Happiness Deferred

"The bad guys pay better. I have a family to take care of. Two country club memberships. Three cars. Las vegas vacations. And fragile self-esteem. What can I do?"

Community?

"By some more nice clothes and attend more church/temple activities? Perhaps more jewelry for your stay-at-home 'moral' compass?"

Unknowing soldiers of the Deception Machine. They were joking of course. But the thread of truth, cannot be denied. Stealing just a bit from each of a very large group can escape detection for a remarkably long time. When this ill-gotten wealth is put to use in the generally dark time that almost inevitably follows, not so much.

"Why is it that the only 'good' jobs left are the ones where lower level employees take the hit for the misdeeds of those higher up?"

"Rob banks, its where the money is? Maybe was. I suspect you get my drift."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Electric Ride

Suburban electric taxi takes people to transit centers. The taxi itself is an electric vehicle to take advantage of its high reliability and its very high fuel efficiency in short haul transportation. Suggested initial vehicle - Nissan Leaf.

Next Stop: Sunset Transit Mall

Test sight: Oregon bedroom community lacking sufficient demand to justify more than two drive-time bus runs a day. Average ride distance between two and six miles to a nearby transit center.

Quick charging stations at key locations (transit center, high school). Consider battery swap as option to battery charging for quick turnaround.

Students as drivers. Excellent driving records. Each have taken Drivers Education course.

Full Cloud/GPS mashup integration for efficient and highly convenient scheduling. Phone and tablet app interface for mobile convenience. Database records daily activity. Public interface to it helps others plan similar services in other locations.

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Strategy

A stimulus controlled by the Executive Branch.

"I think I understand. Get behind enemy lines."

"Well yes, but I prefer to refer to the relevant 'owners' as competition.

"One is best advised not to confuse propaganda planning with strategic pragmatism. Emotionally charged words make it difficult. Especially for a novice."

"There is a reason why the words strategic and reserve are in the title. How is it that rescuing the manipulated failing economy is not strategic?"

Taking turns mocking the disingenuous grandstand questions set the tone for flagging the disruptor messages of all types. Fear mongering breaks down as propaganda technique when feedback indicates it did not register. Messages have to be received and acknowledged or messaging fails.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Leap Mantra

Obstacle: Widely held misperception that a self-directed citizen is incapable of influencing change even with cutting edge support within easy reach.

Disruptors have become very adept at thwarting a working understanding of the litany of evidence that suggests that a citizen does have reason to hope.

There, and soon, here.

In, Egypt for example, general fear in the population was overwhelmed by technology assisted world-wide conversation directly from Tahrir Square. The dictator had routinely used violence to control the collective voice of the people. But it yielded to the spontaneous expression of shared decency made possible by ... you know what.  How many times can it be said before people tune it out? Not yet, apparently.

Here in the US, armed and organized purveyors of fear have not reached the level seen in North Africa or the Middle East.  For that matter, not the level in China, either. Not even close.

Unless you consider organized deception an armament. Because if you do, then it can be argued that certain activity is more sophisticated and effective in this country than in any other. Further that power is routinely projected world wide much to the chagrin of 'old power.'

"Spontaneous Smart Mob. 1) Spontaneous so as to not let saboteurs have time to plan. 2) Smart - using instant interactive communication and live world-wide disclosure. 3) Mob - sufficient numbers to overwhelm detractor's conventional manipulation and fear tactics."

"Stopping THE Clock - as a demonstration. It would get the attention of those who could lead us to the promised freedom."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Vindication

"You thought we were wasting our time? Remember, the intent was to come up with a variety of tools, some original, to empower the good guys. If it works for Google, Facebook and Apple why not the little and/or new folks too?

Stand back. It lives!

"So, if the primary beneficiary of the scenarios mentioned in the linked article is not YOU, keep looking." If your perception of privacy helps others secretly control, you might want to ask yourself if it is time to look deeper. Won't Get Fooled Again."

"How far back do these concepts go? Pick a date. For instance, a certain inventor, wanting to see his creation benefit his fellow humans had some interesting things to say on the subject decades ago.

