#dual-use-technology

#dual-use-technology

On February 28, ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz started appearing on tracking screens in places they couldn't possibly be. They appeared to be sitting on airport runways, parked on Iranian land, and clustered at nuclear power plants. More than 1,100 commercial vessels had their navigation systems scrambled in a single day following US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, bringing a waterway that handles a fifth of the world's oil exports to a halt.

We are living through a moment of profound transformation as military imperatives and corporate interests are no longer separate threads in the fabric of technological innovation. Instead they are inseparably interwoven. Innovation is increasingly framed not as a response to a concrete human need, but in terms of strategic advantage, deterrence, and national security. States and corporations alike are turning to technology which blurs the line between civilian life and military power to advance foreign policy agendas and to assert geopolitical dominance.

We are living through a moment of profound transformation as military imperatives and corporate interests are no longer separate threads in the fabric of technological innovation. Instead they are inseparably interwoven. "Innovation" is increasingly framed not as a response to a concrete human need, but in terms of strategic advantage, deterrence, and national security. States and corporations alike are turning to technology which blurs the line between civilian life and military power to advance foreign policy agendas and to assert geopolitical dominance.

However, one technological aspect of A House of Dynamite less in dispute whether or not you are a nuclear expert is the prominent role mobile phones play in the unfolding crisis. They serve as a touchstone across the film's three-part narrative, helping ordinary viewers more fully enter an extraordinary situation. After all, whether it's an iPhone, Android or other model, everyone has their own hotline now.

First, defense contractors selling AI products or services may revert to an earlier tendency to re-package AI technologies under more palatable monikers, like "data analytics." Second, national defense organizations in the United States and elsewhere may take up the mantle of basic AI research & development suitable for their own ends, capturing the value left in the bubble's wake.

In an article last week, Gu Jianyi, a researcher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said China could consider developing a new industrial ecosystem inspired by successful US firms such as SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril. Such an ecosystem would be defined by Silicon Valley-style innovation, software-centric design, agile development and civil-military integration.

The components found in downed Russian drones and cruise and ballistic missiles range from microcomputers and sensors to switching connectors and converters. Ukraine says they're coming from the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Some of these nations are among Kyiv's closest partners. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over 100,000 foreign-made parts were found among the 550 Russian drones and missiles used in a large-scale bombardment, underscoring the scale of the problem.