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The hierarchy of desire
So what you are saying, basically, is you got rich because Bendolzians will have sex with each other more easily than humans will sex with each other? Yes. But what does THAT have to do with accusations of defrauding an entire species for billions? I didn’t do that. Ever. But everyone accused you off it? I made my money legally. Those charges were dropped. So why did you have 384 separate arrest warrants out on you at one time? Jealousy. Jealousy? You were accused of massive intergalactic fraud and theft by 83 separate nations, out of jealousy? Yes Mr Robert. That’s a big statement. I can back it up. With evidence. Alright. Not on the phone. It’s too dangerous. Come to my house. The Bendolzian consulate? My house. I know you are nearby. Come quick. Before someone tries to intercept you. They’re watching me closely. Get down to the marina. Look for a Bendolzian boat. How will I spot it? You’ll spot it. Hurry. They will be moving in on you from the moment this call ends. Click Belize, June 4th 2114 The line went dead. Robert Fadden blinked. The fact he managed to get a phone interview with the most elusive man on Earth was enough to keep his editor happy. He had heard the rumours, everyone had; Sanjay Gupta was an Indian who had made his fortune in the waste disposal business. Somehow a decade or so ago he then made a bigger fortune defrauding the Bendolzians. The details were sealed and secret. But everyone wanted this man. He had gone on the run. He was utterly paranoid they said. He lived on a private island where he partook in drug fulled orgies. He was a real life Bond villain. Still, mused Fadden, there WERE parts of his story that had his hard-nosed journalistic soul wondering. The Bendolzians had responded to the arrest warrants out on him by designating his island home their consulate and was considered Bendolzian territory. Rumour said he was forced them to do it- but how do you influence an entire alien species to do your bidding? And the charges were ALL mysteriously dropped a couple of years ago. No clear explanation was ever given. Every journalist on Earth wanted to work out what was going on with this story. And he had gotten to talk to the man. The first to have ever done that. Fadden sat at the desk of his hotel room, sweat clinging to his body. ‘They will be moving in on you’? Well the paranoia part was correct. Inwardly, Fadden could hear his mother, her strict Presbyterian Scottish accent, Don’t be having anything to do with dangerous men Bobby his internal version of her intones, Ya neva know what trouble it can land ya in. But another part of him hears the words of his editor, Get the story Rob, and I promise you a front page. For about ten seconds Robert Fadden is torn between prudence and daring, between caution and risk. He opts for risk. He moves without explanation or pause. He grabs his phone and throws it into his bag, followed by his digital recorder, a cheap digital camera, and the keys to the rental car parked in the garage below the hotel. He puts on his jacket (despite the heat) and heads out. He foregoes waiting for the old lift, but takes the fire stairwell: moving fast, leaping the last three steps to each landing, downwards, forwards, driven as much by the excitement of the story than the fears of some paranoid billionaire. In a few moments he enters the relative coolness of the underground car park; half full, he spots the small green 2093 Zephyr sat by itself. It was boxy, had seen much better days and was clearly the kind of hire car people on a budget would take. Which is why it was his. He leaps in, inserts the key, watches as its electric engine starts instantly and silently, and quickly makes his way up and out onto the street besides the Hotel Anacebo. The heat is stifling; even with the cars aircon he can feel it. A tropical heat, wet and stuffy, where the humidity was enhanced by the rainforest that surrounded the town and threatened, always, to overwhelm it. The town was small. All roads led either out to the forest or down to the marina. He took the turns to the latter. He didn’t drive especially quickly but he did glance, nervously, at his rear view mirror a few times. 30 years had passed since humans had encountered Bendolzians; a gentle, faintly insectoid, interstellar species, whose exploration ship had emerged on the edge of the solar system and who had come towards Earth broadcasting messages of peace in a dozen languages. Three decades of amazement and wonder. It had changed the world. The Bendolzians were far more advanced than we were in the realm of science. Human life expectancy had increased on average 25 years since they began sharing their technologies with us. People spoke of a new golden age. In return the humans had a culture and a civilisation that fascinated the aliens. Human music, human languages, human art. The Bendolzians, it was said, had given the human race the technology to produce stable clones in return for a live performance of a concerto by Bach. At least that is what everyone said. The aliens didn’t use currency. They gave us technology, we gave them culture. But as Fadden drove he realised that while a generation had passed since then and Bendolzian technology had impacted upon all aspects of human life... in some places it was more apparent than others. Here? Miles from anywhere, a small, poor town, in a small, poor province of a small, poor country? You couldn’t tell at all. The cars were ramshackle, the streets badly paved, the shops were basic. Life here carried on as if it was the 2030’s not the 2110’s. Poverty. Unemployment. Corruption. Mankind maybe wasn’t alone anymore but it sure hadn’t changed much. The marina’s car park is crowded but he finds a spot, parks the car, slugs his bag over his shoulder and strides towards the water. Inwardly he grins. He was on his way to meet a real life Bond villain. He scans the scene before him. As usual the place is filled with rusty fishing boats that have seen better days and a few small cargo craft. Further down is where the private boats are- he can see the masts of about two dozen yachts. Most will be small, he knows from experience; folks who live on the sea, often retirees. Living the dream and sailing the world. As he walks he finds himself looking behind him and wondering if anyone was following him... Stop it. The guys paranoid He strides onwards purposefully and notices a bunch of locals staring with real interest out at the edge of the marina. And then he sees what they are staring at. It’s a boat. It’s a boat because it moves on water. But no part of it is touching the water. It hovers about six feet above the waves, gliding through the air. Its not... flying... as it’s wake causes the water to stir as if it was gliding in on some kind of invisible fin. Long, sleek, elegant, very purple, and slightly ominous. Clearly the Bendolzian boat then. Robert makes his way towards the pier the boat seemed to be aiming at. The glare of the water makes him squint for a moment before he decides to put on his sunglasses. He stands there, watching the boat cut its engine and drift towards him. A tall Scot, in casual trousers, blond crew cut, and sunglasses. How very fuckin James Bond of ya, ya wee Weegie Shite! goes his inner monologue. Fadden is a tad disappointed that stepping onto the edge of the boat isn’t an actual Bendolzian but a human. By the looks of things, a local, dressed in a crisp white uniform. “Mr Fadden?” “Yes. Is this for me?” “Yes Mr Fadden. Please come on board. We have instructions to take you at once to the Consulate...” The Consulate of the Most Serene Chorus of the Beldolzia Collective had once been on the market as a millionaires retreat, a few decades ago. A half moon shaped island, two miles off the coast of Belize and facing the Caribbean. There was a mansion, tennis courts, private grounds, more. All available for anyone who wished for privacy and avoidance of US Tax laws. But then Sanjay Gupta has bought it and it had become an alien consulate and was one of the more discussed places on Earth. Still, as the craft sliced through the air above the sea Robert couldn’t help have the impression he wasn’t approaching the some evil lair, rather somewhere that looked like a small, tacky, tourist resort. It was conservative, slightly garish and very boring. No grand displays of alien technology, no alien flags, no aliens. As the ship carefully and expertly navigated to a landing pad next to a pier the only indication he was technically on alien soil was a small sign which informed visitors that this island was under the laws and jurisdiction of the Bendolzians. He was met by a polite staff and escorted to see the elusive billionaire. As he strides, Fadden looked about him. Can’t imagine anyone having an orgy in a place like this. Maybe a game of bingo... Twenty five minutes later, small talk over with, he has his recorder set up and mic placed to pick up his target. He had to admit- Sanjay Gupta was not what he was expecting. Bespectacled, hair thinning, his face filed with a smile that was a little too over eager, a growing gut. If anything Fadden would have said he seemed more needy Indian uncle than evil billionaire. The Scottish reporter clears his throat, turns on the recorder and begins. “So, Mr Gupta...” “Sanjay please. I prefer informality in my interviews,” comes the reply. Gupta’s English was perfect; the exact intonations of formal Received Pronunciation. Fadden could tell he had spent a lot to hide his origins form Uttar Pradesh. “Fine. Sanjay. So, for the record, why did so many governments accuse you of fraud and theft?” The billionaire smiles his over eager smile and sits back on his luxurious couch. “Do you know the precise accusations or only the board terms?” He’s avoiding... “Only the broad terms, obviously.” “Why is this? You are a journalist after all? Surely YOU would know more?” Fadden can sense some kind of trap, so makes sure to answer precisely. “The United World Global Council declared that since the crimes were committed against Beldolzians it would be better if the exact details remains a secret, to prevent any inter-species misunderstandings they said.” Gupta seems pleased with this answer, and nodding says, “Indeed. The seven nations in the UWGC decreed it and the other 79 in the general assembly who had made allegations against me agreed to follow their decision. So the world was only ever given a broad over view of what I supposedly did.” “Massive fraud of the Beldolzians,” says Robert, hoping to get more out of him, “and theft and deception. Hundreds of counts. Which makes me restate my question: Why?” “Because they were jealous. I merely saw a gap in the market first and they could not see a way of closing this gap,” comes the reply. “So the accusations were untrue?” “Indeed Mr Robert, but it is worse that that? They were a smokescreen. The governments of humanity only alleged those things so they could shake me down for money. They wanted a cut of my profits. Extortion. So I made a deal with them and suddenly the charges were dropped.” “Really?” Fadden tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice but fails. Gupta did not seem to notice. “Really Mr Robert. There WAS a fraud committed but not enacted by myself. It was done by the leaders of the world. I’m the victim here.” “That’s a very serious accusation...” “Would you like me to show you the emails? The private correspondence I have from the worlds leaders? The President of the EU? Prime Minister of the Greater Indian Republic? I even have a mail from the Patriarch of the Holy Russian Theocracy offering to lift the excommunication they had placed upon me, in exchange for hard currency. Extortion.” “Because you are making...” “Because I’ve made a fortune and made the Bendolzians very happy. Our alien friends pay me for simply providing them a service,” says the Indian. The Scot was having none of this, his hard nose journalist edge sought to sting his subject into revealing more. “By selling them fake art? That seemed to be the gist of the accusations.” Gupta smiles, all teeth and thin lips, but his eyes are cold. “I never sold fakes. I sold copies.” “You don’t pay a fortune for a copy,” spits back Fadden. “The Bendolzians do.” “Why?” Gupta thinks and leans forward and say quietly, ‘I need to talk about that sex statement I made on the phone yes?” “It was a hell of a statement to make. Provocative.” “Deliberately so, Mr Robert. But not incorrect.” “Explain it to me. Why do alien sexual practices mean you made fortune selling them copies of art?” The billionaire nods and leans back again, his eyes searching Fadden’s face for a moment. “Alright Mr Robert. I need to ask you a hypothetical question to begin. Indulge me for a moment.” “Go ahead,” comes the crisp Glaswegian accent. “Let us assume you are gay. Or that sexuality and gender is not something you cared about. I don’t know if you do, I don’t care, I just need you to suspend those concepts for me before I ask you this question,” says Gupta. “Alright. Consider them suspended. What’s the question?” “Would you be inclined to sleep with me. Right now.” Robert blinks. Part of him has to admit, he did NOT expect such a question. Rapidly, he regains his composure. “Er... no.” “Alright. Why?” “I don’t find you attractive. As men go. If I was to find a man attractive, I don’t think you would be it.” “So,” says Gupta, talking as casually as he would an old friend, “there is an aesthetic quality you would desire in a partner. My ‘looks’ are not attractive enough to entice you?” “Indeed. Not attractive enough.” The Indian smiles, this time with an amused twinkle in his eye. “But consider- I am the richest man on Earth. Worth billions. Being my sexual partner has its advantages then.” “Are you offering me cash to sleep with you? Hypothetically speaking of course,” says Robert, also amused at the conversation. “Let’s assume I’m not, so let me be more precise- isn’t there a certain allure to the idea of having said ‘I slept with the richest man on Earth?’ Would this change your mind?” “Maybe. I’m unsure.” “Let us assume then if you slept with me, you would receive financial benefits.” “How much?” “Assume a lot.” “No offence, it would have to be,” he says automatically, but the journalist inwardly worries if his reply went too far. Luckily it did not seem to have. “None taken. But assume it would be a life changing amount. Does this change your answer?” “Maybe. Probably. I don’t know. Probably.” “Aha. So the result of my proposition depends upon the CONTEXT it occurs in. By myself? You have no desire to have sex with me. With my wealth? Maybe. With material reward? Probably. I am correct in this?” Robert couldn’t help but worry where this was going. “Mr Gupta, I have to say...” “Mr Robert- firstly? It’s Sanjay. Secondly, let me assure you, I have NO desire to sleep with you. At all. You are are someone I do not find attractive. And you do not have an alluring multi-billion dollar fortune to help compensate for this.” Fadden grins, and says, “So why the questions?” “Consider the human criteria for sleeping with people. Trust me Mr Robert, I am not one of the winners in the lottery of life in this regards. But I am aware that all people have certain traits, certain criteria we all place before us when it comes to choosing a sexual partner.” The billionaire folds one leg under his body and gets into his stride. “For some it is good looks we value most. For others it is wealth. Others would find a man who is gentle to be what they seek for most. Still others would place the ability to make them laugh. Usually it is not just one thing, but a combination of things, of desires, that all mix together and are manifest in something called the hierarchy of desire.” The Scotsman blinks and says quietly, “You referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?” The Indians face lights up, the way a persons face changes when they realise someone understands what they are talking about. “Partly. Maslow’s theories do not have any scientific proof behind them yes? But they remain popular over 150 years after they come out because we all recognise something of ourselves in them?” “That’s a fair assessment,” says Robert, trying to remember courses in psychology and sociology he had studied in university decades ago. “So, I do not use HIS example as the actual model of this heirachy, as humans are more complex and there is probably much more interplay beteeen the actual levels...” “I’d always thought so.” “Good. We agree. But I use the term ‘hierarchy of desire’ as shorthand to describe the complicated, and uniquely individualistic ways we humans make the choice to decide if we are going to have sex with someone. Or not. There are a myriad of factors yes?” Robert remained silent. He’d have to do some reading after this interview to see if Gupta’s words were valid or just cherry picking aspects of things, but for now he was just letting his target speak. Gupta simply carries on. “Deep seated desires, physical fetishes, the circumstances you find yourself in, your location, all these are a factor. But, when the decision is made, we ALL follow a simple concept- where does the person who wishes to sleep with me fit within my heirachy of desire?” A shrug, “Above the criteria for sex? We will have sex most probably. Below it? And we most probably won’t.” Fadden sat and watched this little Indian explain the theory with glee. He was also aware he had allowed Gupta steer the interview away from him. It was time to try and bring it back. “Alright Sanjay, assume I agree with that. What has all of this to do with accusations of defrauding an entire alien species?” Sanjay Gupta sighs and shakes his head. He stands and walks away from the seating area towards the far wall of his grand study. Along one side, open windows with billowing curtains, reveal a stunning vista of the Caribbean but he ignores it. “Follow me please,” he says as he does this. Robert Fadden, startled, grabs his microphone and follows the billionaire. Gupta walks towards a painting at the far, far end of the massive room, leans upon a nearby desk and indicates to it. “Mr Robert? Please, look at this,” he says politely. The Scotsman joins the billionaire and gazed at the painting. It was sumptuous. A renaissance work he was sure. A woman holding a rather chubby baby, talking to another woman, with a man stood behind her. Robert is drawn to the way the sumptuous colours and fine detail. He gazed at it a few seconds and says “Beautiful. Is it expensive?” Gupta grins and says,”It is ‘A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria’ by the Renaissance master, Titian. Painted around 550 years ago. It was last sold in 2011 for just shy of 17 million dollars. Its current value is 378 million dollars. US.” Unsure of how to respond to the billionaire showing off his wealth Robert simply says, “It’s amazing.” Gupta raises his eyebrows. “I bought this for 250,000 dollars. Cash.” “Why so cheap?” “Its not the original,” comes the cool reply. “It isn’t?” “I paid a man in Hong King, a most skilled fabricator, that much cash to create a copy of it. A copy so good that only a true expert armed with a bevvy of technology would be able to detect it is NOT the real thing. It is by all accounts an amazing replica. Right down to the exact number of brushstrokes.” Robert gazed at it. It LOOKED authentic. He has no idea why he is looking at it, but part of him senses the billionaire is close to confessing his fraud, So remains silent. People hate silence. They fill it. Two seconds later Gupta fills the silence. “Next question Mr Robert; if this is virtually indistinguishable from the original, except to the eye of an utter expert who has spent a lifetime studying the paintings of Titian, why is original verison worth 1384 times more than this?” “Its a fake.” “No, it would ONLY become a fake if I ever tried to say it was the original. I do not. It is a replica. A copy. I repeat the question; why is it worth much less than the original?” “Because it’s NOT the original.” “Agreed. But why do we insist an original is worth more than a copy?” This is it Robert- this is him confessing... careful man... just entice him to confess... “I dunno”, comes the Scottish brogue accent, “it’s complicated. Why do we value art?” “A complex question, yes. But consider it this way- ultimately all you are saying is that the difference between this painting and the one it copies is the CONTEXT of both paintings yes?” Robert Fadden frowns and thinks for a moment before speaking. “Are you saying it’s like the way we pick sexual partners?” “Not in so many words but at its heart, yes. There is an underlying pattern of thought. The thoughts themselves differ Mr Robert, but the pattern of thought, the idea of a hierarchy of desire remains.” “I suppose I see your point Mr Gupta... Sanjay. But it’s rather thin don’t you think?” Slowly the billionaire walks away from the painting to the open windows and just beyond it, a wide balcony that runs along the side of the massive room. There is no wind today, but despite the sun, the balcony is in shade. Robert finds it so wonderfully refreshing... and it’s a heck of a view. As he walks, Gupta chats along with the journalist casually. “You know what I was reading the other day? The original reviews of an old 20th century movie called ‘Psycho’. It is an amazing film. It is about a woman who steals money of her employer and then flees to join up with her lover in another state. As she drives, she is troubled by a violent storm and so decides to stop on her journey at somewhere called the Bates Motel, where she meets the owner, one Norman Bates...” “Yes Sanjay, I am aware of ‘Psycho’. She gets murdered in the shower.” “Oh good. Now what’s interesting is that the critics, without exception, slated the film. They called it unimaginative and plodding and even said it was infested with tediousness. Meanwhile the public hated it. They did not go see it. It was a commercial failure.” The reporter frowns, “No. Wait. That’s not right. Hitchcock’s Psycho is a classic.” The Indian smiles broadly at this reply. “Ah. I refer to the remake made by Gus Van Sant 38 years later. An almost shot for shot remake of the original. A perfect copy. Utterly overlooked. It’s existence is almost forgotten about.” There was a remake? “Tell me- what is it about copies we hate so much? In the heriarchy of desire why do we hate ‘fakes’- men who try too hard, or movies that make copies of classics or modern versions of ancient paintings?” Fadden gazed at the waves for a moment and says, “Authenticity. We value authenticity.” “Ah, very good Mr Robert. We value authenticity. The key word there is ‘value’. When we talk about art we say authenticity. When we talk about sexual partners we can say sincerity. Or attractiveness. Whatever. It is NOT about HOW we place things in the heirarchy of desire, it is that we have these values at all that is crucial.” “Alright Sanjay. Let’s assume I go along with this. What does all this have to do...” “I’m getting to that Mr Robert. All I am saying ultimately is that when you study humans you quickly realise that this method of thinking in ingrained so deeply into us that it manifests itself in a million ways. So, shall I have sex with this person or that person? Shall I buy this suit or this coat? Shall I purchase this limited edition car? Shall I visit this country or that country? How much is this painting worth? Do you see?” Robert stares out at the sea for a few seconds. “Yes. I see. I think.” “Or put it this way. Take the Mona Lisa. The most expensive painting in the world. It said to be priceless but I happen to know that if you offered the French government 7 billion Euros? They would let you purchase it. Of course it must remain in the Louvre for all time. But for seven billion you get a little plaque next to it saying it’s yours.” Fadden can’t help but grin at Gupta. “You asked didn’t you?” “I was curious,” he laughs, “but now consider this. The Mona Lisa is worth 7 billion. A high grade copy of it printed on canvus with the best processes money can buy? Ten thousand euros. A low grade copy? Maybe 400. And a poster? Ten euro. See? We value originals, authenticated and unique above all others. And the CONTEXT of the other copies will dictate where we place them on the hierarchy of desire.” “Right but...” “But what about our alien friends?” “Indeed,” says Fadden. “Bendolzian’s are an odd bunch to look at. You must have seen pictures. Trust me they are much more shocking to meet for real. Eight feet high. Six legs around a long central core containing their mouth for eating and oriface for excretion. They have the torso above the core, which means arms, mouths, eyes and ears and crucially brains are separate from functions for eating and movement...” “Yes I am aware of how... different they look. When did you first have dealings with them?” The billionaire began walking back to his fake painting by the desk, the reporter carefully making sure his microphone picks up every word. Gupta seems to be happy to talk about his dealings with the aliens. “I first visited the Bendolzian home world 9 years ago. Part of a mostly failed trade delegation. I was hoping to see if they needed any large scale waste disposal.” “Go on?” “My first day there? I met a human XenoBiologist. One of the first who went there. He told me something fascinating. The Bendolzians love sex. For the sake of sex.” Robert nodded. Back to the sex talk. “They DO?” He tried to sound mock shocked. “Yes. Or so he thought. Bendolzians are capable of feeling intense pleasure during sex and seem to copulate often. Yet sex is a common social interaction for them. They use sex in greeting, departing, in establishing rapport. They have no sense of shame about it. And aside from a prohibition upon close familial members, to prevent genetic deformities, no hangs ups. They copulate. Frequently. Its why their population is so staggeringly large. There are 11 billion humans and 580 billion Bendolzian” “So they like sex, good for them...” “No Mr Robert. That’s not the point. You make the same mistake the XenoBiologists make. You see events but don’t think about what they mean...” Gupta is back leaning against his desk. It’s covered in papers, neatly arranged, held down with some kind of gold coloured paperweight; perfectly aligned pens; a small, but powerful computer to one side. Fadden however is focused utterly upon the Indian. “What this shows Mr Robert, is the Bendolzians do NOT have a heirarchy of desire.” Gupta smiles, “And I realised at that exact moment that they and we THINK differently. This is not exactly a original thing to realise. It obvious really. My gift was I saw exactly how we differed in thought- what process of human thought they did not have. It’s why they don’t use currency. Why their society is far more fluid socially. They simply appreciate the pleasure of sex or the beauty in an object because it is pleasurable or beautiful.” The Scotsman raises an eyebrow and says quietly, “So you mean...” “I mean that to a Bendolzian, the ten euro poster of the Mona Lisa is as valuable as the high grade copy, or even the original. They do not fixate upon the need for authenticity. A thing is a thing to them. If it is a beautiful painting? They appreciate the painting, even if it is merely a cheap copy to us.” Fadden watched as the India picked up the golden paperweight on his desk in an absent-minded manner. He then realised it wasn’t a golden paperweight at all, but an actual small ingot of gold, a few inches long, solid and set. Having it on the desk seemed like the kind of onsetentious display a billionaire liked to make. But he put it out of his mind. He had his exclusive. “So,” says the reporter, zeroing in on his story, “you realised this and then exploited this?” “I capitalised upon it. Bendolzians adore human culture yes? So I made a deal with them. I gained the exclusive rights to sell them human art. They love human art. Its alien but fascinating to them. I would sell copies of human paintings to them. To all of them. Any Beldozian now could own a small copy of any human painting. A simple high resolution copy. And they would pay me. Not much. But there are hundreds of billions of them. Micro transactions really do add up.” “Wait- that IS fraud. That’s the work of artists. You are using THEIR work to gain profit...” That smug grin returns. “I never used any art created by a living painter. In fact I don’t use any work less than 100 years old. That left me all the art work from antiquity to the start of the twentieth century. Billions of images. All in the public domain. A never ending supply really.” “What about the owners of these paintings? Or the museums? They hold the rights to these images, in terms of profit making...” The India smiles and begins walking back to the comfy chairs, the reporter following him as he spoke. “Two things Mr Robert- firstly, ALL human laws regarding licensing rights were written specifically to do with the gaining of currency and Bendoldzians do not use currency so they are technically inapplicable.” Sanjay Gupta sits down, his face wearing a Cheshire Cat grin, “Secondly- museums? Really? Did you ever read about how in the early 21st century there was a rash of ‘copyright farmers’? Legal firms who would purchase the rights to old songs and then go after anyone who used those songs in any media, demanding payment? Men who never had a damn thing to do with the writing, performing and recording of the song, but who bought the rights and made a fortune from them? Tell me, how are museums functionally different from those odious creatures?” “That’s a debate for the courts. I don’t think they would agree,” says the reporter sitting down opposite his target. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the cases never came to court. The great and the good spluttered at what I was doing in utter indignation and rage, unleashed a bevvy of criminal charges upon me, sought to demand I cut them into my deal. A shake down. They were outraged that I, solely, was profiting from the collective output of thousands of years of human art.” “Yes, agreed. Its not fair really...” The billionaire smiles as he stares into his reflection in the small gold ingot he casually toyed with in his hands. “Perhaps. But then? They dropped ALL the charges. Dropped everything. Retracted every single allegation. Can you guess why?” “You cut them in?” “Actually? I made a deal but not the one they wanted. I never gave them a penny. Which begs the question- why did they drop the allegations?” “It was the Bendolzians? They were getting art from you. They moved to protect you?” “Oh no Mr Robert. The answer is much more mundane and obvious. Think back along what I have told you during the interview. What is the one glaring inconsistency in my story. What part, when you think about it, doesn’t make sense? A single idea that doesn’t sit right?” Robert Fadden blinks and sits back. His mind ranges over the rambling discussion. None of it really made too much sense he supposed. A billionaire justifying his fraudulent method of getting rich. Still, it DID seem to have a consistency to it. Fadden mused. About sex, and art, and how humans think and how the aliens think, and about copies of art, and museums and lawsuits and fraud and... He blinks. “Wait. You said the Bendolzians PAID you. But Bendolzians don’t use currency. They never ‘pay’ anyone. They trade. Technology for art.” “Ah, you are very intelligent Mr.Robert. Yes they trade. A thing for a thing.” “They gave you technology?” “No. I have never displayed any advanced technological item have I? No, they did not give me any technology for this art.” “So what did they give you?” The Indian smiles and tosses across the small gold ingot casually at him, underarm. Fadden catches it, loses it, and hurriedly grabs it as it falls. He stares at the gold bar for a few seconds. “Gold?” “The heriarchy of desire Mr Robert. Question- why do we value gold?” “It’s precious.” “No, WHY? Why is it considered precious?” “It’s rare.” “Yes. All gold on Earth arrived here at a very specific time period in the planets history. The late heavy bombardment; the asteroids came they hit the thick crust and gold was deposited. But it isn’t much. Gold is a rare and precious commodity on Earth. This rarity makes it desirable. It moves up the heirarchy of desire.” “But the Bendolzians...” “The Bendolzians are a very advanced civilisation. They harvest plasma from their sun you know? This process provides fuel for their ships. There is, however, an annoying side effect in this process.” “Annoying side effect?” “What business did I begin in again Mr Robert?” Robert Fadden clings to the small gold ingot, but his eyes widen and in a horse Scottish whisper says, “Waste disposal...” “Well done Mr Fadden. Bendolzians harvest plasma from their sun and remove the many impurities they find there, including huge quantities of a useless, soft yellow metal, that they have no need for. Gold. I offered to dispose of it for them. In my eagerness however, I unfortunately mentioned it had a value to us humans. Otherwise they may have just given it to me for free. But I was able to fashion an arrangement. I give them art, they give me lots of this waste metal,” he smiles. “But... that... I mean...” “Question Mr Robert- can you imagine what would happen to human civilisation if it was revealed that the most precious metal, the actual bedrock of the global economy, was actually as common as sea water?” “It would... the price would...” “It would lose its place in the heriarchy of desire Mr Robert. It would no longer be a Mona Lisa, but a low quality postcard of it. The value would plummet.” “It would... it could... cause a global economic meltdown.” “Which is what the leaders of the world realised. So a deal was struck. They leave me alone and I keep this a secret. I was allowed enough gold to enter the market to make me richer than anyone else who has ever been and then? I sit on the rest. Occasionally I make secret transfers to the few governments who know. I have actually helped prevent a economic crisis or two. I get good rates.” “But that’s...” “Merely a function of the hierarchy of desire Mr Robert. Human beings are no longer alone in the universe. But we haven’t actually changed at all have we? We are still human.” He laughs, joyful and happy. He catches Robert’s shocked face and his grin seems to grow. “Of course, I need to keep this fact a secret, but I’m fine with that. Mostly.” The reporter feels a cold clammy sweat trickle down his back. He gazed at the gold bar in his hand, his mind awash with a thousand thoughts and then one thought stops his thinking dead. One single thought makes him slowly look up, look at his microphone and the recording device, and then look Sanjay Gupta dead in the eye. “Wait. You have to keep this secret. From everyone. Why are you confessing to me?” “Oh Mr Robert. I’m not confessing... I am BRAGGING. The only issue with having pulled this off, this brilliant manipulation of TWO species is, alas, I can’t tell anyone about it. It can be somewhat vexing.” He leans forwards eagerly, a cold glint in his eyes. “And so? Every so often, when the desire to gloat gets too much much for me? I invite a journalist who is sniffing around, and there are ALWAYS journalists sniffing around, to come meet me. And then I get to brag about this brilliant thing I have done. It is most refreshing and enjoyable to do so. You will be the fourth person I have told this too.” “What happened to the other three?” A shrug. “They are all dead. Oh, it wasn’t me who did it. All three left this Island as alive as when they arrived. But what can I say? All three knew a secret. And maybe they would have published the story. Or maybe they would have kept it to themselves. Who knows? But I ask you? What government can take that chance eh?” “They were killed?” “Maybe. They are all certainly dead. Which is odd don’t you think?” Robert Madden finds himself standing, moving towards the open windows, staring out onto the perfect Caribbean Sea. It’s blue waves gently undulate but the beauty of it is lost upon him. His mind races, considering possibilities and permutations. Behind him two security men enter the room quietly, and the Indian muses, “Of course we have to ask WHY human governments would think it better to dispose of the reporters like this. Where exactly DO trashy tabloid journalists fit on the hierarchy?” Fadden feels very cold. A Bond villain after all... “You can keep that, by the way,” says Gupta, and Robert is aware he is still holding the gold bar; he gazed at it as his host says, “it’s not like I would miss it.” Robert closes his eyes. He considers all he knows about the world, all he has learned about life and comes to one sudden, cold, reality. “I’m fucked,” he says openly, his Glaswegian accent becoming thicker as he gets upset. “Alas yes Mr Andrew. It would appear so. Now, these gentlemen will escort you to the boat.” Robert turns and sees his recording device on the table. Next to it sits Sanjay Gupta, smiling away and next to him stand two menacing gentlemen in well made suits. Twenty minutes later he gathers his wits. As he sits on the purple boat he realises he has one chance, just one chance... if he can upload the interview onto the web, he could maybe use it as leverage. His mind races through possible negotiations with mysterious government figures, his silence can be bought. But as he fumbles with his phone he spots something and a few minutes later a crew member explains “Mr Gupta apologises, but Bendolozian craft generate a field that prevents signal getting out. If you could wait until you reach the shore...” Robert Fadden’s mind races. He’ll upload the moment he gets to the marina, then go back to his hotel, if he has time, encrypt the recording, hide all trace, use its existence as a way to... But as the boat comes into view of its destination he sees them. A small handful of local police officers. Amidst them westerners. Tall ones. Casually dressed. Wearing sunglasses. Their faces all staring at the purple boat that glides into the marina... He hears his mother’s voice echo in his mind Don’t be having anything to do with dangerous men Bobby; Ya neva know what trouble it can land ya in.
Bearish case for Cathie Wood, ICLN, and many future prospects
Not a bubble post! For a couple of months, I have been looking into what is a hot investment so to speak and I couldn't believe my eyes. People are chugging ICLN and whatever Cathie Woods puts out without even a flinch of thought that it may not be the best time to purchase certain securities. We have genomics ETF. It holds great companies and some have a bright future and a lot of potentials but those companies are driven up like crazy and people are constantly buying at whatever levels they are priced. It is not good. ETF's made it easy to believe that you cannot really lose a lot of money because you have a lot of different securities under one name - WRONG. I was sold the same idea with certain ETFs around gold and I quickly found out that holding ETF's below 40-50K dollars is not efficient. You pay some fees, you pay some taxes and you have almost zero control. I like only those that follow indexes automatically and only these have some reasoning. Why would you purchase something priced at 100$ without underlying balance sheets to support this type of price? It is beyond me. BYND is a perfect example too. I know I know, we have Biden and many people are excited about billions going into the green energy sector but remember this - government contract doesn't guarantee retail success. We have to think about these companies like other normal businesses and if you are buying a 110$ stock based on a sausage they might produce later this and sell it 4-5 years down the road - you are making a mistake. This is not investing - this is buying on the premise that the company will do insanely well - the sad truth is if you were to spend 45 minutes of your life on youtube looking at reviews from burger channels people that are chugging meat all day long are cringing while eating their plant-based burger. "Yeah it's fine, I like the idea but it is not tasty" - people are not coming back to pay 30% more money for a burger that tastes worse than a cow. I am sorry but this is just reality. Especially in an economy where people are out of a job, need to cut costs. People forgot how to INVEST. This is the keyword. People (not all of you) started speculating and when I see another ETF made on whatever is the new hot thing it makes me cringe. One guy asks if he should invest in a newly created ETF on the water! Do your DD and if companies under that ETF are not printing money - DON'T. Another user replied with a great answer - if we have a national/global water problem distribution will be held on a government level probably controlled by the army, not by a few capitalists, OP immediately changed his narration because he didn't take that possibility into the equation. People like Cathie Wood need to make money for their companies and it is 100% understandable. She is looking for new ways of making money and if something fails - it fails. These people have hundred of billions of dollars under control and all it takes as we see is a couple of phone calls to turn tables around if something goes south. DO NOT INVEST YOUR FIRST 10K INTO A RANDOM ETF MADE BY A RANDOM PERSON TELLING YOU THAT THIS IS THE FUTURE. You will most likely lose money. I am afraid ETFs made it easier to lure people into these financial assets just like bad debt was bundled and sold across Wallstreet in 2007/2008. I may be wrong, I may be a boomer but I am not touching any active managed ETF's at this moment. Let me rant about green a little more. How on earth are you thinking that a bunch of startups under ICLN will pump billions upon billions each year? The big dirty oil industry may be destroying our planet but managers of these companies have trillions in assets that can be spent overnight to create networks of green energy hubs across the globe. If you look at the investor relations tab with British Petroleum or Energy Product Partners (EPD) first company suggests it wants to go carbon-free but when it will be profitable and widely implemented - in 2050. Do you want to wait 29 years for your investments to profit? This is capitalism, not a charity created by Wallstreet. Some small companies may succeed in their missions on some grounds, selling/leasing green technology or components but the big dogs are going to pull the triggers on how and when things are going to be done. They are not going out of business, that knife is not falling. There is a great discussion about geography, only 17% of populated areas in the world are good for implementing green energy (taking financial situation and weather into account). Many many many poor countries are not having a dime for it. It is nice to think about buying 40k$ solar panels on your 400m2 house roof while we have a shortage of water in India, shortage of food, and political instability in many African countries ruled by corrupt governments that are not going to spend billions of $ to make the world a better place. There is an argument for the green but it is still too very early to even think about switching from oil. I am not saying that because I am invested in oil. I hold both sides but majority of energy is still in that is good today and will be 15 years down the line. Think beyond your area/country/continent. There is a great TEDex speech about ignorant people that are not recognizing world problems beyond their rich neighborhood and I suggest every investor - watch it. I am buying companies that are trying to make oil a little better because it will be widely used in production and consumption after we are going to see more carbon regulations. Companies and countries are going to seek cleaner oil - not a solar panel. $$$ speaks $$$ In EU countries pledged to remove coal sometime between 2030-2050. Think about that. Coal is still so big it can't be replaced in 5 years. Oh well, guess in which sector cheap coal bites in. If investors were to really shape the planet we would be out of oil 40 years ago and Nestle would be long gone alongside KO and every major bank involved in Panama Papers and 2008 would be replaced by some fintech. Oh didn't happen. I wish you all a lot of luck and invest wisely. Cheers
I don't like the way Shwetabh portrays Capitalism.
After watching few of his videos where he talks about communism and capitalism, I feel that Shwetabh has actually misguided his viewers by showing anglo-saxon capitalism in a very bad light. Capitalism is in fact notan extreme like communism, Anarcho-capitalism is an extreme. + I have seen him use Capitalism and Corporatism anonymously, while they are completly different ideologies (http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/politics/difference-between-capitalism-and-corporatism/#:~:text=1.,justice%20and%20equality%20among%20individuals.&text=Capitalism%20is%20an%20individualist%20society%20while%20corporatism%20is%20collectivist) Moreover the marketing scams he has talked about in his videos are not due to excess of players (entrepreneurs) in privet sector, But because of lack of it. If more people can provide in a competitive environment, the one with better product (or service) will eventually have better results and marketing better results will draw more people to the service/product provider. The problem is not Capitalism, we have to make it easier for good companies which provide better and actual result to reach tier-2 and tier-3 cities so that pesky advertisers will die out automatically. Incentive of any privet enterprise is to maximize efficiency/ quality of an product in minimum price. for example- Jio introduced 4G in India in a for very cheap price. because of it Internet acces in India has increased from 17% in 2015 to 50% in 2020. + India has one of the cheapest internet in world (0.26$ for 1GB, whereas 12$ of 1GB in USA) India can still retain its culture while embracing a free market, lot of Asian countries like Taiwan, Japan, Singapore have done it. by adopting Asiatic capitalism with few changes to adopt to its own enivornment. I understand giving too much freedom to corporates cause environmental and social pressure, but comes under Anarcho-capitalsim.India still has many laws which makes it harder for privet sector to grow (Tax, labor laws). In a country which needs privatization and free market but with a population which is so hostile towards privatization, i feel it is a disservice to defame anglo- saxon model based on shaky/ slightly misleading facts. edit- This really isn't about politics, This is something i noticed in Raw and real, in many episodes, I just wanted to bring this out.