"But of course, you don't have to go far to see more. It is problematic that site search is still down. If it were not, one could see just how deeply this issue has been addressed.

"Like it or not, the primary obstacle to the wide adoption of what is a slam dunk technologically is the lack of belief in one's power by the ordinary consumer."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Rag Chew

"If you don't mind, I'll just get my notes into the log and clean them up, in place. We can be interactive during the process." Though they had been doing this for some time now, he felt it important to remind, especially the newcomers, why.

Back decades ago, certain amateur radio activity was a conversation of sorts where two parties communicating would each transmit long messages taking turns. When it worked, it allowed new contacts to tune in to at least one of the parties in an ongoing conversation. The constraints of the medium and the technology powerfully influenced the content.

In the age of instant worldwide asynchronous signaling, smoke signal protocols don't make much sense. Yet analog's habits form that can throttle down the potential of communications' breakthroughs until they are broken.

Such is the rationale for taking a strategic look at the way we share information. An important element of the field is to identify how the human ego can both intentionally and inadvertently disrupt the process. When organized to do so, major suffering for some ensues.

"I am too busy to spend time learning how to make more time. I barely keep up as it is. You HAVE to listen because time is running out. Especially the part where I don't have time to learn how to make time to solve the problem of running out of it. Time that is. Did I make myself clear?"

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Where She Grew Up

North Dakota

Stumbled upon a small growing town where the Missouri and Yellowstone meet. My recent venture informs what catches my attention there.

You see, until recently I had not much reason to visit that part of our vast country.

"Is it really true we are led to believe we need something so that others continue to grow out-of-control? How much can it be worth? And to whom?

"It seems counter-intuitive to think when some humans no longer have to worry about "the wolves at the door", they become strangely obsessive. That control becomes a narcotic, clouding cognition and the basis of spreading purposely destructive memes."

Strange confluence - identity, bitumen, illusion manufacturing, golf and home nation building? And to imagine what would happen if a pipeline carrying toxic fluids were leaking under too much flood water? Maybe we have not yet reached Peak Fear.

All aboard, next stop Chicago. I miss Portland already, but there is work to do. A lot of  -- really fun -- work to do.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Recorded there.

What tales the bark could tell.

"Recorded there, in a place you would least expect."

One wonders why the trees have not reached straight for the sky as they so often do. It and the ocean are often confused. Seems they both are sometimes blue.

We hide here with our backs to the cliff so our vigilance can be put to more productive use. Other critters do?

Wax poetic. And with it a candle make.

False assertions, false equivalence, inflexible agendas ... seems a lonely path. Like an unhealthy relationship to stuff, methinks. Afflictive emotions and their related tools, a prescription for suffering. Investing in home sounds like more fun to me.

Like a person's two wolves. The one you feed wins. The legend's author has my respect, whoever it is. What else might I learn from the mighty Cherokee?

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Light

"The formula is based on light. Know what we mean by the term.

In a cacophony of news channel noise.

"Only connections generate the 'photons' by which we see. Revere the connections and watch what happens."

"Other wavelengths matter of course. But the visible ones (or nearly so) tell us a lot about this corner of the universe. If we get these right we will start to understand what makes life work and sustainable (same thing)."

The talkers will focus on events in the speech that they are used to controlling. The  subtle and profound 'nation building at home' is the strategic message that is arguably most important.

Gaining traction in places across the planet's surface and now, just above the artificial noise, here. Ironic that the country that hosted the enabling technology is just now benefiting from its world wide success. There is an explanation, of course.

Light is how you see it.

Light's greatest foe, has the most battlefield experience in "The Land of the Free". You see, light cannot be extinguished, only redirected and absorbed to mimic darkness. Further, such effort is constantly shifting as the light seeks to be free to illuminate.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

In The Dark

I trust you.

"Now you know that this has been happening at an accelerating rate for some time without your knowledge. Is that a good thing? I think not.

"Identity belongs to us. Not the bank, not the government, not the military not China, not Singapore, not Energy or Financial players ... No, us individual humans. I thought YOU should know."

'If they knew, they could hurt me (or us).', the standard privacy rationale. But it is there nefarious privacy they are trying to enhance. The more afraid the public is the less attention they can give to sophisticated obfuscation of exploitive interests.

