Deborah Perry Piscione

Executive summary of the Elon Musk handbook for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings.” It will be interesting to see what the team comes up with and whether any of the ideas could serve as inspiration to curtail inefficient government spending in Canada. Curious as to your views whether Canada should adopt a similar strategy to cut wasteful spending. And if you think so, anyone from the private sector you think would make for an effective champion for the maple syrup version? https://lnkd.in/gzxyVNc6

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You might find this surprising, but in general, I tend to consider myself quite conservative politically. Recently, I listened to a podcast by Lex Fridman where he had Cenk Uygur as a guest. It was one of the most interesting and high-quality podcasts I have ever listened to. I have always been a fan of Lex's ability to talk to and bring out the best in anyone. Cenk, a historically left-leaning journalist and CEO of TYT, was someone I never really identified with in terms of sharing viewpoints or perspectives. I was shocked as I watched the episode to find that I agreed with almost everything Cenk was saying, with the exception of some nuance. I thought he did a great job explaining his top priority concerns objectively and without holding back on politicians from either side of the aisle. One of his overarching points was that large corporations and the elite class have successfully been able to purchase the government, and that stopping this from continuing to happen was his top priority. He did a great job explaining that the individuals who built the corporations are not inherently evil (something I think we make the mistake of assuming), but that the system we created has forced corporations to engage in "government purchasing" to keep up with their competitors who are also "government purchasing. It was humbling for me and helped me reconsider my typical approach to vocalizing my views, both in private and in public—something I will be working on. I will link the video below and highly recommend you go watch it. Great job to these two for producing content that is actually changing minds, thats hard to do these days. https://lnkd.in/g2DkCi2T

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Excellent piece by #WillyOAM summarizing #RUSI description of attritional warfare. The current White House harbours the quaint notion that wars are won by the "side" that has the correct political ideology and the right tech. That is the same nation, and the same notion, that lost the Vietnam War. Sustainment and force mustering is the key to #AttritionalWarfare. We have countless idiots in the Australian national security community who are positively itching for a showdown with China. China has not accommodated this earnest wish, thus far. However, they will drop a few flares, and indulge in some hazing, to flag what might happen. If we are to see Gulf of Tonkin 2.0 you may rest assured that they will. An attritional war with China is not one that the West will win. This will not matter for Australia because our navy, essentially all of it, will be at the bottom of the South China Sea inside the first two weeks. That will take us out of the war. With our own industrial base, we can manufacture placards, or some other device to motivate folks to fight the ensuing war for however long it takes to lose. Trust me when I say that it is NOT patriotic to go blow up your own nation. https://lnkd.in/gtU79wBU

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This article is an example of how clueless American journalists (and the NYT editors?) are about what happens in an actual war. Getting armies not to target power stations is never going to happen. Maybe we should start with the direct targeting of apartment buildings: https://lnkd.in/g-P4pGbN What would be more productive is to prosecute—today, not at some unknown point in the future—-the Russian war criminals who have targeted not just generating stations but schools, apartment buildings, and hospitals. This is not collateral damage. These are purposeful targets of Russia. This “total war” approach violates every standard of civilized behavior. How is Russia held accountable by the international order? It’s not. Sanctions don’t work. We know this because Russia hasn’t changed its tactics in any way, which indicates that it fears consequences from the United Nations or any other international organization. Why should it? China bails it out. No one really excludes Russians from civilized life. Russian expats haven’t been sent home. Russian athletes compete in sports almost everywhere. Their embassies are open. Thousands of Westen companies still operate in Russia. Articles like this one are a distraction against what would really make the world a better and safer place. Russia needs to be defeated, and the world needs the clear message that might does not make right, and you can’t rape, murder, and pillage outside your own borders. Otherwise, what is the point of a liberal world order?