List of discounts and working promo codes in Dubai
Hello everyone, here's a list of discounts, promo codes and tips I found for myself, I thought to share it with you all - hope you can save yourself a few dirhams or get some free karaks!
✈️ Travel / Hotels / Transport
Klook - 15% off activities in the UAE with code KLOOKUAE
Etihad Guest - hack: when booking flights, always try to use or buy miles, you can buy up to 100,000 miles per year per person (if you have family members you can pool your miles) = e.g. 50k miles = 1return flights to the UK. There are often campaigns to buy miles with discounts (between 20-50%).
Etihad Guest credit cards are good also to earn miles (see finance section below)
Careem- MC1RIDE first ride free (to be paid with Mastercard) / code MASTERCARD for 20% off up to 40 AED & 3 rides per month
Udrive - 30 minute free drive for first registration
Google Travel - hack: when booking for hotels or flights, search first on Google Travel to quickly find the cheapest travel dates.
Agoda - I always seem to find great hotel prices there + combine with a promo code, 12% off with code WR17JHD
Tajawal - good flight prices (search cheap dates first in Google Travel), 150 AED off with code NEW150 (first time use), 100 off with code NEXT, 15% off with a FAB card code FAB15.
Bonvoy - the loyalty program for all Mariott properties (including St Regis, Sheraton etc), good with the Emirates NBD bonvoy credit card (see finances section below).
Booking.com - 10% discount with the Genius loyalty program, discounts with ADIB booking card (see finances section below),
Groupon - 15% off up to 70 AED with code WELCOME15
Next - find what you like in Next stores, then shop on their online store. Their prices are roughly 20-30% cheaper than in stores for the exact same product and delivery is generally quite fast.
ClickFlyer- browse different brochures from famous malls and shopping centres.
Pricena - compare prices of items from various e-shops (Noon/amazon/etc)
Cartlow- Pre-owned / Open-box / Refurbished and Clearance stock products.
Faces.com - FACES10 for 10% off first order (beauty: perfume - makeup - skincare), get additinionnal cashbback with FAB Smart Shop Smart (see finance section).
💡 Essential
Virgin Mobile - No contract, flexible plans) 79 AED cashback, 50% discount when buying monthly plans.
1 % interest on your balance (per year) for amounts above 100,000 aed (= 1,000 aed earned per year). 1.5% interest for 1,000,000 aed (=15k AED earned per year).
Pointpay - pay with your miles at Ecommerce websites
Citi- 1% cashback on all AED spends - up to 3% on non-AED spends
Transferwise - send money home - great for Europe / America
Denarii Cash - send money home - great for Philippines, India, Pakistan.
Finimize - good financial guides and info easy to understand by all.
Shop Smart by FAB to get cashback on top of some mentioned discounts (e.g. Sprii 5.25%) or Amazon (up to 6.75%). Only for FAB debit/credit cards. Quite a lot of UAE and international retailers.
eWallet - AED 50 cashback per month on utility bills / Salik. AED 50 minimum transaction value to get AED 5 cashback, so for AED 500 bill, just pay 10x AED 50.
Disclaimer: I amnotsponsored nor paid/affiliated by any of the listed places, nor using any personal referral codes. It’s just my own findings that I use for myself that I want to share with you all. Thanks to thedubaicommunity for sharing additional codes and tips in the comments 🤩 Note, the discounts are working as of 23 October 2020, they will most likely expire within a few weeks.
I want to talk about people calling out noel on stream and saying they won't sub anymore cause of what cody said in past. This was originally a comment. But a post is better.
This is long post but I would leave it anyway. You know what yeah words hurt and some stuff really hurts. Let me preface. I'm from India. Recently on joe rogan they were talking about India. It was during the rob lowe episode. It was pretty disheartening frankly. They were saying one shouldn't travel to India. Joe was saying how he was automatically feeling diarrhea. Rob said he never wants to go there for the same reasons. Rob went on to say one of his friends just got off on India at an airport and immediately went back. Cause it repulsed his friend. All of this was kind of in a two minutes. I was watching this for nearly two hours and this really put me off. I was really saddened by the stereotypic perception of people. Rogan has said awful shit. Transphobic stuff. Yeah he gets called out on that. When I asked on joe rogan subreddit I got called names and racist shit. Some defended him saying I don't have a broad sense of comedy. Apparently saying stereotypic things is great comedy. Where is my apology? I know my country is awful. But it isn't just that. I clearly know I won't get an proper answer. Cause it is ok to say shit on Indians. I get it. For every minor group there would be an group which would be overlooked. And would never have platform for stuff said against them. And some would never get an recognition that they were discriminated. I did not move on. That is still on my mind. But you know what I cannot go online and rave about it. That would not make smudge of change on rogan or his fans. I don't expect anyone even raising something on joe to get an apology. He will never give any. And there will people enabling it. Fans would and his guests would. But this fanbase at least won't. And with respect to the fanbase cody apologized on patreon(I don't sub but actual patrons said so). And their podcast during George Floyd's murder and subsequent public movement speaks a lot. And jesus fucking christ. People need to stop with this kind of attitude online. Yeah that was a cheap sort of humor. And its awful to use those words. By apology what does it mean. Some post on twitter or a fucking video or what. I will tell you well what. This is just validation festival. Some of these people commanding apology will prolly never stand up against actual bigotry. So what they do they just try this tactic online to say gotcha and get internet validation. I ain't saying most people calling out bigots online seek validation or something. Its people like this person who donated and still wanted be this mega self righteous for no apparent reason. Why do my man noel like that huh? Did they watch the stream where he addressed this? If they did why stroke their ego making a statement. I'm not saying these words don't affect people. It does. I feel that. But at least you get an answer from the people saying it. And their behaviors did shift to better. And there is a fanbase who will call out. And they did call it out. And they got an really heartfelt answer from noel in one of the streams. Now bringing this up time after time on noel is not reasonable at all. If someone asked cody this that would be sound. But this just for saying stuff to get a rise and feeling their ego stroked. Again sorry for a long post but I had to get it off my chest.
In terms of pros, Maruti Suzuki swift dizere used car has so many pros, here some of them Stylish look: If you are looking for a stylish and fashionable car then Maruti Suzuki swift dizere should be your first choice. It’s come with a mixture of sporty and classic appeal. Features: This dizere has come with many specifications to offer. It comes with LED tail lamp, Digital touchscreen, projector head lamp and many more in an affordable price. Gear box: The modern version of maruti Suzuki swift dizere offers both automatic and manual gear box. It is quite easy to operate for girls and elders. Fuel efficiency: This car comes with two types of model one is for petrol engine and another is for diesel engine. And in terms of efficiency this car considers to be a best one. Even after passage of some year the old cars give good efficiency
Why is swift dizere worth investing on?
This model offers all kinds of basic facilities and even some of the most advanced features is one of the reasons, That why you shouldn’t hesitate to invest on 2nd hand cars like swift dizere. If we come to the mileage then it is considered to be as one of the most efficient vehicles in India and it also give good mileage in traffic cities, suppose you want to buy a second hand car in Mumbai and you no te traffic there even it will give good mileage at that city. With all these feature and sporty attractive look, maruti Suzuki swift dizere is one of the best choice for you in the market of cheap second hand car. And in many city many dealers and online platform offers you finance facilities in old vehicle that will help you quite. And most interesting thing of online platform is, if you are staying in different city and you selected a car from different city then by sitting at your home you can get your used vehicle at your door step
Are you planning to buysecond hand car? Maruti Suzuki swift dizere should be your best option in a second hand vehicle. By all those feature no other vehicle company came. And it is very easy to buy used car by online platform like Cifiyah, where you can watch the history and vehicle inspection of any pre-owned car
There are still some team owner positions available. If you wish to sign up, all the details you need are at the bottom of this post. ---- Welcome to the Global Stock Car Championship – an AI series in which drivers represent their countries driving NASCAR Cup and Xfinity cars, and the countries are owned by members of this community! This introductory post will get you up to speed with what this series is all about. For the latest race results, highlights, and series progress, keep your eye on the posts in this subreddit. Also, if you click here to visit my YouTube channel, and then subscribe to it, you’ll be able to catch every single race as soon as they’re uploaded! ---- COMPETITION FORMAT The GSCC features a whopping 64 nations, split into two divisions, with promotions and relegations happening during and at the end of every season. There are no playoffs in this series. We’re going old-school here, whichever nation has the most points at the end of the season will take home the coveted trophy, and all the glory that goes with it. How promotions/relegations work: > Each “round” of the championship consists of three races. > At the end of each round, the bottom four nations in Division 1 will be relegated to Division 2, and the top four nations in Division 2 will be promoted to Division 1. > Winning is everything. Win a race in Division 1 and you are safe from relegation at the end of that round. Win a race in Division 2, and you will automatically be promoted (but not until the end of the round). > At the end of the season, eight teams will be promoted/relegated, instead of the usual four. ---- CALENDAR Here is the full season 1 calendar. If you wish to sponsor a race with your name, company, or tribute, please see the “Donations” section below. * denotes a cut-off race for promotions/relegations 15 Jan: Superspeedway Sprint, Daytona (Oval), 25 Laps – non-championship race 17 Jan: Daytona 250, Daytona (Oval), 100 Laps 22 Jan: Lakeland 125, USA International, 167 Laps 29 Jan: ATVO 300, Charlotte, 125 Laps* 5 Feb: (Name TBC), Chicagoland, 167 Laps 12 Feb: Gonchi 150, Laguna Seca, 67 Laps 19 Feb: iRacing 150, Rockingham, 150 Laps* 26 Feb: Fizzy Drink 300, Charlotte, 200 Laps 5 Mar: Florida Forty, Daytona (Road Course), 40 Laps 12 Mar: Tradingpaints.com 200, Daytona (Oval), 80 Laps* 19 Mar: Pacific 125, Okayama, 55 Laps 26 Mar: (Name TBC), Rockingham, 200 Laps 2 Apr: Vercetti 201, Homestead-Miami, 134 Laps ---- THE NATIONS For a more detailed run-down of each nation taking part in this championship, I will be writing up a separate post over the next few days. Want to become a team owner? There are still some nations available. Here's what you’ll get to do: - Pick your driver's name - Design your nation's livery (optional) - Allocate skill points to each of the seven AI attributes - Mid-season attribute updates and driver swaps - Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota? You choose which car you want The nations currently available are as follows (this list will be kept updated): Division 1 (NASCAR Cup Cars) Brazil Italy Denmark China Portugal India Hungary South Africa Division 2 (Xfinity Series Cars) Thailand UAE Indonesia Israel Singapore Venezuela Kuwait Morocco South Korea Saudi Arabia Turkey Taiwan Pakistan Chile Hong Kong Greece Kazakhstan Romania Czechia Peru Ecuador Philippines Algeria Ireland Egypt Nigeria Qatar Angola Vietnam If you wish to manage one of these teams, then either reply here or send me a private message or chat stating which nation you want, and I’ll get back to you with the application form if the nation is still available. Note that there are rules regarding each of your responsibilities, so don’t go making any decisions until you’ve seen the form! Nations will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. ---- DONATIONS This competition is free to enter. Over time, I’m planning on expanding the series to include longer seasons, a bigger variety of tracks, custom paint schemes and several more improvements. But all of this won’t be cheap, so if you wish to help with the setup, running, and continued progress of this series, any donation will be gratefully received. You may also be eligible to sponsor one of the races if you donate. Feel free to contact me to discuss this further if you wish to do so. I’m currently accepting donations via one of two methods: > iRacing credits, payable to “Michael Hayward” > Paypal, using this link ---- Good luck to all the team owners, and I hope you have as much fun participating in/watching the series, as I'm having creating it!
Please keep in mind that I am doing this for free during my spare time. If I was of some help to you, please do consider buying me some coffee, it would be greatly appreciated: DM me directly if you want to donate via Telegram or reach out in our Telegram group.