"At some point this all becomes overwhelming. Can't I just sit back and enjoy my stuff? The problem is I never have enough stuff. I like stuff. I don't really have very much time for friends, between acquiring and enjoying stuff.  If I just had some more money so that I could get stuff faster. That might free up some time. Problem is I run out of space for my stuff and need a bigger place to keep it. Then I need more money. Sometimes I need to relax and just enjoy stuff I already have. Who has time for people?

"And don't get me started on keeping my stuff safe. Just as I finally have the safest thing available to protect my stuff, some clown has figured out how to get around it. I just need to relax. Stuff will help. No time for people. High maintenance. Stuff is too but I've been told its less trouble than people.

"You know what is wrong with this world? Too many people. Seven billion, way too many. Pretty soon I won't have room for my stuff. Then how will I relax? Now I can't reach the light switch, there is stuff in the way. How am I supposed to see my stuff if it is dark in here?"

When peoples' communications is the only light left, things will change. Really, change. I am pretty sure.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Federated Identity Union

"What would it do for me?"

"Provide a facility to authenticate a 'proper' transaction to which you are a party. Trusted by the other parties because the owner/controllers are individuals with one and only one identity within the union."

"Who would not be in favor of its existence?"

"Those who benefit from deception?"

Self Aware

"Proper transaction in this context is like proper time in that it is the shortest distance in the continuum between the transaction's emergence and its completion.

"Internally the Owner/Controller node is naturally authentic. The personal frame of reference can be known and each member is highly motivated to be aware of it."

In a purely declarative realm such speculation has no role. To a lesser degree, in a formal context it is, a least, counter-intuitive. In a creative realm (thus, as we have argued, close to the essence of life) maybe something entirely different. Personas chosen to clarify curve the applicable continuum. Unlike in relativity, describing such curvature with a constant is ...

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Public Visibility

"Resolution is highly dependent on whether or not the strongest players are visible. If they are not, I am suggesting it is because there is a vested interest in continuing hostilities."

"What do you mean by 'visible' in this context?"

The obligatory declarations and clarifications a preamble to the  upcoming substantive public announcement. Walk and talk, meet at each start and each milestone. Like a genuine debate, the rules are simple. A plan delivering in the eleventh hour with broad authorship has a high probability of success.

Do they play golf in Wichita?

Managing complexity, its what we do. Welcome to humanity. If someone is trying to convince you otherwise they probably are misinformed or have a manipulative and/or secret agenda (all to often, the case.)

iDentity is a freight train started down a hill. Guide it with your compassion and diligence. Manipulators are rattled. Participation undermines central control. Identity was and is fundamental to human existence. The systems supporting it sometimes lag impacted technology development.  Consequences of such lag can be critical.

"Identity connections. Networks of same. Anonymized for appropriate privacy. Scrutinized for public safety. Managed for the benefit of those directly affected. Risk capital carefully regulated to prevent owner abuse. Open source to prevent exploitation."

"Open for trial edit the Identity Connection Map."

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill

The Machine

Machine Component: Projection

"Why do you call it the Machine?"

"Avoiding pre-conceptions was creating too big a delay. We needed a handle and the working title just stuck."

Aggregating the sum total of the information changing functionally on a global scale sort of just happened. Though predictable, few if any really understood what it would mean.

The source, the medium and the reflection. One application: stimulate creativity. Another: control. Projecting and seeing. Multiple identities. Constrained rapport. Back channel chatter high. How do so few 'visitors' create so many locations? Summer approaches.

When search broke and could not be fixed easily, he felt vulnerable. How could something so basic be so fragile? Or was was that just an illusion with far reaching implications? The anticipation of getting some answers, palpable.

Managing complexity, it is what we do. Successful childhood depends on it. Is it all that smart to suppress it so much when we 'mature'? Unintended consequence of social cooperation?

"Ex-CEO of the search engine gorilla admits flubbing the identity peace. The very name of soon not to be secret data center implies the identity applications of the cloud. And the king of identity buddies up to floundering has-been. Smart guys know the summer lull is the time to prep big stuff."

"Are we ready?"