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The United States Institute of Peace recently published a powerful report on organized crime in Southeast Asia. https://lnkd.in/gbaz4xPm I spoke with Jason Tower, one of the report's authors, on how Chinese mafia gangs are under growing pressure to establish new operating locations. The Hongmen, a cover for one of the largest Triad gangs, established a presence in South Africa early this year. That puts a new onus on South Africa to lead the continent's response to the issue which has already seen nationals from many African countries trafficked to work in cyberslavery compounds. The Africa Report #SouthAfrica #Africa #China #Cambodia #cyberslavery

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Industrial Transformation and Supply Chain Innovation & Technology is where Great Power Competitions are won or lost.

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House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry shared insightful views on cryptocurrency during his speech at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy. Highlighting the importance of crypto legislation, McHenry expressed optimism about its prospects even if it doesn't progress this term. McHenry's work on crypto has laid the foundation for future crypto legislation regardless of whether legislation gets passed this year. McHenry, set to retire in January, has emphasized revamping crypto regulations as a key legislative priority. He mentioned the possibility of passing crypto legislation during the lame-duck session, potentially aligning with other legislative packages. Despite the current Congress's timeline, McHenry remains confident that crypto legislation is inevitable, shaping future public policy for the Financial Services Committee. #Cryptocurrency #Regulations #FinancialServices #GeorgetownUniversity #PublicPolicy

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Thanks, Josh Lipsky and Jordan for this article and call for more active U.S. government leadership in the future of payment systems. The stakes are high and this needs to be a core element of U.S. economic statecraft. IMF's updated analysis confirms the dollar as the "preeminent reserve currency" while also pointing to the "stealth erosion" of the dollar as a global reserve by "nontraditional reserve currencies" that is "enabled by new digital trading technologies." https://lnkd.in/dyWNUM2G In this article, you focus on payment technologies and use a plumbing metaphor instead, pointing out that areas like trade finance and foreign-exchange "may be lagging indicators of the dollar’s strength. Payment systems may be a more reliable sign of a currency’s likely position in the future." And that "Once this infrastructure is in place, a shift in currencies’ status may occur faster than expected."   

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Trump is back in office, and the game has changed. Federal power is shifting down to the states, and that means if you’re not tracking #stateandlocal #policy, you’re missing the action—and missing opportunities. With decisions around #healthcare, #AI, #infrastructure, and more being handed off to state and local governments, staying informed is the competitive edge. Cloverleaf AI’s state and local data is hands-down the best way to stay ahead of the curve, get into opportunities first, and know where funding is going before your competitors. Don’t wait for your competition to get there first. If you’re ready to seize the advantage in this new landscape, let’s talk. #CloverleafAI #PolicyTracking #BeFirst #CompetitiveEdge

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Yesterday, Sam Altman published an article that has been making the rounds on social media. (It's here https://ia.samaltman.com/ and it's worth a read.) Two quotes jumped out for me, "deep learning worked" and "deep learning worked, got predictably better with scale, and we dedicated increasing resources to it." For background, today's "AI" leverages neural networks, which are trained (taught) with "deep learning." The best layperson-friendly explanation I have seen of neural networks is actually from Salesforce in their Trailhead training content. One of their articles is publicly available (link in comments). "Training" (teaching) and "running" (calculating its outputs) a neural network involves mathematical calculations. When Altman says, "deep learning worked" - he is talking about neural network based approaches and specific neural network architectures and training algorithms. When he says, "deep learning worked, got predictably better with scale, and we dedicated increasing resources to it," Altman is referring to the massive number of parameters in the best AI models, analogous to connections between neurons in the brain, which require massive computing resources to train and run. It has been estimated that GPT 4 has 1.76 trillion parameters, and the human brain has approximately 100 trillion connections. Today's AI is approaching the capacity of the brain, and the computing resources are being dedicated to continue to scale it. "Predictably better with scale" is striking; in other words, by throwing more computing resources at it, AI gets better. I first worked with neural networks in 1990 at McDonnell Douglas Corporation. They were tiny compared to today's AI models, but they could do some simple classification. It's extremely gratifying to see how far they have come. A post by Ethan Mollick (Professor, Wharton) is where I saw Altman's article first discussed on LinkedIn - I highly recommend following Professor Mollick if you want to know more about AI and the business implications of it. #ArtificialIntelligence #DeepLearning #NeuralNetworks #AITrends #TechInnovation #SamAltman #FutureOfAI #MachineLearning

