On that note, seriously, check out IARPA if you get a chance. It seems to be a recent (2008) offshoot of DARPA, that’s like “Darpa, but for Spies”. Their mission is to “invest in high-risk/high-payoff research programs that have the potential to provide the United States with an overwhelming intelligence advantage over future adversaries.” link
Basically, it seems like they are the government’s bleeding edge of spying and internet security. Some of their researchers seem to be doing projects focussed on quantum computing and computer security. Others on using public big data to predict possible threats. Others to train people to understand their cognitive biases by playing games. It’s almost as if someone cloned LessWrong and had them work for the government but closed sourced and significantly less idealistic.
It’s really a pity that it’s all closed, with the mission itself implying a zero-sum game. However, there is a surprising amount of public information on their website. For example, check out the complete sirius page. Not only can you find a pretty precise documentation of how the IARPA is trying to make this game to reduce cognitive biases, but you can also find all of the proposals by different agencies to get this contract. Really interesting stuff.
On that note, seriously, check out IARPA if you get a chance. It seems to be a recent (2008) offshoot of DARPA, that’s like “Darpa, but for Spies”. Their mission is to “invest in high-risk/high-payoff research programs that have the potential to provide the United States with an overwhelming intelligence advantage over future adversaries.” link
Basically, it seems like they are the government’s bleeding edge of spying and internet security. Some of their researchers seem to be doing projects focussed on quantum computing and computer security. Others on using public big data to predict possible threats. Others to train people to understand their cognitive biases by playing games. It’s almost as if someone cloned LessWrong and had them work for the government but closed sourced and significantly less idealistic.
It’s really a pity that it’s all closed, with the mission itself implying a zero-sum game. However, there is a surprising amount of public information on their website. For example, check out the complete sirius page. Not only can you find a pretty precise documentation of how the IARPA is trying to make this game to reduce cognitive biases, but you can also find all of the proposals by different agencies to get this contract. Really interesting stuff.