I do NOT work for BSNL, never had, never will, this is to ensure BSNL employees don't start taking credits for this guide. Our Telegram Group: https://t.me/BSNLTelegram Do NOT DM/Initiate Chat with me on Reddit. I will straight up ignore such messages. Telegram group is created for communication purposes. This is a work in progress. I will make changes accordingly (in a new thread once this is locked). First off, please stop asking about "costs". How can anyone here know? Costs vary from state to state, area to area, LCO to LCO. Ask your nearest local BSNL office directly. If you are buying the ONT from LCO or paying for Installation+ONT in a package, then make sure you get a separate receipt for ONT which will be useful for warranty claims. Also, check the first-month bill to see whether you are redundantly charged Monthly Rental (₹90+GST) as ONT Charges or not, and contact BSNL to get a refund if that's the case. For checking BSNL FTTH Data usage (login is your PPPoE login information, also it'll only work from inside your BSNL FTTH. BSNL hasn't made it a seamless experience): https://redirect1.bbportal.bsnl.co.in/portal/ Or https://fuptopup.bsnl.co.in/manualRedirection.do
BSNL FTTH Basic Topology
There are two types of connection that BSNL FTTH implements
GPON
GPON uses an ONT in the user's termination point
EPON
EPON uses an ONU in the user's termination point
GPON is superior to EPON
There exists xPON ONUs which works with both technologies.
Ensure the ONT/ONU has Gigabit ethernet ports in order for you get full speeds
A pure ONT/ONU only performs media conversion+PON related technologies and protocols, which means no routing/Wi-Fi.
A combo device or home gateway device means a device that has ONT/ONU+Router+Wi-Fi functionalities.
Avoid combo devices at all costs, they are cramped, crap runs on some unknown CPU with an unknown amount of RAM, which is probably MIPS CPU with Single core @ 300 MHz and 64MB RAM at best.
Pure ONT/ONU (or Combo device which supports bridge mode)>Your own high-quality router (Wi-Fi Router or Mesh Wi-Fi)
Bridge mode for the Combo device means it will disable routing functionality and turn it into a pure ONT/ONU. Make sure disable the Wi-Fi if any at all. Since you are now using your own router for WAN interface.
My personal setup is this: TP-Link GPON Home Gateway Device in bridge mode>MikroTik RouterBoard RB450Gx4>Archer A10 in access point mode for Wi-Fi and switch access. I am using AmazonBasics Cat7 cables.
Do NOT compromise on Ethernet Cables. Ensure you're using high-quality Cat6/6a with good reviews and benchmarks if possible.
There are legitimate Cat7 cables like AmazonBasics, but many are fakes, be wary of this. Always check reviews and benchmarks if possible.
Recommended ONTs/ONUs
Keep in mind, some LCOs use OLTs that are vendor-locked like Alphion meaning only Alphion ONTs would work. So ask LCO first what is the vendor name of their OLT.
An ONT/ONU usually has either an APC or a UPC connector, ensure to tell LCO to install the correct connector. You can easily confirm by ensuring both ONT's/ONU's PON port's colour matches the cable's connector.
If you have a lot of money, look at VyOS and build your own or maybe buy a MikroTik RouterBoard like RB450Gx4
Bridge Mode Instructions
This depends on the brand & model/firmware
Not all ONT/ONU models support bridge mode, in such models usually, if you leave WAN to interface blank, it will automatically bridge, there have been reports of this method on some Nokia ONTs in Europe (don't ask me for source, I came across this years ago) and even some Syrotech models
And don't forget to set protocol for the bridge to IPv4/IPv6 if that is an option in your ONT model, check the screenshot link in point 5 below to get an idea
Another important point is some/most (all?) fake Chinese ONTs (which if you're Indian you will know what I'm talking about) have only manual MTU negotiation/support for the ethernet interface or rather bridged interface, leading to problems like this
The solution is to set the MTU for the ethernet/bridged interface to 1518 in most cases or 1520 if the previous didn't work. Some companies like MikroTik adds some padding (or bug) so 1520 is required.
Do NOT confuse this with PPPoE MTU value. This is only regarding ONT's bridge interface/ethernet interface, please triple check screenshot above to avoid non-sense confusion.
If the above values don't work, then set 1500 as MTU on the ONT, then set 1452 as MTU on PPPoE on the router.
You can leave DHCP enabled on the ONT on BSNL since the WAN is delegated via PPPoE
If your ISP is using static IP/IPoE/DHCP for WAN then you must disable DHCP on ONT, which isn't the case on BSNL
BSNL PPPoE Configuration
MTU value of PPPoE interface on BSNL network is capped at exactly1460 pan-India. So set it accordingly.
If you are not using our recommended ONTs then set MTU to 1452, check #5 in the Bridge Mode Instructionssection for more details
MRU value is flexible, BSNL's access concentrator will accept a request for 1500 MRU automatically. But in most cases, you cannot adjust this unless you're running a custom firmware or enterprise-grade router like my MikroTik RouterBoard.
They block a lot of sites as per government orders/internet censorship norms in the country
They can see exactly what you're doing more so than they could if you were using third-party DNS servers
You can use two popular public Resolvers: Google DNS and Cloudflare DNS
What I'd do is set one of each as primary/secondary, therefore ensuring if there's any reachability problem on either, one can still be the fallback resolver.
Of course, BSNL is also giving IPv6, depending on your router, you could set IPv6 DNS servers as well from Google/Cloudflare or others.
Use Google to find more.
There are many more DNS resolvers out there, but be careful, many are fakes/malicious. Do proper research before using random DNS servers.
IPv6 Configuration
This is a tricky one because IPv6 on BSNL is broken (reachability issues) + they give only one /64 per customer, which makes it impossible to subnet it if you have VLANs/Guest network without breaking SLAAC, I tried to talk to them via emails, they gave some bullshit excuse and ignore my replies, so there's that.
To get it working, simply enable DHCPv6 client on WAN, then enable SLAAC/Auto-Delegation for IPv6 LAN, the router will handle the rest.
Some states/locations/districts don't have it enabled yet.
VoIP (Voice)
Only BSNL can help you configure voice as the IPs vary from state to state
They can do it remotely via AnyDesk or TeamViewer on request with local NIB team or your LCO
I've noticed strange issues on the VoIP from BSNL:
Sometimes you can't call mobile numbers, you can't receive phone calls from mobile numbers. Then sometimes it works.
And the voice quality is trash.
It's best you take advantage of VoWiFi with their high-speed FTTH service. As long as the Wi-Fi routemesh system is giving decent range/latency/bandwidth, it will be a seamless experience.
VoWiFi is also known as Wi-Fi calling. If your phone supports it and your mobile network does too, you're green to use it!
Troubleshooting
First, check the RX power of the optical module in the ONT/ONU device, if it's greater than -27db in the worst-case scenario, then it should be fine.
Optical Module temperature should within the range of the specs sheet of the ONT/ONU device as per manufacturer. If it's higher than that, contact the manufacturer.
If you are using my network topology
Make sure ONT/ONU combo device is set in bridge mode to avoid Double NAT situation
If you have no choice but to use a combo device, see BSNL FTTH Basic Topology Section #4
Follow BSNL PPPoE Configuration points.
Connect a computer or laptop with Gigabit ethernet and run the tests to see if you're getting the speeds then or not. There is no sense in using 10/100Mbps ethernet.
Also, ensure the Ethernet link is negotiated to 1Gbps with your laptop/computer
If the link is not 1Gbps then the problem can be the cable or the computer's NIC or the ONT/ONU device. Try a different cable and see if it helps.
Don't expect high-speeds over Wi-Fi unless both the Wi-Fi AP and client device supports features such as Wi-Fi 6, MU-MIMO, dual-band, triple-band etc. And even then you need to account for interference, neighbouring Wi-Fi APs and so on.
2019 Collection Finally posting my collection. I started collecting/flipping heavily in 2014 when I turned 40. I bought my first automatic watch for my 40th. nothing too special, it was a Deep Blue Sun Diver iii , 1,000M Diver, it had a white dial and Orange bezel. this watch gave me my love for Dive Watches, and ever since ive been pretty much buying/trading Divers exclusively. since 2014, ive owned over 150 watches, with maybe 140 of them being divers. I know some might say i need to have a more diverse collection, but I dont care, divers are my thing, and thats what I like. this collection has changed many times over the years, but for now this is what I have. TOP LEFT TO RIGHT. SEIKO SSC021: this is my 5th SSC watch, I love them and this is my summer weekend beater and yard work watch. the rubber Seio dive strap (Z20) has finally started cracking and drying out from all the sun and sweat it has endured, so it is now on a Wine colored Maratac single pass Zulu strap. CITIZEN BNO-151 ECO-DRIVE DIVER: Ahh, one of my favorite grab and go quartz watches! this is my 4th BNO-151, this watch looks great and wears well too! I love the eco-drive movement, that means I dont have to break the water tight seal to change batteries. at least for many years. the fact that this looks more expensive than it is, and is pretty cheap to get is a huge plus! I have this on an aftermarket Oyster bracelet, and i think it makes it look even better. CASIO AMW-330: this is a true cheap beater! i think i got it new on ebay for $80. I really love the vintage look of the case and bezel. the chrono is nice too and works perfectly. the white dial and applied indicies give it a lot of shine and sparkle in the sun. I have this on the Aevig rubber dive strap right now. SEIKO SKX009: What else is left to say about the mighty SKX that hasnt already been said? I love this guy, this is my 4th or 5th SKX009, this one was made in 2018, it keeps remarkably accurate time for a 7s26 movement, and I just love the case design and shape. Also, the Seiko Jubilee may be cheap, but its one of my favorite bracelets. MAGRETTE MOANA PACIFIC DIVER 2 LIMITED EDITION: Magrette make a seriously cool and bad ass watch! This MPD2 is the 10th anniversary limited edition, and has the decorated Swiss STP1-11 automatic movment, and is WR to 500M. This is my second Magrette, i also had the limited edition Moana Pacific Professional Black, but found that it was just too big at 44mm / 24mm lugs. This MPD2 is a much more wearable 42mm with 22mm lugs. I have it on the Magrette chocolate leather strap with machined Magrette buckle and quick release spring bars. BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: SEIKO 6309-8230: this was a feebe add on to a watch trade i did, the guy i got it from said its one of those ebay india seikos that are redialed and cheap as hell. this automatic watch still works, and is on a black and green leather strap. I dont wear it but for some reason i still have it. one cool thing is that green band around the dial is fully lumed, so it has a very unique look to it at night. OMEGA SEAMASTER PROFESSIONAL 300 CERAMIC: This watch needs no intro! this was originally purchased new in Nov 2018, I bought it from a known online dealer at WUS in June of 2019 for my 45th birthday. its in near perfect condition and Omega caliber 2500D keeps time to +- 1spd when worn consistently. It's very beautiful and shiny, and even though the bracelet doesnt taper, its extremely comfortable to wear. The lacquer dial is one of the deepest blacks ive ever seen on a watch. SCURFA DIVER-ONE D1-500: Scurfa is a lesser known dive watch micro brand, Paul Scurfield is a professional deep sea saturation diver living in the UK. he started designing dive watches for himself and his crew to use while living for weeks at a time in Saturation diving chambers in the depths of the North Sea where he does his work. His watches are durable, fully functional and verified working at depth by him and his crew, and very affordable! this is my 3rd Scrufa, I used to own a Diver-One NATO PVD, and now i have 2 of these D1-500's, one for me and i bought one for my wife. 500M water resist, Heliox escape valve, 40mm oyster style case, beautiful double domed sapphire crystal with Blue AR coating. and a upgraded Swiss made Rhonda 715SM 5 jewel gold plated movement with longer life and EOL indicator. Mine is on an Armida branded CUDA strap. GLYCINE COMBAT SUB GL0078: this is my 3rd Combat sub, and favorite one so far! I had a Golden Eye, and a GL0088. this one i call my baby Breitling, as it kind of resembles a SuperOcean. anyway, i love it, it has shine, and color, and a big personality. runs a Swiss ETA 2824-2, and is very comfortable on its stock oyster bracelet. AEVIG HULDRA V2: This bad boy, i pre ordered back in July i think. I just got it a couple weeks ago. it has been my favorite recently. the retro inspired case and solid link Jubilee bracelet look amazinf and its very comfortable to wear! Im in love with the dial, I just love the applied Hexagon and triangle hour markers, and the twisted Hex Aevig logo as the 12:00 marker. it 200M WR, and runs a Miyota 9015 automatic movement. the bezel is fully lumed, and is covered in vintage style acrylic. HELM VANUATU V4: This is my second Helm Vanuatu, I had a V2 a few years back. This watch is a tank! its big and bold, and tough as hell . However, it still wears reasonably on my 7inch wrist, and has enough class for me to wear to work. I love everything about this guy, the case design is nice and bold, the dial and hands are very unique, and the bezel is a joy to turn. even the large engineer style bracelet is very comfortable to wear and supports the weight of the watch nicely. this runs a Seiko NH35 automatic movement, and is WR to 300M (tested to 375M) as this wasth is ISO certified and has the individual testing card. One of the best bang for the buck dive watches out there, if you can get one. each batch sells out so fast Ive had to buy both of mine on the used market. for under $300, its hard to beat. thank you all for looking and letting me share my obsession with Dive Watches. Im excited to see where my collection and taste in watches will take me in 2020. have a great day everyone!
