Trapdoor Books

Swarm Intelligence, Ethics and the ‘Singularity’

Digital ants and birds, then, are good at thinking up solutions to problems, but Dr Dorigo is now working on something that can act as well as think: robots. A swarm of small, cheap robots can achieve through co-operation the same results as individual big, expensive robots—and with more flexibility and robustness; if one robot goes down, the swarm keeps going. Later this summer, he will be ready to demonstrate his “Swarmanoid” project. This is based on three sorts of small, simple robot, each with a different function, that co-operate in exploring an environment. Eye-bots take a look around and locate interesting objects. Foot-bots then give hand-bots a ride to places identified by the eye-bots. The hand-bots pick up the objects of interest. And they all run home.

Fiction Becoming Reality

The “Avidians”, a race of digital beings in a computer world called Avida run by scientists at Michigan State University, with computer code instead of DNA that is copied – not quite perfectly – every time they breed. The random copying errors create differences in their code which dictate how well, or badly, they will perform in their simulated world. Early experiments put the Avidians on a grid of cells, and let them live and die there. The grid had a gradient of food – cells at one end have more than the ones at the other, where the Avidians begin. After 100 generations of breeding, a mutation led to one of them evolving a “gene” instructing it to move forward. When it landed in a more food-rich cell, it reproduced more quickly, and had more offspring than its rivals. After thousands more generations, the Avidians had evolved something more impressive: a rudimentary memory. They had started moving towards the food source in a zig-zag motion, changing direction when they were going in the wrong direction. To do that, they had to be able to compare their current cell to the previous one. Robert Pennock, one of the scientists behind the experiments, told New Scientist: “Doing this requires some rudimentary intelligence. You have to be able to assess your situation, realise you’re not going in the right direction, reorient, and then reassess.” A later experiment added a new twist: cells that contained instructions on where to go to find food. Some of those instructions were simply “do what you did in the last cell”. In order to make sense of those instructions, Avidians had to evolve a more complex memory – and duly did so. Laura Grabowski, another of the researchers, said: “The environment sets up selective pressures so organisms are forced to come up with some kind of memory use – which is in fact what they do.” This sheds some light on how intelligence originally evolved: MSU zoologist Fred Dyer says: “Laura’s work suggests that the evolution of an ability to solve simple navigational problems depends on first evolving a simple short-term memory – and this in digital organisms that still don’t exhibit something you would call learning.” But the findings may, in the future, allow researchers to create true artificial intelligence. Dr Grabowski says: “In the past, the approach has been to start with high-level intelligence and reproduce that in a computer. “This is the opposite. We’re showing how complex traits like memory can be built from the bottom up, from things that are really very simple.”

Famous Rejection Letters

'for your own sake do not publish this book.'

'an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.'

‘The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level.’

'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias.  They do not sell.'

‘I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.’

‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA’

‘... overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy.  It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.’

'older children wouldn't like it because its language was too difficult.'

'an irresponsible holiday story'

Some Humor on Writing

A visitor to a certain college paused to admire the new Hemingway Hall that had been built on campus. “It’s a pleasure to see a building named for Ernest Hemingway,” he said. “Actually,” said his guide, “it’s named for Joshua Hemingway. No relation.” The visitor was astonished. “Was Joshua Hemingway a writer, also?” “Yes, indeed,” said his guide. “He wrote a check.” A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.” A writer died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell. She decided to check out each place first. As the writer descended into the fiery pits, she saw row upon row of writers chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they were repeatedly whipped with thorny lashes. “Oh my,” said the writer. “Let me see heaven now.” A few moments later, as she ascended into heaven, she saw rows of writers, chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they, too, were whipped with thorny lashes. “Wait a minute,” said the writer. “This is just as bad as hell!” “Oh no, it’s not,” replied an unseen voice. “Here, your work gets published.” There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer. When asked to define great, he said, “I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!” He now works for Microsoft writing error messages. A screenwriter comes home to a burned down house. His sobbing and slightly-singed wife is standing outside. “What happened, honey?” the man asks. “Oh, John, it was terrible,” she weeps. “I was cooking, the phone rang. It was your agent. Because I was on the phone, I didn’t notice the stove was on fire. It went up in second. Everything is gone. I nearly didn’t make it out of the house. Poor Fluffy is–” “Wait, wait. Back up a minute,” The man says. “My agent called?” The wife of novelist and critic William Dean Howells once enlisted the aid of a young maid. One day the new assistant – having noticed her husband’s constant presence in the home – asked to speak with Mrs. Howells.”You pay me four dollars a week, madam,” she began. “I’m afraid I really can’t afford to pay you more,” Mrs. Howells interrupted apologetically. “Well, what I was wanting to say, madam,” the girl continued, “is that I would be willing to take three until Mr. Howells lands a job.” A critic once castigated Winston Churchill for composing a sentence which ended with a preposition. Churchill replied with a mocking note: “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” Famed British humorist Alan Coren was once advised that anyone seeking to draw the attention of the book-buying public should write about cats, golf or Nazis. Coren promptly published a collection of essays entitled Golfing for Cats. Its cover? A picture of a cat in a Nazi uniform wielding a putter.

