Twilight 2000 or is it really Twilight 2025?

What I have recently acquired having missed it first time round in the 1980's I decided to get the "reboot version" (see below, a seemingly innocuous pile of gaming material seems to be steadily growing): 

But anyone reading the news lately can be forgiven for thinking it is more like (see below, an ad-hoc bespoke to the game cover): 

We seem to be talking about the same part of the world!

Audible Book Completed: The Creativity Code by Marcus du Sautoy

Full title - The Creativity Code: How AI Is Learning to Write, Paint and Think, by Marcus di Sautoy (see below, for the sexy artwork that hints at robot domination, without having to show a robot. I listened to it via Audible rather than reading it, but in the end I bought a copy of the book as well, as there were sections in it you really needed to read IMHO - yes, like the ones that mentioned sums I could not do in my head!): 

So, now I have finished listening to this .. it seems to be pointing out that we’ve done lots of quirky things, some of which look and feel impressive .. but we seem to be back in a loop, back to 1990 when Expert Systems (symbolic logic machines) were going to going to transform the world. Deep Learning is now the new flavour of the revolution (Artificial Neural Nets that are trained to be clever) .. but back in 1990 it was not Expert Systems that shaped the Commercial World for teh next twenty plus years. No that was the dirty old Database and Networks which transformed into a brand the new thing called the Internet .. the "What Net" are you going fishing somewhere strange? Yet it dictated the course of computing for the next 20+ years by reinventing the Network to be used by everybody and therefore everybody's concern . My personal opinion of course .. which like most things these days seems to be in the Cloud, running better on someone else's piece of tin. 

Note to self: Interesting Blog Thinking About the Future

One to take a look at:

https://sourcesandmethods.blogspot.com/

Matrix Game: Thin Ice (PaxSims) Future Wars Game

For those of us who like looking int the dark future of "next wars" might just consider playing this free Matrix game with their friends and enemies:

https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/on-thin-ice-an-arctic-matrix-game/

As more natural resources are "freed up" in the Arctic, the Great Powers get interested!

Additional "background information" Arctic, Spy Communication, Fake News, Man Made Environmental Changes (WWII Bombing Effects), AI,  Drone Warfare and Cyber references:

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45271766
• https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/defence-committee/defencesubcommittee/news-parliament-2017/defence-in-arctic-17-19/
• https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmdfence/388/388.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_COLDFEET
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-43384867
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41997262
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41983091
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-42833178
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-42819704/numbers-stations-the-spy-radio-that-anyone-can-hear
• https://paxsims.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/10-bar-171-articles-how-russia-plays-at-war.pdf
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43062113
• https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/wake-up-foucaults-warning-on-fake-news/p06gzcn4
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45655149
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40910087
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45043406

And much, much more could be pulled in - could not find references for robotic/autonomous vehicles but I am sure they are out there! 

;)