Atlantic Council recently published a well-researched story on how China keeps ahead in cybersecurity:
Unfortunately, even the best research within the US, using the usual international networks, tends to give a grossly misleading and dangerous picture.
For a more complete picture as of 2022, see the attached one page abstract which I used for my plenary talk at WCCI2022 (attached), and see photos of a small subset of what I saw myself because of unique access explained in the abstract:
World War I was caused in great part by a confusion of misinformation. We are now facing WORSE confusion, especially for cybersecurity, because of dangers like currency hacks disrupting the world economy, drone fleets being taken over in one big surprise event, and the vulnerability of power grids. (The attached one pager reflected an IEEE task force dominated by front line electric power executives.)
I am very grateful to my high school French class, where we read novels by Stendahl explaining concretely how bad information gets passed upstairs and acted on because of perverse incentives and human foibles. ALL OF THAT is getting in the way right now, no matter how much better we think we are today. (That too is an old story!!)
I was very happy yesterday to hear Guterres saying "humanity is one family.. but we are getting to be like a dysfunctional family, with serious trust problems getting in the way, threatening our very existence." But current international policies are aggravating the global cybersecurity problems,in a very serious way we all need work on.
For many months, I was hoping that the new UN agency on AI would include an element crucial to mutual open cybersecurity: DEVELOPMENT (RD&D leadership) of a global warning system, as requested by all but one major speaker at the recent UN Security Council meeting on AI, INCLUDING development of an open general software and hardware needed for electric power cybersecurity (per attachment) as well. The highest level quantum AGI could be applied to the large task of learning to observe and predict the sky, in a system open to all nations.
I still HOPE for that, but the politics now looks bad, for reasons which cast doubt on human sanity and intelligence in general. Because of fears that such a system would give too much power to the US (a concern I agree with!!), it now looks unlikely that the new agency will integrate such open, shared RD&D -- forcing a rather interesting dramatic change in hopes. Ironically, a proper open international RD&D effort could allow much MORE protection of nations outside the US than the likely realistic choices now coming into view.
TODAY. given G20 and feedback from the space technology community, my best specific hope is that Narendra Modi will lead a new Project Amaterasu aimed at a "narrow" part of "seeing the sky": developing design, use and manufacturing of a new quantum AGI capability (true superintelligence) built around the test problem of predicting solar flares,
but also generating IP for high-level quantum AGI in general, and manufacturing capabilities in India to supply global markets in several big markets.
I hope that the new G20 discussion will help make that happen. I hope the plans will become strong enough that other Quad partners, especially, will join, and fund competent scientific groups in other nations who share his interest.
Maybe it is even a good thing that India may take the lead, so long as there is a PROPER FILTERED DEGREE of international oversight. In his visit to Biden this year, Modi emphasized international support for yoga teaching, for human potential, BUT IN a nonsectarian (not fundamentalist or grossly antiscience) kind of way. That balance might be of great value in demanding a proper human-centered emphasis. This week, Modi has even taken the right step of not just making war on China or Russia.
It is tempting for me to say much more about China and about Russia, but for now the real technical work demands more focus, especially from folks like me