Some of the Worst/Best Analogies of High School Students

What Are the Best Thrillers of All Time?

Famous First Lines Quiz

Will Authors Need to Become Producers?

The Dark Side of eBooks

The Terrorist in Your Computer

Will the Three Laws of Robotics Really Keep Us Safe?

Cyberwarfare vs Cyberterrorism – What’s the Difference?

The Shadow Network

Genetic Warfare Nearing Reality?

Terrorist Communications

Are We Prepared for a Dirty Bomb Attack?

The U.S. Homeland Security Department has not met an executive mandate to produce a national recovery plan to deal with the lingering effects of a terrorist assault involving a radiological "dirty bomb" or a crude nuclear device, according to a Government Accountability Office report recently released. Presently, much of federal planning for dealing with a "dirty bomb" attack has centered on immediate response efforts such as evacuating residents and providing them with medical countermeasures. Longer-term efforts to sanitize contaminated land have lagged behind, according to the report.

As he looked up at the helicopters passing over the Washington Monument, Major Brodie Ryder, commander of the Army HAZMAT team, said, “We have one thing in our favor, Dixon. With all the show of security here on the Mall for the 4th, our activities should go pretty much unnoticed.” “Right,” said Dixon. Because of the necessity of security, the Mall was surrounded by ten miles of wood-slatted snow fences to secure the area against possible terrorist threats during the festivities. There were, in fact, two parallel snow fences, spaced about fifteen to twenty feet apart, erected around the Mall to prevent a terrorist outside the area from handing harmful materials to someone inside the inner fence. Thousands of celebrants were allowed entry onto the Mall only through twenty-four checkpoints where their personal items were inspected to ensure they weren’t carrying weapons, alcohol, firecrackers, grills, glass bottles, or other potentially dangerous items. About 2,500 police officers from various jurisdictions were on duty, in uniform and in plainclothes, to patrol the area and nab those who tried to avoid the checkpoints. AJ arrived and walked into the temporary command tent set just outside the first checkpoint. She handed both men several sheets of paper. “Here’s the location of the portable toilets from the sanitation company, scattered up and down the Mall.” Ryder handed his to a nearby sergeant. “Get these distributed to the teams, sergeant.” He turned to Dixon and AJ and said, “You’re sure it’s the real thing we’re dealing with? Not some prank?” “We checked with Lawrence Livermore in the Bay Area,” AJ said. “They keep a computerized database filled with thousands of pages of everything publicly written about making a radioactive device: newspaper clippings, magazine articles, scientific journal reports, even passages from techno-thrillers. Livermore can quickly run a cross-check on the design of the bomb and see if it’s the real thing or just something lifted from a Clancy novel.” “And?” asked Ryder. “It’s the real McCoy,” she said grimly. “We have HAZMAT helicopters equipped with radiation detectors flying over the area looking for telltale signs of radiation,” said Ryder. They were all now standing before a map of the Mall. “Unfortunately, they may be too high to pinpoint anything as small as a bomb. That’s why we’re also using SUVs equipped with electronic detectors. Still, the vans are only good for locating the general proximity of the dirty bomb.” “And that’s where the ground teams come in,” said Dixon. “Right. They’re the ones that’ll do the real hunting, on foot. If a van detects any gamma radiation, the two-person search team assigned to that grid will narrow the search to the john we’re looking for. We have a hundred of these two-person teams, dressed as inconspicuously as possible, walking through the crowds around the Mall waiting to be called in.” “Are they carrying any equipment?” asked AJ. “Yes, special radiation detectors, small enough to fit in a backpack,” Ryder replied. “I’d like to go out with one of those teams,” she said. “Sure,” said Ryder. “Hook up with Echo Team. They’re down by the Monument.” Ryder turned to an aide in the tent and added, “Give this agent a lift to Team Echo.” The aide nodded and escorted AJ out of the command tent.