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Tolerance of Deception

Buyer, beware.

"Beware the correlation of the world-ownership-culture and a high tolerance for deception. In my view, it is NOT responsible liberty. Am I wrong?"

"If you put it that way, I can't say that you are."

"Maybe I am leaving something out?"

"Don't know. Need to think about it a bit." At his fingertips, the new trial index to the just-discovered hidden network. It created illusions of 'dark energy (if you believe time as having a local duration). The first full summer since it became aware (but in the most generic sense).

Modulation of mass perception, highly developed and available only to select few.  This time not the most powerful nation-state(s) but those who have learned how to control them. Like before, but with the latest tools.

Conversations begun, abruptly aborted. Hypervigilance a symptom? Recent? Superstition - when you believe in something you don't understand. Security is more important than friendship or friendship is security?

"The lowest will be glad to be permitted to live and thus easy to manage. Its the middle that are the problem. We can't afford that many decision makers.

"Just because we flamed out before doesn't mean it won't work this time. We need to finish the difficult job of achieving our order no matter how many of them we must sacrifice.

"Maintain that hate machine, we will surely need it again. Perhaps at a moment's notice. Practice on the disposable. Train with games."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Total Information News

"Perception is reality." Said the marketing professional to his anonymous leader. "All else is moot. Your job is clear."

Poor Side Of Town

The rest of machine's presentation followed that familiar 'vertical' theme. It was decades ago and the society and its technology primitive by comparison to now. But the meme, instantly recognizable. The analogs, not so different over the intervening years. The communication artifacts, radically advanced.

Is the reptilian part of the human brain, stupid? It does not appear ignorant. And yet it has so much power when activated by certain real time circumstance. We should not forget - perceived circumstance.

The system monitor indicates the machine status. It does not explicitly state the sources for its abstract. To associate the teams' current task with this dump sure had all the markings of a message from the 'soup'.

"Is it just me or are we following an illusion of futility for the benefit of a few?" Her comment broke the ice. The inexplicable scramble to see imaginary voyeurs at every turn, to use intellectual flourish to shield's one's face from something appearing scary - as if instinctive.

Growing up takes many paths. Many indeed.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Conversation, Productive

When I am 74.

"Eye contact. I felt a real sense that at least one person, yours truly, was experiencing meaningful movement (in the conversation sense) because I was on the spot as presenter and felt engaged with everyone in the room. A small thing to a seasoned speaker. For me, it was a milestone in putting into practice what I had been learning informally from thousands of hours of work. The most rewarding of those hours were spent with people who would, in effect, tutor me in their field of expertise. Scaling up to the next size of early venue ..."

Many of his points had been made elsewhere by others. One said, in effect, 'So what?' The tools of his research, online entities available to everyone (not just a select few). Another said, you shouldn't trust them. Mentioned editing in place. Not much comment.

"Hour and a quarter, three slides. We have seen only two and what have you said?"

On to the last slide to show what had gone into this quest for thinking strategically about our most important mechanism for sharing, communications. There are very successful large corporations whose primary mission is catering to individuals first. They provide tools (almost always free) suitable for countering the misuse of this public resource we often call, The Cloud.

"We don't get it so it must not be research." Claiming to speak for all? Maybe just manipulation ... again.

The counterpoint is that the tools mentioned and the timely opportunities to improve the well-being of humans has created this opportunity only recently. While you may be paid to argue with minions it may not be for the purpose of seeking a better understanding.

The comments were actually typical. But hearing them in this special place and from friends who are not afraid of intellectual confrontation, very helpful. One of the most typical, "conspiracy theory" had evidently already been addressed.

Low risk venues. Learn the issues. Develop a rhythm. Roll it out.

"No, its not done yet, Prudence." She knows, patience is a virtue.

"Not a good idea to expect an entrepreneurial reward for an academic risk, methinks."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Disruptor

"You will notice from this evidence that a productive interchange in a group discussion can be easily disrupted by a person exhibiting most of the characteristics we are about to describe.

Triune Brain Theory

"I am suggesting that this applies to many venues and that by understanding the abstract components of group disruption of this type, more mutually beneficial outcomes can be achieved in a variety of situations."