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Yet another example of how Chinese propaganda permeates the US intelligentsia. How else to explain this article from The New York Times? The authors bury their point in the last sentences: "But new thinking and new diplomatic efforts could incentivize China to reciprocate in meaningful ways. At the very least, it’s necessary to try. Focusing on military deterrence alone won’t work. Trying to find a way to cooperate with China is the best way — perhaps the only way — to steer the world away from disaster." What disaster are Mike Mochizuki and Michael Swaine referring to? A kinetic battle over Taiwan? Is their objective to make us too scared to defend ourselves? They can rest easy--as I have laid out in other posts, China can take Taiwan without precipitating a new battle front in WW3. Their logic is...illogical. Where is there empirical evidence that China can be incentivized to reciprocate? Why won't military deterrence alone work? Historically, boxing in autocratic expansion has worked better than incentivizing reciprocation. Trying to find a way to cooperate with China will mean what it has meant for the past thirty years—giving in to China to avoid paying a price for defending a rules-based order. We are in WW3. The Autocracies are winning. Fewer people live in freedom than did 20 years ago as China, Russia, and Iran chip away at the liberal world order. Appeasement only postpones confrontation and usually magnifies its cost. How do we avoid disaster? Clearly define our geo-strategic vision. Regain our economic strength to stop the erosion in our military strength. Strategic disengagement from autocracies. Bolster democracies. Stop autocratic expansion by creating stronger borders. Better to do this now than later. It's a lot cheaper and a lot safer. Noah Smith

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🚀 Breaking News from Axios: President-elect Trump is considering appointing an AI and Crypto czar in the White House to coordinate federal efforts across various agencies on emerging technologies. 👥 This initiative is a significant step toward enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of U.S. policies on AI and cryptocurrency. By coordinating the efforts of different federal agencies, the White House can ensure a unified and strategic approach to these rapidly evolving technologies. This move underscores the administration's commitment to positioning the United States as a global leader in these critical areas, promoting innovation, and securing the economic and strategic advantages that accompany technological leadership. See article from Axios below: #AI #Crypto #TechnologyPolicy #Innovation #WhiteHouse #TechLeadership #DigitalCurrency #FederalPolicy #USGovernment🚀 President-elect Trump is considering naming an AI czar in the White House to coordinate federal policy and governmental use of the emerging technology, Trump transition sources tell me. Why it matters: Elon Musk won't be the AI czar, but is expected to be intimately involved in shaping the future of the debate and use cases, the sources said. Behind the scenes: We're told the role is likely but not certain. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — who are leading Trump's new outside-government group, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — will have significant input into who gets the role. Musk — who owns a leading AI company, xAI — has feuded publicly with rival CEOs, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Google's Sundar Pichai. Rivals worry Musk could leverage his Trump relationship to favor his companies. 🖼️ The big picture: Trump, partly in response to the enlarged coalition that fueled his victory, plans to be super-attentive to emerging technologies. Trump's transition has vetted cryptocurrency executives for a potential role as the first-ever White House crypto czar, Bloomberg News reported last week. The AI and crypto roles could be combined under a single emerging-tech czar. Zoom in: The AI czar will be charged with focusing both public and private resources to keep America in the AI forefront. The federal government has a tremendous need for AI technology. The new czar would likely work with agency chief AI officers, which were established in President Biden's AI executive order, and could survive Trump. The person also would work with DOGE to use AI to root out waste, fraud and abuse, including entitlement fraud. The office would spur the massive private investment needed to expand the energy supply to keep the U.S. on the cutting edge. The backstory: The idea has been kicking around Trumpworld for several months, as the transition considered structural changes at the White House to prioritize staffing for Trump's priorities.

