[CT] New story at QueenOfAngels: Strings

[Dan Moran]

About 2 years ago now I participated in a Space Command workgroup put
together by John Ringo. One of my suggestions was a persistent VR of the
Earth. I think it's probably safe to publish this at this point:
 
4. A persistent virtual world.
 
We've taken steps in this direction. Spy satellite photographs are 
interpreted -- objects found in them are given elevation, width, and
used 
in planning for operations of various sorts. To the best of my
knowledge, 
though, these have been not been persistent models -- that is, they're 
built as needed on a one-off basis. This needs to stop.
 
Modeling the entire world is now a practical endeavor using
off-the-shelf 
technology. By "model" I don't mean creating 3D Studio Max or Lightwave 
files (though some lightweight rendering technology, perhaps a flavor of

OpenGL, would be useful for realizing the data in visual form); I do
mean 
creating a unified database that is updated, automatically, by
information 
from spysats, from ground and air observation, from intercepted 
communications, from traffic systems (including air traffic control),
from 
GPS -- in short, from any system that produces reliable, automated, 
locatable data. By locatable I mean that knowing merely that a ship or 
airplane (or building) exists is of very limited utility. Knowing that
it 
exists and where it is located is of great use. I specify automated
because 
the system I'm describing must be entirely automated or it will fail.
I've 
been a database programmer for over 20 years, and have been designing 
process automation systems for almost as long. Process automation is 
successful and scalable to the degree that humans are removed from the 
system except at the end points. Humans may provide input to the system
and 
they may consume the output of the system (information, some tangible 
product) -- but if they are involved in the system in production, they
are 
inevitably the spots where the system will fail to scale.
 
 From this continually-updated database of humans, buildings, vehicles, 
weapons -- of physical items that can be positioned with varying degrees
of 
accuracy -- it's possible to provide extraordinarily sophisticated
analysis 
and early warning. Tag a known weapon or weapons system in the virtual 
world -- if one of our sources of data collection reports that the
weapon 
has moved, raise a flag for review by some human somewhere. Tag a known 
human or collection of humans -- a division of an army, say, or a single

individual. If he/they move, raise a flag for review. This is relatively

simple database programming -- set up criteria for events within the 
virtual world, and as they occur, raise warnings. Criteria will be
simple 
at first -- but as the database is fed, the virtual world will become
more 
accurate and more useful as an early warning or as predictive system.
 
Want to train special forces for a mission in a particular city? This 
system, when functional, will permit your forces to walk or drive
through a 
city's streets -- any city's streets -- without ever having been there.
 
Let me be clear that I'm not advocating anything like the "Matrix," or
any 
other active, science-fictional, continually-running virtual reality.
What 
I'm advocating is much more limited (and therefore more useful.) I'm 
advocating the collection of massive amounts of data in a uniform
format. 
How that data is expressed -- as reports, as warnings, as 3D
walkthroughs 
-- is another and somewhat separate issue.
 
This work could begin today. It's not something that needs to wait for 
better storage or more computing power, though it will benefit immensely

from the inevitable advances in those areas. I can speculate about what
you 
could then hang upon such a framework -- extend the system beyond its 
immediate focus on locatable assets, and begin tracking, for example,
more 
abstract objects such as "IRA" or "Hamas." But tracking physical
entities 
through a location-based three-dimensional virtual world would be 
sufficient to get started. (It's also worth noting that the more points
of 
collection such a system has -- to tie in with my earlier points
regarding 
lighter/cheaper/quicker -- the more useful it will be.)
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: continuing-time-bounces at ralf.org
[mailto:continuing-time-bounces at ralf.org] On Behalf Of William Case
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 2:52 PM
To: 'Discussion of works/books of Daniel Keys Moran'
Subject: RE: [CT] New story at QueenOfAngels: Strings
 
An interesting article I found off slashdot this afternoon regarding the
US Military's attempt to simulate Earth. Obviously the level of detail
we were discussing is not yet there but it's a possible pre-cursor..
 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3507531.stm>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3507531.stm
-Bill 
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Moran [mailto:Jimbo at QueenOfAngels.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 3:05 PM
To: continuing-time at ralf.org
Subject: [CT] New story at QueenOfAngels: Strings
Happy new year. You have to register to read this:
 
http://38.118.133.185/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18497#18497
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