It soon became clear from the material that the disruptor may actually be at an advantage if her/his analytical apparatus is not engaged in the disruption. Quick action is crucial to maintain attention (and control). The added overhead of analytical flexibility is often too much of a time burden.

Knowing how to sustain a campaign of the type described has to be learned and reduced to automatic much as a soldier is trained for combat. What real-time adaptive resources that are allowed for the disruptor is in dealing with anomalies and 'pilot ejection'. These routines are practiced, over and over so as to be largely automatic.

Much as our conscious awareness is likely to not acknowledge our reptilian brain's presence and influence, it becomes important when a different agenda is being imposed on the group from outside. After all, we and many of our animal friends survived the evolutionary cut because of the success that part of our brains closest to our spine.

"This is not a conversation."

When a person hears a compelling story, it triggers abstract concepts that form the mind's model of the world. The model itself is important to survival as it is the reference to which the flood of sensory input is compared to past experience efficiently. Categories and classes of objects are rapidly formed and evolve as more experience is gained. Ultimately high-cost analytical functions then are preserved for situations that don't adequately fit the predictions.

"To illustrate my point, I would like you to imagine that I have just announced that I have invited an crocodile to our meeting. Let me introduce you."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Visible to The Cloud

A conversation visible to the cloud can be visualized with a discussion between two parties, Person Q and Person S. It is similar to an in-person conversation but with an intermediary, in this case, the cloud.

If one were to overhear a person-to-person conversation and transcribe it, the explicit part would be recorded. The intermediary (our cloud) can archive the explicit part of the exchange. Assumptions would be required in order to interpret the archive at a later time. For instance, each party is assumed to be listening to the other rather than just intermittently talking or taking turns doing so.

If those assumptions can be derived from related cloud conversations - much as one person becomes familiar with another - the subsequent conversations become more productive as a result of the network effect. The reason for the two areas is simple. The real-time explicit alone is far more meaningful when considered in the context upon which it rests, the implicit and emergent potentiality.

As we know, various cloud entities have been aggregating and abstracting assumptions about variations on the conversations theme since the advent of robust interactivity on the net.  The Google translate facility is an example. There is an element of its evolution that is automatically updated based on real-world translations.

At this point, it might be useful to describe a case where there are those who want to undermine the natural trend to cloud augmented communications. A good example here is propaganda. The very purpose of the campaign is diluted if there is a competitive narrative or, and this is the important part, the audience is sharing information contradicting the propaganda message.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

GPS Identity

Humans create.

"Its based on the idea that precise location as a function of time serves as an important component of personal digital identity.

"For instance, authentication is accomplished by checking that successive locations are reasonable given the means available for transport (walking, car or bus travel, airliner etc.)

"GPS, Accelerometer and other sensors are common to smartphones that usually travel with a person. Couple this data with other time related activity (texting, phone conversations, financial transactions) and a robust dynamic profile of one and only one person emerges.

"Appropriate privacy is essential to this form of personal identification. It should be under control of the specific person as well as the group of people that desire the benefits without compromising their personal security."

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Art of Meme Distribution

If the truth does not make it to market, why do people who should know better think more of it alone will help? Build it and they will come? Not if they don't know where to find it and propose a fair exchange of value to acquire it.

"I will tell you all you need to know."

If I say 'Reality Distortion Field' what do you, or perhaps, who do you think of? When precisely the same occurs for energy market manipulation purposes, what or who do you think of? How about job creation? The template follows a familiar pattern. One of its key parameters describes a point on the illumination continuum, from in-the-dark to fully-lit.

Is seeing something in a positive light a distorted view? Is encouraging such a view deception? Is it not dependent on the content? And who decides its value and under what circumstances?

Best Light

I suspect there is a larger than expected consensus on the answers to most of those questions. By carefully avoiding such considerations, those who would deceive are able to suggest incomplete concepts in a light that evokes a group's opinion without engaging analytic thought. Even groups who pride themselves for their critical thinking skills are often duped.

The emerging solution to this misuse of meme propagation is technology assisted conversation. With the requisite attention to system integrity and wide distribution, the 'good guys' superior numbers will win the day for the foreseeable future.