Hacking Computer Systems Using Social Engineering

“It Was a Dark and Stormy Night”

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Darnell knew he was getting hung out to dry when the D.A. made him come clean by airing other people’s dirty laundry; the plea deal was a new wrinkle and there were still issues to iron out, but he hoped it would all come out in the wash – otherwise he had folded like a cheap suit for nothing. She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida – the pink ones, not the white ones – except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn’t wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren’t. The dame sauntered silently into Rocco’s office, but she didn’t need to speak; the blood-soaked gown hugging her ample curves said it all: “I am a shipping heiress whose second husband was just murdered by Albanian assassins trying to blackmail me for my rare opal collection,” or maybe, “Do you know a good dry cleaner?” After quickly scrutinizing the two dangerously buff men coming toward her in the dark and wondering whether she could take them both out, P.I. Velma Plusch mentally inventoried her arsenal-two pistols, two stiletto-clad feet, two leather-gloved hands, two each eyes, ears, lips, and breasts-and decided that she could. It was a quarter ’til eight in the ninth precinct when I got the call of a possible two-eleven at a nearby Seven-Eleven that turned out to be just a four-fifteen–that is until my number two from the ninth discovered the one-eight-seven under the Tenth Street Bridge, some two-bit mob soldier with a blossom of five .357’s right in the ten-ring. Towards the dragon’s lair the fellowship marched — a noble human prince, a fair elf, a surly dwarf, and a disheveled copyright attorney who was frantically trying to find a way to differentiate this story from “Lord of the Rings.” On a fine summer morning during the days of the Puritans, the prison door in the small New England town of B—-n opened to release a convicted adulteress, the Scarlet Letter A embroidered on her dress, along with the Scarlet Letters B through J, a veritable McGuffey’s Reader of Scarlet Letters, one for each little tyke waiting for her at the gate. The gutters of Manhattan teemed with the brackish slurry indicative of a significant though not incapacitating snowstorm three days prior, making it seem that God had tripped over Hoboken and spilled his smog-flavored slurpie all over the damn place. Without warning, their darting tongues entwined, like a couple of nightcrawlers fresh from the baitshop–their moist, twisting bodies finally snapping apart, not unlike an old man’s muddy galosh being yanked away from his patent leather shoe. He slowly ran his fingers through her long black hair, which wasn’t really black because she used Preference by L’Oreal to color it (because “she was worth it”); her carrot-colored roots were starting to show, and it reminded him of the time he’d covered his car’s check engine light with black electrical tape, but a faint orange glow still shone around the edges. Using her flint knife to gut the two amphibians, Kreega the Neanderthal woman created the first pair of open-toad sandals. As Lieutenant Baker shrank his lips back to their normal size, he tried desperately to think of a situation in which his new-found power might be useful, as have I, your narrator.