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If you want to get an under standing of how the US electorate works and thinks with the up coming election on November 5th. Read or listen to Chapter 5 of “The molecule of More” by Daniel Z Lieberman and Michael E Long. It will give you an idea how the US electorate has evolved. Dopamine is an interesting chemical. https://lnkd.in/eFN83CP4

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https://lnkd.in/gj2F7akt The opening of Musk lawsuit against OpenAI reads like the opening of a Charles Dickens novel. "Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon—and in just eight years. Never before has it happened, because doing so violates almost every principle of law governing economic activity. It requires lying to donors, lying to members, lying to markets, lying to regulators, and lying to the public. No amount of clever drafting nor surfeit of creative dealmaking can obscure what is happening here. OpenAI, Inc., co-founded by Musk as an independent charity committed to safety and transparency—and nurtured in its infancy by Musk’s money, advice, recruiting efforts and connections—is, at the direction of Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft, fast becoming a fully for-profit subsidiary of Microsoft."

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"F1 has long had large and rabid fan bases in Europe and South America, but that enthusiasm didn’t land on U.S. shores until 2017, when Liberty Media bought a controlling interest in the league. Under new boss Greg Maffei, F1 took a big swing at America. Targeting young people, Maffei and the F1 Team built an iconic brand, in the most competitive market, in less than a decade. There were races with celebrities in attendance — Tom Cruise, LeBron James, Rihanna — new sponsorships, and an aggressive social media presence. However, Liberty’s gangster move was the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. Now in its sixth season, the show is rewriting the playbook re how sports leagues market themselves. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at “a lot of young, good-looking guys,” as Maffei once told CNBC, hard-charging billionaire team owners, and high-tech pit crews competing in a series of überluxe international locations. (F1 wasn’t the first to try this; the NFL’s Hard Knockspremiered on HBO back in 2001.) By focusing on individuals and harnessing the power of storytelling, Drive to Survive used streaming to introduce U.S. viewers to drivers who were superstars overseas, among them Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. It gave newbie (read: American) fans a compelling point of entry and became a fount of bingeable video that was easily shared, particularly on Instagram. There are accounts devoted to what Hamilton wears as he walks on red carpets. Tribal rivalries, betrayal, greed, revenge — all the stuff humans are hardwired to love in a lustrous package every week. Champions muse about “having a target on my back.” Young guns talk about “being hungry.” Everybody obsesses about forces beyond their control. Shakespeare knew this turf pretty well — Marcus Aurelius would have felt at home. The song remains the same; the actual game being played is unimportant. The results: Liberty paid $4.6 billion for F1; it now has a market cap of about $22 billion. In 2023, F1 generated about $3.2 billion in revenue, up from $2.6 the year before, most of it from promotional deals with host cities, media rights, and team sponsorships." https://lnkd.in/gr_uunxJ

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🔥 Breaking News in Crypto Regulation! 🔥 🚨 Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Grassley Shake Up the CFTC! 🚨 Hey LinkedIn community! 👋 Have you heard the latest from Capitol Hill? Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Grassley are turning up the heat on CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam. 🔍 They're demanding FULL transparency over his communications with FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, who’s facing a 25-year sentence for massive fraud. 🚔 Imagine meeting with someone 10 times and still having more to say! That's what happened between the CFTC and Bankman-Fried. Now, the Senators are asking for ALL the deets – texts, emails, meeting minutes, you name it! 📄✉️ Why does this matter to us? Well, it’s all about trust in our financial markets! 📊🤝 As investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals in the finance and crypto sectors, understanding the dynamics between regulators and industry players is crucial. Plus, who doesn't love a good tale of intrigue and high stakes? 🍿 Let’s chat in the comments: 1️⃣ How do you think this inquiry will impact regulatory policies in crypto and blockchain? 2️⃣ Can transparency between such entities restore trust and stability in the markets? 👇 Drop your thoughts below! Let's get this conversation started and dive deep into the future of finance. Don’t forget to like, share, and follow for more updates! Read More: https://lnkd.in/eXKqJU-w #CryptoRegulation #FTX #CFTC #ElizabethWarren #Blockchain #FinanceNews #MarketTransparency #LinkedInTrending

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Andy Yakulis highlights the problem of using modern IADS and fighters to defend against the modern war drone: scale and cost favor the drone time and again. The existing defensive solution tech, business models, and doctrine have effectively been disrupted by economies of scale that will require new innovations. Not just new technology, but new thinking and business models to accompany.

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