[extropy-chat] al-Qaeda is growing fast

[Extropian Agroforestry Ventures Inc.]

The cold war accelerated space/rocket technology and computer/electronic  technology development
AIDS accelerated drug development and distribution /economic rationalization

What would a long non-western terrorist "war" deliver as a positive benefit.
Perhaps total integration of TIA Grid (tracking and analyzing)  with all physical materials living and inanimate
In effect creating one distributed global organism?

Just the thing needed if the next major computational advance after the "grid"
is one or more AI's.
In this process it will be the responsibility of the individual to not be integrated
into society in a Borgian fashion (surrendering free will for protection)

Morris


gts wrote:

> > An interesting news report out of London points out that Al Qaeda has largely
> > reassembled itself but in a very distributed fashion.  They cited a figure of
> > 18,000 as the probable number of loyalists scattered all over the globe.
> >
> > This is a problem that will not be easy to solve anytime soon.
>
> Yes, I saw that report. It's not good news. The occupation of Iraq is making the world less safe from al-Qaeda.
>
> "The assessment, by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), states that the occupation has become "a potent global recruitment pretext" for al-Qa'ida, which now has more than 18,000 militants ready to strike Western targets... Jonathan Stevenson, the editor of the survey, said: "Invading Iraq damaged the war on terror, there is no doubt about that. It has strengthened rather than weakened al-Qa'ida."
>
> This is of course exactly what former Whitehouse counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke predicted.
>
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=524939
>
> More worrisome news on this subject:
>
> "[May 28, 2004] "Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that al-Qaeda has penetrated the Pakistani military and even recruited volunteers to carry out two attempts on his life in December... This is the first time Musharraf has said al-Qaeda had penetrated the Pakistani military. In the past, he had rejected all such insinuations."
> Prior to this infiltration by al-Qaeda, the Pakistani military was already borderline with respect to its loyalty to Musharraf vs. Taliban/al-Qaeda. Much of the Pakistani population consider Osama bin Laden to be some kind of Robinhood-like folk hero. And Pakistan has nukes.
>
> http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/05/28/World/AlQaeda.Infiltrates.Pakistan.Army.Tries.To.Assassinate.Musharraf-683569.shtml
>
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