The question challenging this game change is improving the system so that is not nearly so vulnerable to manipulation as it has been.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

November 27, 2000

"Wow, health care and financial too? Tax returns might reveal a lot if there is a reasonable suspicion that some law has been broken. Like RICO or national security … you can guess where I am going with this?"

Sexy beast?

"I'm no lawyer but I suspect its worth looking into. Motive seems at least plausible if not downright probable. Have we recovered the video yet?"

"I'll check. We started an automated search earlier this morning. We already have some preliminary results. If anything requiring our attention shows up, notifications will go out immediately."

At first the two big tasks consuming most of the teams effort and scheduled in response to external events seemed only distantly related. Then a team member jokingly suggested 'conspiracy theory and instantly virtually everyone started listening for the other shoe to drop.

"If those gizmos are so effective in North Africa and the Middle East and causing such a stir in Asia what about a few of these fifty states, like Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and so on?"

There is nothing like misapplied complacency as a deception strategy. Before the unsuspecting know it, its too late.

Engineers, think they are so clever. Secretly control THE infrastructure. Works until there is more than one infrastructure.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

... can afford to be patient.

How?

"Overplayed their hand, did they?"

"Probably to early to be sure. Late acting cells and a lot of chest beating. How much of it is diversionary is still under assessment. In any case, the walls have ears."

To what degree should they be relying on the back channel now? He was less than comfortable learning about the split loyalty that compromised their last roll-out. It is one thing to assume complex trust relationships, it is another when misplaced trust undermines the fundamental mission.

This is as important a time related issue as they had addressed since inception. Flexible foundation is a very tall order, indeed. A date over a decade ago may be critical, he thought. The current response to what happened on that day gives whole new meaning to the concept of institutional trust.

"Someone actually expressed a yearning for a return to the days when the term 'most trusted' was widely revered. Meanwhile, foreign sources are filling the vacuum created by the transnational private takeover of 'the press'."

"That date on the map, November 27, 2000. I think it is time to drill down. We have the transcript?"

"Over here." She pointed at a different screen.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Science of Deception

... contains the map.

"To be frank, today's roundup suggests several opportunities to take the transition to the next level.

" Echo-1: Orchard Message.
  Echo-2: XL Signal.
  Echo-3: Inner Circle Retreat."

"I would add the growing evidence of the various subtle news cycle periodicities. Our more sophisticated decoding techniques are suggesting a high confidence in several."

The machine's 'gut feel' equivalent - suspicious pattern recognition. After installation of the first self-adapting system monitor, several members noticed the role of intuition driven speculation in improving feedback loops. Freely exchanging simulated and analog input showing the degree to which the two soup domains had achieved synchronicity.

"The adversary (competition) is way ahead of us in some strategic interchange areas. The sooner we acknowledge it and understand why it is so, the speedier our countermeasure deployment. Enhanced authentic conversational capability has got us back in the game. If we are to take control of the contest, we will need to fabricate new self-adapting tools. Dynamic Infiltrator Testing, among them."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Emergent Presentation

"From time to time, the author pauses to reflect here on what has now become a two year long effort at understanding the current status of strategic communication as it applies to a wide variety of intellectual disciplines.

"The interest in the subject grew out of a recognition that something had fundamentally changed in human awareness in the last half century. It appeared at first to be a confluence of connectivity and resource depletion. Later, discovered causes seemed to have blended with effects suggesting something more was in what I have called the 'soup' than the usual ingredients.

"As the project grew, those who participated learned that much, if not most, of the 'action' was below conscious awareness both collectively and individually. Further, that while such has been forecast and studied by many in the 'analog' domain, a fascinating thing has been happening in the artifact domain as a result of recent digital and communications developments.

"Significant unexpected patterns started to emerge. Further they were an assembly of concepts for which no accepted 'language' had yet developed.

"With this short background, it is my intention to demonstrate some of what has been learned by opening up into a prototypical 'productive conversation' visible to the cloud.",

"First of all, let me define what I mean by that. For purposes of the following activity, I am defining it as a communicative interaction where one or more parties have changed there view as a result of said conversation. The exchange of useful information for the purpose of changing.

