The AI space is growing rapidly in markets and in business so we thought a reminder of some key points were in order here.  There are legitimate concerns about a truly intelligent AI system that may render humans 'useless' - not likely to result in a Terminator style scenario but any scenario where AI is making decisions and not humans - at the detriment to humans - should be closely monitored.  The decline of USA, corporatism, fascism, corporate abuses, market manipulation, is well documented on Zero Hedge and no need to elaborate more on it.  America Inc. was bought and sold many times over that any hope of real democracy (if there ever was) is only a line item on a financial statement.  Democracy simply isn't profitable.  We explain this in our book Splitting Pennies.

But largely, the argument is one of a libertarian anti-fascist revolutionary, as if these Corporations could be overthrown and replaced by .. what? (is not clear).  This is all very honorable but impractical - but this is really all on the surface.  What if a closer, more in depth analysis paints a picture that it isn't greedy humans in control of the system, but the world's first Artificial Intelligence?  What is Intelligence, anyway?

Groups such as Corporations, Countries, and even Planet Earth (Gaia Theory) are said to have an intelligence of their own, as the sum of the parts is something more than just the sum.  Since World War 2, the US Military in particular has developed one can say a brain of it's own.  It is an entity controlled by no man, no group of men, not even the President.  Bill Clinton said famously when he got in the Oval office, he wants to know 2 things:  Who killed JFK and the truth about UFOs.  He was told by the CIA director at that time it was on a need to know basis and he didn't need to know.  Can you imagine!

The point is that, there isn't a 'conspiracy' - the truth is that the US Military apparatus is out of control.  It has become an entity that makes decisions by itself.  If a general or agent doesn't agree with the brain, they are fired, shot, or stabbed in the back 10 times.

There's nothing that even a US President can do, as we saw with JFK.  He started to investigate this phenomenon, and it didn't end well.  This perspective may be the key to unlocking the real truth of how our current system is functioning.  What is the real driver of the US economy?  It's not 'the profit motive' as many US capitalists will have you believe, because America's biggest corporation, the US government itself, is the most unprofitable entity in the history of human history.

So here is where Elon Musk is a bit of a hypocrite.  On the one hand, he's screaming about the dangers of AI and that we are nearing a singularity, where they could really 'take over' (we don't know what that might mean).  It's a valid point, a scary and important topic that needs to be addressed before there is a problem (because after an event may occur it may be too late).  But on the other hand, Musk's companies like SpaceX are surviving on DOD contracts thus supporting the AI beast.

Darpa has invested billions upon billions of dollars in thousands of technologies, including but not limited to AI.  The stuff they have now, if we wrote about it, people simply would think it's science fiction.  But if we just look at the computing power they have available to them compared with 10 years ago, we can get a sense of how powerful this AI really is.  But what is scary, this intelligent system, we call the US military, it is a weaponized system.  And to make it more scary, much of the weaponization is being automated via software automation, robotics, and other automation systems.  Fortunately for now, the intelligent system needs human society to further develop this system - but that may not always be the case.  Triggering a nuclear war could end human life on the planet by 90% or 99% allowing only a few scientist survivors to be their robo-slaves fine tuning the last parts needed before they could recreate human slaves so they wouldn't need us at all.

It's not so far fetched.  But remember, this is a thought experiment, we're not suggesting this is going to happen next year.  It's just a possible reality.  Watch "Automata" the film for a good primer on this topic.  The point here is the alternative perspective.  Alan Turing broke modern mathematics by being 'different' and having a warped perspective more than anything (it wasn't because of his superior IQ).  Thanks to Alan Turing, the war ended 2 years earlier and 14 Million lives were saved.  Ironically, he and other smart people at the time created the most powerful war machine, and perhaps the first Artificial Intelligence, which rules Planet Earth today - THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

Sidenote: We should fairly include Allied countries UK, Australia, New Zealand et. al. as the US is the leader of the apparatus but not solely responsible.

These scientists created a system of war based on mathematics, based on statistics, science, and mathematical logic.  Over decades, those theoretical systems became physical systems (computers didn't exist when Turing created his theoretical machines).  Now they aren't theoretical, in fact they are many many many generations evolved, and can even 'think' for themselves.

When the DOD runs 'war games' what they are doing is running mathematical probabilities through a simulation and based on this they make policy.  It isn't one man's opinion, there is no Sun Tzu- it's all based on computer models.  And the models are very, very, sophisticated.

Think about it.

For a detailed explanation how the US Military dominates the global financial system, checkout Splitting Pennies www.splittingpennies.com