Cognitive Dissonance
Time reports that disagreement within a team is useful for innovation. The trick, of course, is getting everyone comfortable enough to get uncomfortable. Keep the network tight and this is a great tactic.
DC Meetup
The hearing went as well as it could, though it was apparent no Representative had an ‘a ha!’ moment. (Listen to the audiocast)
Anyway, had a great time yesterday catching up with John and meeting the brothers Robb (as well as a pair of smart Georgetown students). Very cool to connect and hear about what he’s up to.
Tomorrow’s Forecast: Snowmobiles in Congress
House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capability: “Terrorism and New Age of Irregular Warfare: Challenges and Opportunities,” 3:30 PM, Room 2118, Rayburn House.
Useful Congressional testimony is rare. Most consists of narrow policy prescriptions being put forward by domain specific ‘experts,’ chosen by donor-funded organizations for their pet cause rather than the ability to move the conversation forward. This ‘expert’ class is mostly made up of as lobbyists, corporations, PhDs, and technically proficient government employees.
In contrast, John’s testimony tomorrow (he was kind enough to let me take an early look) is what John Boyd called a “snowmobile” – a synthesis of ideas from multiple domains that succintly describes the myriad of challenges facing the global system. As opposed to most testimony, this one will get you thinking.
If you’re in D.C., it’ll be worth coming out to see.
Wired for War Symposium
Friends over at the Complex Terrain Laboratory have an excellent conversation going. Singer, one of (if not the) smartest guys working at a think tank, is leading. Go check it out.
The book is very smart, well written, funny, and filled with references to this cluster of the blogosphere. I’ll have a full review up when my thoughts on it settle.
Idea: CraigsBlackList
A layer: a parasitic website that is underpinned entirely by another, that allows functionality that is not in the host.
For predators that otherwise may be easily targeted (such as say drug dealers on Craigslist), a layer would allow an avenue of approach that the host would be unaware of or unable to cope with. This strategy is more likely to take hold in situations where the underlying site is an open platform.
Consider a layer, call it CraigsBlackList, that essentially modifies the way you look at and access Craigslist (among the flattest, most robust platforms on the internet).
You open up CBL, and it looks exactly like CL. Once you login however, (a login you received from a friend – fellow predator – via an invite only, reputation based system normal, seemingly benign ads for legitimate goods – vehicles, fruit, apartments – transform into the thriving black market ecosystem. (System-handled codewords reveal drug sales, prostitution rings, weapons trades and the like.)
Meanwhile, users of Craigslist see the CBL ads as well, but to them, the ads are benign legitimate market items. To CL administrators, the illicit ads are impossible to distinguish from legitimate without penetrating the predator social network. (Unlikely given gang/cartel/mafia enforcer involvement.)
Essentially, CL was just parasitically absorbed by CBL.