Hi alt-spite, you're not shadowbanned, but 75 of your most recent 94 comments/submissions were removed (either automatically or by human moderators).
Comments:
gebw2jy in canada on 02 Dec 20 (1pts):
It's cool to hate now but really I can't imagine wtf anyone would have done better at this point. It's easy to not listen to people and lock down everything. However that is having not much effect...
ge9sjft in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
I could pick him out of a lineup. And I wasn't there.
ge87jdq in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
Nah it'll be all foreign owned, we just work to extract resources out and pay rent
ge7vsff in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
Not to mention spending power. Everything is cheaper by far in the USA
ge7vm1e in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
Media successfully focused on blaming the provinces. Specifically conservative politics Money assured for next election. Good job really. Don't bite the hand that feeds
ge7jb7u in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
Deficit of 400 billion accounced. Less work force too. Taxes going up is an inevitable result
ge7j23k in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
A bar buys beer. Beer tax goes up, but the bars price doesn't (immediately anyways) It's somewhat expected that eventually the bar will raise that price. The GST though the bar collects on every...
ge7ito8 in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
Lmao paying for a VPN costs more than the GST would
ge7iq4g in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
I guarantee it's a line item just like anything else that pays GST. Like Netflix wouldn't put it there for people to see.... Liberals are trying to make it sound like they're sticking it to the man,...
ge7ig8x in canada on 01 Dec 20 (1pts):
How in God's name does charging 5% GST on Netflix change in any way, it's 5% every bill. Every bill I pay is 5% GST regardless of its popularity. They really, really don't teach much about taxes in...
ge6lzcf in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
K now how about 3 billion people? They KNOW there will be problems. Lots of them
ge6lnwq in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
They literally asked him. He didn't dodge the question.
ge6juss in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
Some wild new vaccine that is relatively untested, that works differently than any proven vaccine does.. where the percentage having side effects might be moreso than the percentage that gets side...
ge6ilza in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
Agreed. Using a signal jammer could make cars stop turning in bad places, etc. It absolutely could never work dependant on signal
ge6hpjk in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
CTV still pushes the anti Kenney harrrrrd. If they'd do it less, it would have more impact. Why should he personally address the boneheads anyways? Protests allegedly aren't a source of covid...
ge6h02e in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
If your work allows it, go rural. I made 150k and didn't know what to do with the money, 5 bedroom house about 300k with a giant backyard on a golf course. I put another 30k into it to make it...
ge6g09w in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
It's not so simple We are a small population country. There are major costs involved with having all nationaly owned corporations. To a big company they can absorb the operating costs as a blip on...
ge6fg9w in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
Lol that's exactly it. We complain cell phones are too expensive and clamour for a USA company to come in to reduce prices. . Yet here we are complaining about foreign ownership. Do we want cheap...
ge6f3s2 in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
Yawn the US also thought we could turn China into more of a capitalist democracy by inclung them more. It didn't happen as they got even stronger commie leadership and are taking advantage....
ge6egvp in canada on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):
The wheat board was disbanded, the remements were sold. G3 I think it's called now, but not exactly "sold to Saudis", we didn't lose any autonomy on that one. Nobody has to use that company to sell...
gdtxnhl in canada on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):
We have nobody close to trump in Canada. Hard to ride that hate train.
gdtxg9c in canada on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):
So is stupidity Some break the mold. Try it out
gdtx6qd in canada on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):
You didn't read the article Every kind of fuckery you can do, baiting,.disabling safety parts, etc Cutting lines didn't make the traps illegally bait, gain illegal tags, and have thier safety remove
gdtwluy in canada on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):
"clearly" from the Cherry picked tidbit leaked.
gdsuscq in canada on 27 Nov 20 (1pts):
Yawwwn an old old prejudice Any party can have many examples of people who showed inclination against social change in the past.
gdlkecd in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
How is it a conspiracy when JT himself speaks of it openly? It's a wealth transfer scheme.
gdligxs in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
That's a month ago. Alberta tests more than anywhere and had the numbers to back it up. A month later the numbers rose, and they rose where masks were mandatory.
gdli7zr in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Anytime Trump is compared to any of our politicians I laugh. He's barely comparible to any US politician in 100 years. Taking a word and having a "gotcha " because it's a word trump used once is the...
gdlgq6j in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
There's that word again: "experts" They use them in every other story The same 20 people usually. I guess it works but there would be 100 people involved in making some decisions then "expert...
gdlgi7g in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Yes, If the politics weren't involved it would have been done and forgotten by now, only boring jobs and taxable dollars left as a memory
gdlafq1 in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
We do care, and realize shooting ourselves in the foot and removing ourselves from the market altogether wouldn't achieve anything.
gdlacyi in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
We can't control 95% of the oil market so you can ask China , USA, India, Russia , very politely to stop as well and then you might have something Also, get people to stop flying, driving,...
gdla6az in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
If the politics weren't involved it would have been done and forgotten by now, only boring jobs and taxable dollars left as a memory
gdl9ef3 in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
"the market" being moving goalposts and complete shambles of anything resembling regulatory framework. That ain't free market that's political
gdl82y5 in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Do what Alberta did. Going 25% of fire code allows smaller places to have customers rather than fully advantage the huge retailers.
gdksynn in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
I'm a con at the moment. That's totally true. Many rely on the false economy of ridiculous housing prices. I don't see this approach changing anytime soon. Moving to rural is an option for city...
gdksq52 in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Move to rural. Decent homes for 120k with good schools, high speed internet, larger centre 25 mins drive.
gdiew1m in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Lol I watch them but you can't say anything other than "fuck Kenney!" Or you're kicked out. It's a hateful place, even moreso than Canada here
gdienle in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Not sure what you mean, the data shows transmission is happening in social gatherings. It is not happening in gyms or small businesses where everyone must be masked and sanitize upon entry. Walk...
gdieets in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Very massive.
gdiecqa in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Transmission is happening at social gatherings It's not happening at lulu where you must be masked and sanitized and monitored.
gdie8zc in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
They're seeing transmission in teenagers. Not at the casino where people are standing around demanding you sanitize and wear a mask. These rules exist at the school too but in groups teenagers tend...
gdid7xa in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Correct, transmission is occuring in homes much more than at regulated and socially distanced businesses. Gyms in particular should stay open.
gdid2dj in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Based on where transmission is actually happening, in real life, keeping those particular businesses at 25% archives a lot while not unintentionally causes other health issues related to addictions,...
gdib130 in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
Well yeah but what about Trump? He's a big liar like pants on fire Millions of lives ruined and society crumbling might be a big deal where you come from, but Obama has the cool factor so you lose...
gdia71s in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
You didn't read the article Nevermind the hundreds of thousands in damages, good luck getting insurance to pay for it... Even if they do they'll take you over the coals for ten years till they...
gdi9y4c in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
I wish I could sell. Bankruptcy is an option to consider but have to hold out hope Land, homes, businesses all lucky to sell even at a loss where I live. Bankruptcy is all youre trying to avoid the...
gdi9mrb in canada on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):
That's a business idea right there. Landlord inc. Adding value in checking IDs and references I just patented it
gdenh9d in canada on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):
Be happy it isn't fucking with us to the same degree as others!
H96 Brand Best RAM 2GB android tv box 2020 If your TV is not the latest smart TV, then you can consider looking for an android tv box for your TV. Don't consider too high configuration, only 2GB of RAM android tv box is enough to meet the needs of the family. According to the sales experience in 2020, the countries purchasing RAM 2gb tv box are concentrated in Brazil, Turkey, India, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. 2GB is enough RAM to run a movie. When leaving the factory, the price of buying a large amount of RAM 2GB and 4GB is similar, but when it comes to retail agents, the price will be about ten dollars. So in order to save costs, 2GB tv box is a good economic choice. 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“About 24 hours after arriving from Moscow, a private jet regularly used by the head [German Gref “co-chair of Putin’s A.I. board”†] of Russia's largest state-run bank remained at an airport just a short drive from where Donald Trump is vacationing.” – Inquisitr (2020)
Inquisitr—Mystery Deepens Over Why Kremlin Bank CEO’s Plane Remains In Florida, 50 Miles From Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago (1/5/2020) “Almost 24 hours after landing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Florida early on Saturday morning, as The Inquisitr reported, a private jet frequently used by the CEO of Russia’s largest state-owned-bank remained on the ground there—about 50 miles south of Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach where Donald Trump is vacationing until Sunday afternoon. Whether Sberbank CEO German Gref† was aboard the plane when it arrived on a 12-hour, 23-minute nonstop flight from Moscow remains unconfirmed. Russian media has reported that the plane, a Gulfstream G650 operated by Jet Air Group with the tail number RA-10204, is used frequently and perhaps exclusively by Gref. (UPDATE: According to flight records posted by the site FlightAware, the Sberbank jet departed Fort Lauderdale at 12:23 a.m. EST on Sunday morning, just 21 hours and 34 minutes after it arrived from Moscow—where it landed on the return trip at 6:17 p.m. local time, or 10:17 a.m. EST, a nine-hour, 53 minute flight.) Flight records posted to Twitter show that the plane made the same nonstop flight from Moscow to Fort Lauderdale last year, on the same dates. On January 4, 2019, the plane landed in Fort Lauderdale at 2:49 a.m., according to the records. In 2020, the plane arrived at the same airport on the same date, landing at 2:31 a.m. Last year, however, Trump did not spend his holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago Club, remaining in the White House during what was then an ongoing government shutdown. On January 4,Trump was indeed present at Mar-a-Lago but left the estate at 9:55 a.m.—six hours and 24 minutes after the Sberbank jet touched down—to visit Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. He remained at the golf club until 3:12 p.m., according to a public schedule posted by FactBase. Sberbank has been under United States economic sanctions since 2014, over its involvement in Russia’s annexation of the territory of Crimea from Ukraine. In November 2013, however, Gref himself co-hosted a party honoring Trump in Moscow, during Trump’s visit there for the Miss Universe beauty pageant, according to a report by The Daily Beast. Trump was then the owner of the pageant. Following Trump’s return to the United States following the 2013 event, he received a mysterious ‘gift’ from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The gift was reportedly ‘a black lacquered box’, but the contents of the box have never been publicly revealed. Like the contents of the ‘gift’ from Putin to Trump, the purpose of the Sberbank private jet’s trip to Florida from Moscow is also a mystery, even as the plan sits on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale airport as of 1:30 a.m. EST on Sunday. According to the online flight records from 2019, the Gulfstream private jet departed from Fort Lauderdale 30 hours and 11 minutes after landing there, making another nonstop flight back to Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport (SVO) in Moscow.” http://web.archive.org/web/20200106153745/https://www.inquisitr.com/5821555/kremlin-bank-ceo-jet-florida-donald-trump †Herman (German) Gref: [“Sberbank, headed by Herman Gref, the other co-chair of Putin’s A.I. board, is also among the banks providing biometric services that feed into the Digital Profile System.” – Claims Journal (2019)] •Vedomosti (Russia)—Sberbank Invested in Facial Recognition Technology (11/17/2017) “Sberbank Recognizes a Customer by Sight: The Bank intends to provide biometric access to any of its services.” http://vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2017/11/17/742077-raspoznavaniya-lits (http://archive.is/sbLOR) [Translated] •Bloomberg—The Day Trump Came to Moscow: Oligarchs, Miss Universe and Nobu (12/21/2016) “Meeting with top group of Russian financiers, industrialists; They discussed a possible Trump Tower and inspected sites The last time Donald Trump made an appearance in Moscow was November 2013 for the Miss Universe contest he famously owned. It was a glittering event filled with carefully choreographed photographs and parties. Then another, more private, invitation arrived: Come to Nobu to meet more than a dozen of Russia’s top businessmen, including Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank. Gref, who was President Vladimir Putin’s economy minister from 2000 to 2007, organized the meeting together with Aras Agalarov, the founder of Crocus Group, one of the country’s largest real-estate companies, which was hosting the beauty pageant at one of its concert halls.” http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/the-day-trump-came-to-moscow-oligarchs-miss-universe-and-nobu (http://archive.is/7X1bc) •NBC News—Putin Rival Ties Kushner Meeting to Kremlin Bankers (10/17/2017) “A prominent exiled Russian oligarch said in an exclusive interview with NBC News that he is nearly certain Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to collaborate with the Trump campaign, and that he believes a top Russian banker was not ‘acting on his own behalf’ when he held a controversial meeting with Jared Kushner last December. The pointed remarks come from a longtime Putin rival, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oil executive who was Russia's richest man before he was imprisoned and exiled by the Kremlin. ’I am almost convinced that Putin's people have tried to influence the U.S. election in some way’, Khodorkovsky told MSNBC’s Ari Melber in his first U.S. television interview since Trump took office. [...] His former head of human resources, Sergey Gorkov, now runs a Kremlin bank and met with Kushner in December last year. The U.S. has accused Gorkov's bank of providing cover for Russian spies. Khodorkovsky says Gorkov was a ‘fine employee’ who ‘carries out orders’, suggesting the banker would not have been acting alone in meeting with a senior figure of the incoming Trump administration. ‘I have no doubt that he wouldn’t do anything on his own behalf’, Khodorkovsky said. Khodorkovsky also said he believes Gorkov's orders come from either Andrey Kostin or Herman [German] Gref, who both run Kremlin-backed banks that were sanctioned by the Obama administration.” http://web.archive.org/web/20190706131958/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/putin-rival-ties-kushner-meeting-kremlin-bankers-n811631[“Hermann Gräf, better known as Herman Gref*, is a Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He is the CEO and chairman of the executive board of Sberbank, the largest Russian bank.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Gref] •Fast Company—Russia’s Largest Bank Just Launched a State-Of-The-Art Coding School to Ease Dependence on Western Tech; Sberbank, which is currently under U.S. sanctions and whose CEO [Gref] has ties to Trump, launched School 21 in Moscow last week. (11/30/2018) “The biggest bank in Russia, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2014, just launched a state-of-the-art coding school in Moscow that aims to train thousands of world-class software engineers in the arts of cybersecurity, gaming, and the latest AI technology for years to come. School 21, which operates under the umbrella of Ecole 42, a global pioneer in IT education backed by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is wholly owned by Sberbank. It is free, open to aspiring coders from 18 to 30 years old, and has 21 levels of proficiency. The school is highly competitive—its inaugural program has a class of 500 students out of more than 85,000 applicants, and the plan is to scale up to 2,500 a year in the long term, according to Business FM radio station. Sberbank told Fast Company that it plans to run two more application cycles next year, one in the winter and one in the spring, and that it might open a second office in St. Petersburg. The school’s launch is raising concerns about Russia training thousands of highly skilled cyber specialists at a time when the United States is expanding its sanctions against Russian entities, including Sberbank-xbacked properties, and amid heightened tensions in Europe last week over a naval skirmish between Russian and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait. It also comes against the backdrop of the Russian government’s disinformation efforts in elections around the globe, which the Kremlin has vehemently denied. In addition, Sberbank has been in the spotlight due to the history of high-level connections between the bank’s leadership, the Russian government and Donald Trump’s associates before he became U.S. president. It was bank chairman Herman Gref who set up Trump’s meeting with Russian businessmen during the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 in Moscow, an event which Sberbank co-sponsored, while Trump was exploring building a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump’s hotel plans are making headlines again this week due to the plea deal that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen negotiated with the Mueller probe–Cohen admitted that he lied when he previously claimed that the deal fell through in January 2016, now conceding that talks for a Trump Tower in Moscow continued up until June 2016.’ Russia’s largest bank just launched a state-of-the-art coding school to ease dependence on Western tech; Sberbank, which is currently under U.S. sanctions and whose CEO has ties to Trump, launched School 21 in Moscow last week.” http://web.archive.org/web/20181201002817/https://www.fastcompany.com/90274333/russias-largest-bank-just-launched-a-coding-school-to-ease-dependence-on-western-tech •Claims Journal—Vladimir Putin Wants Everyone to Love the Way He Watches Them (10/22/2019) “Officials in Moscow have spent the last few years methodically assembling one of the most comprehensive video-surveillance operations in the world. The public-private network of as many as 200,000 cameras records 1.5 billion hours of footage a year that can be accessed by 16,000 government employees, intelligence officers and law-enforcement personnel. Now the entire system is about to be equipped with what City Hall is billing as some of the most advanced facial-recognition software outside of China, claiming it will be more accurate and easier to search than London’s older, bigger network. The upgrade will dramatically expand a pilot program that led to the capture of as many as 10 wanted criminals a month either at major public events or inside the city’s warren of 269 metro stations. Moscow’s embrace of the technology, which the West is increasingly curtailing in response to public pressure, is being challenged in courts on political and legal grounds by opponents of President Vladimir Putin. But the monitoring tool is just one of several Russia is deploying, including mandatory recordings of all cellular calls. Many of the initiatives are based on recent advances in artificial intelligence, a science Putin sees as the ticket to global domination for whichever nation masters it first. Putin and lieutenants led by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin say measures such as geolocating every active in the country, creating ‘digital profiles’ of each adult and collating online complaints against authorities are all necessary to ensure public safety and improve services. They’re betting most voters will accept further privacy curbs like the facial-recognition rollout in exchange for safer streets and greater convenience in their daily lives. ‘We’re conducting experiments in schools, clinics, hospitals and in transport to introduce this technology, which, of course, will facilitate the work of a huge number of people and make these industries more efficient’, Sobyanin told Putin at a meeting on artificial intelligence earlier this year. While so-called authoritarian tech, from automatic people trackers to online censorship bots, has triggered a worldwide debate about the proper balance between governing and surveilling, Moscow has so far made a better case for Big Brother than most cities. Russia’s capital ranks No. 1 among 40 metropolises in the latest UN survey of ‘e-government effectiveness in the delivery of public services’. London, by comparison, is fourth, Shanghai 11th and New York 14th. [...] Sberbank, headed by Herman Gref, the other co-chair of Putin’s A.I. board, is also among the banks providing biometric services that feed into the Digital Profile System. The support of Gref is vital to the success of the program because Sberbank serves as a payment agent for most household bills in addition to safeguarding almost half of the country’s savings. Gref is fond of repeating the mantra ‘big data is the new oil’, but privacy experts say the concentration of so much personal information in a single database will make Russia an ideal target for identity thieves, not unlike Equifax Inc. The U.S. consumer-scorer was breached in 2017, exposing the credit histories of more than 145 million people. (Sberbank itself was the victim of a data leak affecting as many as 60 million clients, Kommersant reported this month. The bank said the incident impacted just 5,000 holders of its credit cards.) Potentially more worrisome in a country routinely accused of harassing the political opposition is that the new database could be a precursor of the kind of ‘social credit’ system China is developing. It’s a name-and-shame way to keep tabs on the behavior of the population by issuing grades, with demerits applied for things like smoking or circulating whatever’s deemed fake news. In 2016, the company launched the FindFace website and application. With the help of it, it was possible to find a person’s profile in VKontakte in a few seconds. The launch of the ‘innovation dating service’, as the company initially positioned it, provoked a series of scandals—users deanonimized not only fellow travelers in the subway, but porn actresses and rally participants, the technology was used even by the Bellingcat investigation team. And then they told about the application in the ‘Wait for me’ program on Channel One, and NtechLab, as Kabakov said, began to receive ‘five offers of cooperation per day’. Now the founders explain that FindFace was just a showcase that helped pitch technology. For example, with help from FindFace German [Herman] Gref† deanonimized his secretary within one second after being introduced to the algorithm, according to someone familiar with the head of Sberbank. But in 2018 both the site and the FindFace application were unexpectedly closed. This had to be done because of possible complaints, including from VKontakte, says one of the interlocutors of The Bell. Spending time and money on the courts did not make sense; the founders of NtechLab already understood that they would not make money on recognizing pretty girls.” http://web.archive.org/web/20191024034256/https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/international/2019/10/22/293704.htm •The Moscow Times—Russia To Grant Police Access to Bank Customers’ Biometric Data (12/19/2017) “Russia’s police and intelligence services will gain access to bank customers’ biometric data without their consent under new legislation making its way through the State Duma. Russia’s Communications Ministry and the Central Bank are overseeing a pilot project that will use personal biometric data to remotely verify bank account applications by late 2018. The Rostelecom state telecoms provider will operate the project, despite widespread concerns over state surveillance, data storage and privacy rights. A state deputy co-authoring the bill was cited as saying that ‘law enforcement officers will not have unlimited access to the system’ and that data would only be provided after official requests, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. According to the draft bill, Rostelecom would be required to share bank customers’ biometric data without their consent with Russia’s Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service (FSB). The data collected will include facial images and voice recordings, and may be expanded to iris recognition, palm and fingerprint scanning, according to Rostelecom. ‘If a person is law abiding then they will have no reason to worry’, Elman Mekhtiev, the vice-president of the Russian Association of Banks, was cited as saying by Vedomosti.” http://web.archive.org/web/20191121205917/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/12/19/russia-to-grant-police-access-to-bank-customers-biometric-data-a59987 •The Moscow Times—Moscow Arrests 42 Suspects Using New Facial Recognition Technology in Metro Stations (5/24/2018) “A pilot project implementing facial recognition technology in Moscow has reportedly led to the arrests of 42 suspects in a month. Moscow has ramped up video surveillance ahead of the FIFA World Cup that kicks off in three weeks, including with facial recognition capabilities at metro stations capable of identifying 20 faces per second. Around 50,000 photographs of wanted suspects have been uploaded into the Moscow metro system, the state-owned Sberbank vice president Stanislav Kuznetsov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Thursday. ‘As a result, 42 repeat offenders were detained at four metro stations in a month,’ Kuznetsov was quoted as saying. He said Sberbank CEO German Gref plans to discuss expanding the facial-recognition system beyond four metro stations with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at the annual economic forum underway in St. Petersburg. Sberbank acquired a stake in the VisionLabs facial recognition company last fall to create a ‘unique biometric identifier’ involving face, voice and retina identification.” http://themoscowtimes.com/news/moscow-arrests-42-suspects-using-new-facial-recognition-technology-in-metro-stations-61567 (http://archive.is/qU8WU) •The Bell (Russia)—The Russian Elite is Jostling to Solve Putin’s “2024 Problem” (7/20/2019) “This week we look at how a senior official wants President Vladimir Putin stay in power after his current term ends in 2024. We also explain why protests over the exclusion of independent candidates from local elections is a sign of a system under strain, and how Moscow is set to roll-out one of the world’s biggest face recognition systems. The Russian elite is jostling to solve Putin’s ‘2024 problem’ The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, this week publicly offered a solution to Putin’s ‘2024 problem’—what to do about the constitutional limit on two consecutive presidential terms. Volodin, who was previously oversaw domestic politics in the Kremlin, published an article (Rus) in the State Duma’s official magazine laying out his idea for changing the constitution to give parliament more authority. [...] Why the world should care: The Russian elite is increasingly obsessed with the ‘2024 problem’, and jostling within the elite is already well underway. At present, a variation of Volodin’s plan seems the most likely outcome. [...] Protests over Moscow’s local elections highlight cracks in the system: If the Kremlin wants to keep Putin in power beyond 2024, it will have to improve the functioning of its political management machine. Anger this week over local elections in the capital revealed how the system is faltering: the authorities’ ineptitude turned the vote—in which no one was interested—into a trigger for repeated demonstrations† in downtown Moscow. [...] Why the world should care: The Kremlin’s political management machine is coping less well with each passing election, and their failure in Moscow significant—in a crisis, the country’s fate will be decided in the capital. This is a bad sign ahead of the 2021 Duma elections, and a blow to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, whose name appears in discussions of presidential candidates in 2024. Moscow is set to install a state-of-the-art face recognition system: While paranoid internet users across the world call for a boycott of FaceApp, the Russian app that generates an image of an elderly you, Moscow City Hall is building the world’s largest face recognition system. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, will take part in development and has already collected the biometrical data of tens of millions of Russians. - Moscow City Hall announced a tender this year for 105,000 video cameras with face recognition software. As of now, only 1,500 have been installed, but the police have already used them to identify and arrest about 100 criminals. According to The Bell’s calculations, the new system will cost no less than $50 million, a price tag that the city can easily afford. - There are three main bidders: Ntechlab, which was founded by people close to the Presidential Administration and two companies in which Sberbank is a shareholder: Speech Technology Center and VisionLabs. - Market sources say that Moscow’s face recognition system, once rolled out, will only be comparable in size with systems already in place in China. - Sberbank looks well placed to provide the raw data to make the system work. Since last year, the bank has been collecting biometric data from its clients (93 million people), and in December, CEO German [Herman] Gref said they already have data from ‘millions of people’. Why the World Should Care: Concentrating resources could mean Russia becomes the world’s number two player in face recognition systems. Remember this when you visit Moscow, walk the city’s streets and see the mounted cameras on every building.” http://web.archive.org/web/20190801101206/http://thebell.io/en/the-russian-elite-is-jostling-to-solve-putin-s-2024-problem [“A more advanced operation could use the full suite of services utilized by companies to track political attitudes on social media across all congressional districts, analyze who is most likely to vote and where, and then launch, almost instantly, a customized campaign at a highly localized level to discourage voting in the most vulnerable districts. Such a campaign, due to its highly personalized structure, would likely have significant impact on voting behavior.” – Brookings Institution (2008)] •Brookings Institution—Weapons of the Weak: Russia and AI-driven Asymmetric Warfare (2018) “‘Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.’ – Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2017 Speaking to Russian students on the first day of the school year in September 2017, Putin squarely positioned Russia in the technological arms race for artificial intelligence (AI). Putin’s comment signaled that, like China and the United States, Russia sees itself engaged in direct geopolitical competition with the world’s great powers, and AI is the currency that Russia is betting on. [...] Currently, Moscow is pursuing investments in at least two directions: select conventional military and defense technologies where the Kremlin believes it can still hold comparative advantage over the West and high-impact, low-cost asymmetric warfare to correct the imbalance between Russia and the West in the conventional domain. The former—Russia’s development and use of AI-driven military technologies and weapons—has received significant attention. AI has the potential to hyperpower Russia’s use of disinformation... And unlike in the conventional military space, the United States and Europe are ill-equipped to respond to AI-driven asymmetric warfare in the information space. The latter—the implications of AI for asymmetric political warfare—remains unexplored. Yet, such nonconventional tools—cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, political influence, and illicit finance—have become a central tenet of Russia’s strategy toward the West and one with which Russia has been able to project power and influence beyond its immediate neighborhood. In particular, AI has the potential to hyperpower Russia’s use of disinformation—the intentional spread of false and misleading information for the purpose of influencing politics and societies. And unlike in the conventional military space, the United States and Europe are ill-equipped to respond to AI-driven asymmetric warfare (ADAW) in the information space. Russian Information Warfare at Home and Abroad: Putin came to power in 2000, and since then, information control and manipulation has become a key element of the Kremlin’s domestic and foreign policy. At home, this has meant repression of independent media and civil society, state control of traditional and digital media, and deepening government surveillance. For example, Russia’s surveillance system, SORM (System of Operative-Search Measures) allows the FSB (Federal Security Service) and other government agencies to monitor and remotely access ISP servers and communications without the ISPs’ knowledge. In 2016, a new package of laws, the so-called Yarovaya amendments, required telecom providers, social media platforms, and messaging services to store user data for three years and allow the FSB access to users’ metadata and encrypted communications. While there is little known information on how Russian intelligence agencies are using these data, their very collection suggests that the Kremlin is experimenting with AI-driven analysis to identify potential political dissenters. The government is also experimenting with facial recognition technologies in conjunction with CCTV. Moscow alone has approximately 170,000 cameras, at least 5,000 of which have been outfitted with facial expression recognition technology from NTechLabs. Still, Moscow’s capacity to control and surveil the digital domain at home remains limited, as exemplified by the battle between the messaging app Telegram and the Russian government in early 2018. Telegram, one of the few homegrown Russian tech companies, refused to hand over its encryption keys to the FSB in early 2018. What followed was a haphazard government attempt to ban Telegram by blocking tens of millions of IP addresses, which led to massive disruptions in unrelated services, such as cloud providers, online games, and mobile banking apps. Unlike Beijing, which has effectively sought to censor and control the internet as new technologies have developed, Moscow has not been able to implement similar controls preemptively. The result is that even a relatively small company like Telegram is able to outmaneuver and embarrass the Russian state. Despite such setbacks, however, Moscow seems set to continue on a path toward ‘digital authoritarianism’—using its increasingly unfettered access to citizens’ personal data to build better microtargeting capabilities that enhance social control, censor behavior and speech, and curtail counter-regime activities. Under Putin, Cold War-era ‘active measures’—overt or covert influence operations aimed at influencing public opinion and politics abroad—have been revived and adapted to the digital age. Externally, Russian information warfare (informatsionaya voyna) has become part and parcel of Russian strategic thinking in foreign policy. Moscow has long seen the West as involved in an information war against it—a notion enshrined in Russia’s 2015 national security strategy, which sees the United States and its allies as seeking to contain Russia by exerting ‘informational pressure…’ in an ‘intensifying confrontation in the global information arena.’ Under Putin, Cold War-era ‘active measures’—overt or covert influence operations aimed at influencing public opinion and politics abroad—have been revived and adapted to the digital age. Information warfare (or information manipulation) has emerged as a core component of a broader influence strategy. At the same time, the line between conventional (or traditional) and nonconventional (or asymmetric) warfare has blurred in Russian military thinking. ‘The erosion of the distinction between war and peace, and the emergence of a grey zone’ has been one of the most striking developments in the Russian approach to warfare, according to Chatham House’s Keir Giles. Warfare, from this perspective, exists on a spectrum in which ‘political, economic, informational, humanitarian, and other nonmilitary measures’ are used to lay the groundwork for last resort military operations. The importance of information warfare on the spectrum of war has increased considerably in 21st century warfare, according to contemporary Russian military thought. Maskirovka, the Soviet/Russian term for the art of deception and concealment in both military and nonmilitary operations, is a key concept that figures prominently into Russian strategic thinking. The theory is broader than the narrow definition of military deception. In the conventional military domain, it includes the deployment of decoys, camouflage, and misleading information to deceive the enemy on the battlefield. The use of ‘little green men,’ or unmarked soldiers and mercenaries, in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 is one example of maskirovka in military practice. So is the use of fake weapons and heavy machinery: one Russian company is producing an army of inflatable missiles, tanks, and jets that appear real in satellite imagery. Maskirovka, as a theory and operational practice, also applies to nonmilitary asymmetric operations. Modern Russian disinformation and cyber attacks against the West rely on obfuscation and deception in line with the guiding principles of maskirovka. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, for example, Russian citizens working in a troll factory in St. Petersburg, known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA), set up fake social media accounts pretending to be real Americans. These personas then spread conspiracy theories, disinformation, and divisive content meant to amplify societal polarization by pitting opposing groups against each other. The IRA troll factory itself, while operating with the knowledge and support of the Kremlin and the Russian intelligence services, was founded and managed by proxy: a Russian oligarch known as ‘Putin’s chef,’ Yevgeny Prigozhin. Concord, a catering company controlled by Prigozhin, was the main funder and manager of the IRA, and it went to great lengths to conceal the company’s involvement, including the setting up a web of fourteen bank accounts to transfer funding to the IRA. Such obfuscation tactics were designed to conceal the true source and goals of the influence operations in the United Stated while allowing the Kremlin to retain plausible deniability if the operations were uncovered—nonconventional maskirovka in practice. On the whole, Russia’s limited financial resources, the shift in strategic thinking toward information warfare, and the continued prevalence of maskirovka as a guiding principle of engagement, strongly suggest that in the near term, Moscow will ramp up the development of AI-enabled information warfare. Russia will not be the driver or innovator of these new technologies due its financial and human capital constraints. But, as it has already done in its attacks against the West, it will continue to co-opt existing commercially available technologies to serve as weapons of asymmetric warfare. AI-driven Asymmetric Warfare: The Kremlin’s greatest innovation in its information operations against the West has not been technical. Rather, Moscow’s savviness has been to recognize that: (1) ready-made commercial tools and digital platforms can be easily weaponized; and (2) digital information warfare is cost-effective and high-impact, making it the perfect weapon of a technologically and economically weak power. AI-driven asymmetric warfare (ADAW) capabilities could provide Russia with additional comparative advantage. Digital information warfare is cost-effective and high-impact, making it the perfect weapon of a technologically and economically weak power. U.S. government and independent investigations into Russia’s influence campaign against the United States during the 2016 elections reveal the low cost of that effort. Based on publicly available information, we know that the Russian effort included: the purchase of ads on Facebook (estimated cost $100,000)27 and Google (approximate cost $4,700), set up of approximately 36,000 automated bot accounts on Twitter, operation of the IRA troll farm (estimated cost $240,000 over the course of two years), an intelligence gathering trip carried out by two Russian agents posing as tourists in 2014 (estimated cost $50,000), production of misleading or divisive content (pictures, memes, etc.), plus additional costs related to the cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. In sum, the total known cost of the most high-profile influence operation against the United States is likely around one million dollars. The relatively low level of investment produced high returns. On Facebook alone, Russian linked content from the IRA reached 125 million Americans. This is because the Russian strategy relied on ready-made tools designed for commercial online marketing and advertising: the Kremlin simply used the same online advertising tools that companies would use to sell and promote its products and adapted them to spread disinformation. Since the U.S. operation, these tools and others have evolved and present new opportunities for far more damaging but increasingly low-cost and difficult-to-attribute ADAW operations. Three threat vectors in particular require immediate attention. First, advances in deep learning are making synthetic media content quick, cheap, and easy to produce. AI-enabled audio and video manipulation, so-called ‘deep fakes,’ is already available through easy-to-use apps such as Face2Face, which allows for one person’s expressions to be mapped onto another face in a target video. Video to Video Synthesis can synthesize realistic video based a baseline of inputs. Other tools can synthesize realistic photographs of AI-rendered faces, reproduce videos and audio of any world leader, and synthesize street scenes to appear in a different season. Using these tools, China recently unveiled an AI made news anchor. As the barriers of entry for accessing such tools continue to decrease, their appeal to low-resource actors will increase. Whereas most Russian disinformation content has been static (e.g., false news stories, memes, graphically designed ads), advances in learning AI will turn disinformation dynamic (e.g. video, audio). Because audio and video can easily be shared on smart phones and do not require literacy, dynamic disinformation content will be able to reach a broader audience in more countries. For example, in India, false videos shared through Whatsapp incited riots and murders. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Whatsapp (owned by Facebook) is an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform, which means that content shared via the platform is basically unmonitored and untraceable. The ‘democratization of disinformation’ will make it difficult for governments to counter AI-driven disinformation. Advances in machine learning are producing algorithms that ‘continuously learn how to more effectively replicate the appearance of reality,’ which means that ‘deep fakes cannot easily be detected by other algorithms.’ Russia, China, and others could harness these new publicly available technologies to undermine Western soft power or public diplomacy efforts around the world. Debunking or attributing such content will require far more resources than the cost of production, and it will be difficult if not impossible to do so in real time. Second, advances in affective computing and natural language processing will make it easier to manipulate human emotions and extract sensitive information without ever hacking an email account. In 2017, Chinese researchers created an ‘emotional chatting machine’ based on data users shared on Weibo, the Chinese social media site. As AI gains access to more personal data, it will become increasingly customized and personalized to appeal to and manipulate specific users. Coupled with advances in natural learning processing, such as voice recognition, this means that affective systems will be able to mimic, respond to, and predict human emotions expressed through text, voice, or facial expressions. Some evidence suggests that humans are quite willing to form personal relationships, share deeply personal information, and interact for long periods of time with AI designed to form relationships. These systems could be used to gather information from high value targets—such as intelligence officers or political figures—by exploiting their vices and patterns of behavior. Advances in affective computing and natural language processing will make it easier to manipulate human emotions and extract sensitive information without ever hacking an email account. Third, deep fakes and emotionally manipulative content will be able to reach the intended audience with a high degree of precision due to advances in content distribution networks. ‘Precision propaganda’ is the set of interconnected tools that comprise an ‘ecosystem of services that enable highly targeted political communications that reach millions of people with customized messages.’ The full scope of this ecosystem, which includes data collection, advertising platforms, and search engine optimization, aims to parse out audiences in granular detail and identify new receptive audiences will be ‘supercharged’ by advances in AI. The content that users see online is the end product of an underlying multi-billion dollar industry that involves thousands of companies that work together to assess individuals’ preferences, attitudes, and tastes to ensure maximum efficiency, profitability, and real-time responsiveness of content delivery. Russian operations (as far as we know), relied on the most basic of these tools. But, as Ghosh and Scott suggest, a more advanced operation could use the full suite of services utilized by companies to track political attitudes on social media across all congressional districts, analyze who is most likely to vote and where, and then launch, almost instantly, a customized campaign at a highly localized level to discourage voting in the most vulnerable districts. Such a campaign, due to its highly personalized structure, would likely have significant impact on voting behavior. Once the precision of this distribution ecosystem is paired with emotionally manipulative deep fake content delivered by online entities that appear to be human, the line between fact and fiction will cease to exist. And Hannah Arendt’s prediction of a world in which there is no truth and no trust may still come to pass.“ http://www.brookings.edu/research/weapons-of-the-weak-russia-and-ai-driven-asymmetric-warfare (http://archive.is/mMlyN)
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