell Farmer Johnson exactly what time and exactly where in his fields the storm will hit’. The weather reports on the news are watered-down versions of what is available.” So the predictive algorithms have been, as you can surmise, out there for decades; so of course they have been worked on and honed over time.



  15. terminally skeptical on February 2, 2014 at 6:29 am

    Darn does this mean that I’m gonna have to take a few rare trips on cruise ships over the next several years just so that I’ll keep “them” off balance with my sometime erratic behavior. And am I going to have to start buying more of those books that I read in part for free from Amazon even those they should know by now that statistically speaking it’s unlikely that I’ll actually make the purchase (then why do they keep soliciting me with offers?)

    Perhaps one good strategy to throw a wrench in the system is to act like the consummate consumer by pretending to buy big ticket items like yachts or pricy vehicles and then after I’ve stayed long enough trust that “changing my mind” will not keep me out of the consumer prospects database.

    A few years ago after making donations to Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich both parties thought I was one of them and it took a while before I finally stopped getting letters from Bill Clinton and GWB but I confess I did take a certain delight in having them think there might be more funding on its way.

    Someone needs to get their mind around how to consistently do the unpredictable such that their social algorithms are rendered useless and then write a book that upends the buy, buy, buy imperative.

    To keep it in the here and now, had I the capital to buy up 20,000 Super Bowl tickets directly of via scalpers there would be a lot of empty seats at the big game this year. But that’s unAmerican, isn’t it? I might end up in Guantanamo for being an economic terrorist so . . . . enjoy the game.



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