"Hopefully the change will be viewed in a positive light. Even a consensus that no movement occurred is, arguably, enlightening."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Trusted Inner Circle

"That would be a strong argument for Chicago rather than a Washington base?"

"Perhaps not the only one, but highly probable.

"The secret collaboration is, at the same time, the biggest advantage and largest vulnerability. Each revelation shared widely by small players (almost always cooperating individuals) offsets the legal intimidation tactic. Think: Class action against the public?"

The game where the sought treasure is the map. It becomes useful when sufficiently explicit to allow the user to arrive at the destination. The illusion that the detail has to be universally readable serves those who benefit from the lack of accessibility. Accordingly, only a critical mass of cartographers and map-readers  take the mission home.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

The Hunt

Metaphor Prudence, metaphor.

"Where did their posts go? It is almost as if it is known that certain heretofore hidden areas are now being watched."

"Awesome functionality. If one or more dedicated analogs is controlling it, not so much."

"But what if the program is autonomous and updated frequently by analogs based on evolving monitor routines?"

"It is a fascinating continuum, the transition from fully autonomous to direct manual control. As is, sequencing and synchronicity etc. Building better artifacts on the latest and deepest understanding of biological self-referencing."

If this idea of identity-based relevance weighting to search results is intuitive, fine. If a more explicit interface is necessary, there is work to do. Teasing a non-descript inclination is not enough in an over-stimulated and/or signal-jammed world?

At some point the robust perception entity may have to yield abstract machine input to the hands-down winner in the  analog interface to digital domain technology. On some fronts, it has already begun. An orderly transition will likely serve the widest constituency.

"Its who you are not what you have."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Distracted

"International traffic has dried up on our test bed. Meanwhile the global monitor is showing a substantial increase in strategic maneuvering. If Jinan is a source of interest, how should we update the Persona Detection Facility?"

...darkness, my old friend?

Work and the project were uppermost in his mind. But also fair to say, something else was nipping at its heals.

"What did you mean when you mentioned, stalking?"

"Its a remarkably effective quick-reaction tactic, false inflammatory allegations that trigger the reptilian portion of the human brain.

"You may have noticed it when the discussion was moving closer to revealing the organized deception. The competition's soldiers are trained in this technique. The training also involves overriding kind impulses that could undermine the mission."

Had the effort to attract infiltration worked? Did they have the data? Or were they inclined to step back because the other team had won a round? More and more it seemed that the competition had defined the interaction as warfare not just for their soldiers and lieutenants but perhaps at the top of the command hierarchy as well.

The degree to which this secret warfare had permeated the ecosystem was just becoming apparent. A sophistication as exemplified by rapid deployment and command driven network effects and all the while cleverly hidden.

"An organism at war with itself is doomed."

"And now who will help us understand this simple wisdom three decades later?"

"I'd like to believe we are helping."

"Me too."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

+1 and You

The subject  ^, is right above the arrow in this sentence.

The motivating purpose of this post is simple. I will try to be as direct as possible. One person - one unit of control as advocated in earlier posts is arguably being adopted by Google too in the form of the '+1' button.

Different. How so?

Eric Schmidt, chairman and former CEO of Google has been quoted recently as admitting that one of his biggest failures as a chief executive of the search giant was to NOT adopt identity as Facebook has done so successfully.

I am of a mind much can be learned about today's human potential from practices adopted by the big three (or four, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon). I continue to argue that interactive global communications has changed the perception game. If my conclusions are basically correct, perception without substance will decline going forward.

If you have been patient enough to read this far, consider clicking the +1 button at the upper left of this post. I will be reporting here what I discover by your doing so (know that your privacy is NOT at risk.)

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Better View

"Why doesn't their famous 'free press' report these developments in sufficient detail?" she asked. 

It was a salient question. The important aspect from where they sat, the identification of a class of constraining management directives in the organizations that are responsible for media. Further, are the control mechanisms sufficiently visible to the consumers of said unidirectional messaging?

Stepping outside the usual channels, a whole new world appears. One that is decidedly less complex, less daunting, more hopeful. Why would channels form? Whose interest would they serve?