The WarDriving Scenario

A Digital Pearl Harbor: An Attack Scenario

CyberKill Flash Game

The First World Web War

“Information warfare is the offensive and defensive use of information and information systems to deny, exploit, corrupt, or destroy, an adversary's information, information-based processes, information systems, and computer-based networks while protecting one's own. Such actions are designed to achieve advantages over military, political or business adversaries.” -- Dr. Ivan Goldberg

Eligible Receiver 97 was a U.S. government exercise conducted under what is known as the No-Notice Interoperability Exercise Program. The exercises were held June 9-13, 1997 and included participants such as the National Security Agency (which acted as the Red Team), Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Information Systems Agency, Department of State, Department of Justice, as well as critical civilian infrastructure providers such as power and communication companies. The NSA Red Team used hacker techniques and software that was freely available on the Internet at that time. DoD Red Team computer experts derived techniques and tools from open source research (primarily from the Internet), used commercial internet accounts, and exploited actual vulnerabilities. The Red Team was able to crack networks and do things such as deny services; change and manipulate emails to make them appear to come from a legitimate source; disrupt communications between the National Command Authority, intelligence agencies, and military commands. Common vulnerabilities were exploited which allowed the Red Team to gain root access to over 36 government networks which allowed them to change/add user accounts and reformat server hard drives. National Security Agency Red Team had no inside information to work with, but by engaging in extensive preliminary electronic reconnaissance of target agencies and sites prior to the attacks, they were able to inflict considerable simulated damage. Although many aspects of Eligible Receiver remain classified, it is known that the Red Team was able to infiltrate and take control of U.S. Pacific Command computer systems as well as power grids and 911 systems in nine major U.S. Cities. Their targets included: the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in the Pentagon, USPACOM, USSPACECOM, USTRANSCOM, and USSOCOM.

Let’s Talk Conspiracy Theory

“OK, let’s talk conspiracies. One closer to home. DARPA,” replied Dallas. “DARPA?” said Cole. “The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency?” “Yep. The very same guys who gave us the free and open Internet.” “What about them?” asked Taylor. “What conspiracy are they involved in?” “Ever hear of the IAO or the TIA Program?” asked Dallas. “What are those?” asked KC. “I know the IAO,” said Cole. “It’s the Information Awareness Office. It’s a DARPA agency established in 2002 to provide the government with total information awareness in the wake of 9-11.” “Correct. Give that man a Captain Midnight decoder ring. What you may not know of the IAO was what was written about it in a Guardian article entitled Think, Big Brother is Watching You. It spoke of the IAO supplying government officials with instant analysis of what was written, emailed and said on phones all over the US. Wanna test it? Send a text-message that reads ‘Bmb OK. Allah gr8.’ And see who shows up at your front door.” “What’s more,” Dallas continued, “the logo of the IAO, and it’s on the DARPA web site by the way, displays the Illuminati Seal as part of its logo. I kid you not!” “You mean to say,” Taylor said, “that this agency tasked with spying on Americans adopted a seal connected to one of the biggest and well known conspiracy theories throughout history – the Illuminati Brotherhood?” “Yep. The all-seeing eye atop the pyramid. The same seal on our dollar bills.” Cole pondered that a moment and said,” I can’t believe some bunch a government pin heads sat down and said, ‘Let’s utilize the symbol network known to history as one of the top three shadowy groups – the Illuminati, Freemasons and the Order of the Jesuits - for our logo’. That is sure to throw the conspiracy nuts into fits. No wonder the Brotherhood is recruiting members.” “And the TIA?” asked Taylor. “The Total Information Awareness system is just one of the foot soldiers of the IAO. Other programs that suppose to be watching, listing and tracking what we do around the whole globe work under the names of Genoa and Genoa II, ECHELON, NIMD, and LifeLog. If you believe in black helicopters and that our new currency has a secret tracking mechanism in them, these all point to the goal of tracing the threads of an individual’s life – every email sent, every phone call made, every TV show watched, every magazine read, and everything purchased in one’s life. And this is what our Brotherhood friends are howling against.”

Daughters of Eve

Geneticist: All Europeans Descended From Seven Matriarchal Clans It may be the world's largest known family tree. Researchers from Oxford University in Oxford, England, have identified seven ancestral matriarchal groups from which all Europeans appear to be descended. These maternal clans form the root of a family tree that has sprouted millions of individuals. Every European, according to the study, can trace his or her evolutionary history back to the seven ancestral mother groups, also referred to as the Seven Daughters of Eve. The researchers, who both discovered and formulated the genetic groupings, say these women would have lived between 8,000 to 45,000 years ago. Hamsters Inspired Theory Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, first suspected Europeans could have common lineages when he was a young boy. His inspiration came from a news story he read that stated all hamsters in the world came from one pregnant female found in the Syrian Desert in 1930. Time passed, but he remembered the hamsters. In recent years, he tested out the hamster idea by identifying and ordering the individual components of DNA taken from the droppings of several of these rodents. He discovered that one specific kind of genetic material, mitochondrial mtDNA, appeared to be identical among all of the hamsters. This kind of DNA can only be passed down from a mother to her children. Men have mtDNA in their sperm, but a chemical marks it for destruction during the fertilization process. Therefore, the hamster study findings prompted Sykes to add matriarchal clans to his developing theory about common lineages. A Cheeky Business Then, Sykes applied similar research methods to a study on humans. He and his colleagues took cell samples from the cheeks of 6,000 Europeans and analyzed their mitrochondrial DNA. Unlike hamsters, which share one type of mtDNA, the human test subjects' DNA clearly fit into seven distinct groups: the seven daughters on the European family tree. The "daughters" notion is more figurative than literal, as it broadly refers to seven matriarchal genetic groups, rather than to seven individual women. Leonardo Salviati, a post doctoral researcher at Columbia University who specializes in mitochondrial DNA studies, says Sykes' theory "is plausible." "Mitochondrial DNA allows us to trace human evolution," says Salviati. "DNA mutates at a very slow rate, so if you can accumulate mutations and categorize them in specific groups, you can draw direct ancestral lineages." Mutations in this kind of DNA occur in humans about every 10,000 years. Sykes, therefore, is able to guess when each of the seven female genetic lines first appeared in Europe. The earliest suspected arrival date, 45,000 years ago, corresponds with the appearance of modern human remains in fossil records. But this date is thousands of years ahead of when anthropologists previously thought migrants arrived in Europe. Links to African Eve Further, all seven of the genetic groups appear to be descended from the "Lara" clan, one of three clans that still exist today in Africa. This supports the African Eve theory, proposed in the late '80s by biochemist Allan Wilson, Mark Stoneking and others, which states that all humans share a common African ancestor. Wilson and his colleagues used the same genetic material, mtDNA, for their study. Terry Melton, president of Mitotyping Technologies, a firm specializing in mtDNA forensic studies, says, "[Sykes] presents a great idea, but the system is not perfect. A consensus may be derived by formulating haplogroups [gene groups], but it would be impossible to do this with 100 percent accuracy." Melton explains that some parts of the mtDNA mutate faster than others, so additional variation could appear within the seven daughter groups. What About Americans? Americans of European heritage may fit into one of the seven categories. But different genetic groups based upon mtDNA variations likely exist for those without European ancestors. Native Americans, for example, appear to have descended from Asians who migrated to the Americas sometime between 30,000 and 3000 BC. Melton says they seem to have limited DNA variations, meaning that they probably descended from just a few Asian lineages. In future, Sykes hopes to map out genetic groups for other continents, to perhaps find out more about the mothers to us all. The Seven Daughters of Eve Professor Sykes and his team have created profiles for each of the seven matriarchal groups. They are: Helena - This clan lived in the ice-capped Pyrenees. As the climate warmed, Helena's descendants trekked northward to what is now England, some 12,000 years ago. Members of this group are now present in all European countries. Jasmine - Her people had a relatively happy life in Syria, where they farmed wheat and raised domestic animals. Jasmine's descendants traveled throughout Europe, spreading their agricultural innovations with them. Katrine - Members of this group lived in Venice 10,000 years ago. Today most of Katrine's clan lives in the Alps. Tara - Sykes' maternal ancestry goes back to this group, which settled in Tuscany 17,000 years ago. Descendants ventured across northern Europe and eventually crossed the English Channel. Ursula - Users of stone tools, Ursula's clan members drifted across all of Europe. Valda - Originally from Spain, Valda and her immediate descendants lived 17,000 years ago. Later relatives moved into northern Finland and Norway. Xenia - Not much is known about Xenia, but it is believed that her people lived in the Caucasus Mountains 25,000 years ago. Just before the Ice Age, this clan spread across Europe, and even reached the Americas. Want to now which Daughter of Eve are you?

The Promise and Threat of RFID