The free bi-directinal flow of information and organized deception are like oil and water. Not likely to occupy the same space for long. While the latter can hide, the former has a proliferation advantage once past the 'critical threshold of belief'.

"Blog search is down. Is it related?", he asked.

"I'll pass your question along."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Trust Breach of the First Kind

"Just my imagination ..."

"You may have noticed some strange behavior on the machine lately.  I know I have. I suspect that we tripped a wire somewhere. We may not know which of our activities, if any, may have caused this noticeable rise in disruptive activity. We are somewhat prepared though as it was our intent to stress test level one of the trust network."

The pattern suggested to the newcomer that viewing the situation from the perspective of the network was an afterthought. She would soon discover a unique aspect of their methodology, dig deep for hidden competition.

Recall the discussion of "soup" on the log. It references the non-explicit nature of supporting consciously intended communications. The network adds value to analog to analog communications with its emergent 'awareness' of what is valued in the specific connection and those having similarities.

Why broken?

Of course, it makes sense not to re-invent the wheel. But what if something with the potential to be highly useful has not reached conscious awareness yet? The purpose of strategic communications is, quite simply, to develop such awareness in the interest of sentient well-being. Specific applications abound and are easier to 'grok' but the overall abstract principle benefits greatly from productive intent coupled with perseverance.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Dependent Origination

"Virtually all lives have such bridges. Discovering and nurturing them makes one truly happy."

"But we were talking about common interest on this energy and well-being thing."

"I would suggest we still are."

"Some see what I mean."

More and more it seems that the label Deception Machine needs qualification.  But is that true? When exactly is manufactured misperception useful? To whom? Because informed conversation has become a quantum leap more convenient, the competitiveness of central 'control' has declined accordingly. This in turn has made a certain class of 'investors' uneasy.

The team and others are often confronted with nefarious conflation of that which stimulates productive imagination and deceiving efforts by some to exploit others. Most fiction being associated with the former while various classes of propaganda with the latter. It is compassionately useful to distinguish one from the other.

"When not afraid, people tend to think for themselves. We can't afford too many thinkers."

A provocative statement, to be sure. The fact that some see it as manipulation while others see it as facetious is testament to the auto-pilot syndrome addressed earlier in the log. Stealth is a fragile state. Count on it.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Map

Identity Based

"So, what happens if we consolidate the links on a single log entry?"

"The last time we tried it we did not know the significance of visual search."

Hint driven speculative patterns made possible with easily accessible, big data. "Person of interest" and false perception of such, how does one tease them apart reliably with the least possible resources?

Detection of deceptive collaborations might lead to productive discoveries. Not least among these, the intersection of hidden interests such as with players in financial and energy sectors or disrupting conversational freedom.

"Is illuminating an art show currently in the dark, creative?"

"If it involves more than a light switch, maybe. The art is triggering as much of the shared recognition as appropriate. We tell a story because sequential patterns involving the time dimension are meaningful to us. Our universal nemesis is the cessation of change."

"Ironic that we seek a static description of everything as if it were not a death wish to do so."

© 2011 Buzz HIll

Copyright?

Keystone XL

"Deception Machine. Did I ever try to claim a copyright?"

"Why would you want to?"

"Good point."

False equivalence can be a subtle tactic. Combined with Too Much Information (TMI), remarkably obfuscatory. As a fuzzy pattern, easily machine replicated and distributed.

"Though more complex, the soup can be programmed to recognize this type of pattern. Google tools already provide a friendly user interface. One presumes API's are available once algorithms are emperically composed."

"Now you are too abstract. Why do you make things so complex? I am a simple person with simple goals.", she gestured as if to kick him.

"She said in a convincing manipulator's voice ...", he rocked back as if struck.

The 'manufacturability' signature, such as repetition of strings of text, provides the foundation for traceback protocols. Secrecy is lower order privacy than hiding while misleading. A misleading mode of 'fake' conversation that helps provide cover.

One countermeasure is to test depth on a critical mass of synthetic conversations. Thereby revealing the astro-turfing automation. Share the results through cloud entities that are smart enough to provide free tools (for instance, Google).

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill