Garry Kasparov's Blog, page 16

Anatomy of the Russian Invasion | Tocqueville Conversations 2022 | July 8, 2022

Attendees included public figures like @alainjuppe (former French Prime Minister) and @Kasparov63 (former World Chess Champion, political commentator). @alex_romero spoke with Mr. Kasparov, also a Security Ambassador for software company, @Avast https://t.co/U26BE7fKHc pic.twitter.com/9frlfENOjc

— Constella Intelligence (@ConstellaIntel) July 11, 2022

From the website of the Tocqueville Foundation.

“The all-out war launched by Vladimir Putin’s regime against his Ukrainian neighbor, threatens and disrupts the whole democratic world and the world geopolitical balance. We find ourselves at the gates of a war which, from one moment to the next, can jump over the barrier of the fragile Ukrainian borders, and reach the West. We are, as in 1914, on the brink of confrontation. Ukraine is fighting for us against a regime that has dropped its masks and no longer hides the fact that its enemy is both Ukrainian and Western.

What are the motives and goals of the violent national-imperialism that Putin embodies? What will be the political and geopolitical consequences of the extraordinary Ukrainian resistance that is unfolding before our eyes? What answers should the Western democracies give to this gigantic challenge?

Could this crisis, as dramatic as it is, be the occasion for a salutary leap forward for our Western societies, which had perhaps forgotten the tragedy of history and the price of freedom?

The event will be broadcasted live on our Youtube Channel right here, in French and in English.”

In Conversation with Garry Kasparov | The Blueprint | July 7, 2022

“Regulation” can be a seen as a dirty word, a threat to innovation. But regulations that empower citizens, such as data ownership, and balance the triangle of the public, private, and govt are essential for healthy competition and innovation. My interview at Collision: https://t.co/8efSlsZ143

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 7, 2022

By Stephen Wentzell

This article is a reprint. You can see the original at The Blueprint.

“Garry Kasparov navigates life the same way he plays chess: always thinking three steps ahead.

The Russian chess grandmaster—who once organized a campaign against President Vladimir Putin in the 2008 presidential election—is now the leader of the Human Rights Foundation and creator of the Renew Democracy Initiative in the United States.

Kasparov was a featured speaker at last month’s Collision conference in Toronto, an event POLITICO has referred to as “the Olympics of tech.” Between a panel about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and winning 11 games of chess in under an hour (all at the same time), I had the chance to sit down with him.

In our conversation, Kasparov spoke about digital security and vulnerabilities in election infrastructure, as well as the upcoming American elections and the war in Ukraine.

Kasparov, who appeared at the conference on behalf of antivirus company Avast Security, stressed that data sovereignty is more important now than ever.

He explained that every element of an election cycle is somehow connected to online activity—through political debate, disseminating both news and disinformation, or even mobilizing a grassroots campaign.

As far as the political polarization created by social media goes, Kasparov believes the toothpaste is already out of the tube.

After spending years sacrificing security for convenience, he believes there’s nothing left we can do to stop the Meta’s and the Google’s of the world.

Instead, Kasparov wants users to either receive some compensation for the sharing of their data or acquire more layers of protection to help give individuals some say in the data they share.

“Let’s step up the protective measures that will punish the companies for unauthorized use of the data,” he said, adding that people should be the sole owners of their data.

What’s the point of regulating big tech if nobody follows the rules?

While there’s been increasing pressure on governments to develop laws that would protect users’ data, Kasparov believes it’s impossible to implement regulations that would prove effective and comprehensive due to both the amount of data at hand and new ways of manipulating or bypassing legislation on data.

Kasparov corrected me when I referred to the harvesting of data by organizations like Cambridge Analytica as “illicit.” They’re actually illegal.

“There are so many things being done on the border of the law,” he noted, adding, “What’s the point of all these other measures if nobody follows [them]?”

Kasparov pointed to what he called a “triangle of cooperation” needed between the public, tech companies, and government agencies in order for each one to survive: tech companies need customers to survive, but it all depends on government regulation elected by the influence of the people.

“I want us to think [about] how we can build relations [in that] triangle that will minimize the damage,” he said. “Some damage will be done.”

Rather than regulation, he believes there are more practical solutions. Because companies like Google and Facebook own our data, we can’t just decide we don’t want them to have it anymore. That’s why Kasparov favours compensation for sharing our data while also preventing it from being used to influence an election.

And while North Americans have grown accustomed to their data being used in covert nefarious ways, Kasparov noted the situation is very different in countries like Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey, “where any breach of your data could lead to imprisonment, or worse.”

On Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

When Russia first orchestrated a wide-scale cyber warfare attack on another country for the first time in 2007, Kasparov noted that the free world practically shrugged their shoulders.

“Putin always used cyber as an element of hybrid war. He didn’t even make a secret of that,” Kasparov said.

He explained that after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cyber attack on Estonia, the Kremlin stepped up its cyber security infrastructure and created an entire industry around the weaponization of data with tactics like troll factories. By the time the Russian government began its cyber attack on the United States in 2015, Putin had nearly a decade of experience perfecting his plans back home.

When it came to digital disinformation campaigns, Putin was successful in ways China was not: rather than having one source of media disseminating information to the public, Putin—as former Trump administration official and recently indicted Steve Bannon would say—flooded the zone with shit. By spreading different levels of propaganda through a swath of legitimate-looking news platforms, it becomes more and more difficult for the public to distinguish what is true from what is false.

He believes that democratic countries have been too cautious and not brave enough to confront their enemies when it comes to protecting cyber infrastructure. That’s why we now see them being forced to fight back.

“We have to recognize that trying to be passive and trying to play cover doesn’t work,” he said, adding that “disabled defense is always inferior.”

Instead of beefing up digital infrastructure defense that are likely already compromised, Kasaprov is urging world leaders to focus on deterrents.

Looking ahead to the 2024 presidential election, Kasparov believes the fight for freedom in Ukraine cannot be separated from America’s fragile democracy. He pointed out that 57 Republican members of Congress voted against a support package for Ukraine in May, while even more—a whopping one-third of House Republicans—voted against a resolution expressing support for NATO and its principles.

On crypto and the Metaverse

When it comes to crypto and the Metaverse, Kasparov isn’t completely sold. He expressed concern about Facebook capitalizing on their swath of data to control the transition into the Metaverse.

That’s why he is on a mission to implement regulations across the globe that would prevent monopolies like Meta, Google, or Apple from controlling the use and sharing of user data.

Looking ahead, Kasparov believes governments can only get a handle on the big tech industry if they achieve two objectives: having competition in their field and guaranteeing the rights of individuals to their data.”

Weak Human, Strong Force: Applying Advanced Chess to Military AI | War on the Rocks | July 7, 2022

Bingo. “Future conflicts will not be won by the force with the highest computing power, most advanced chip design, or best tactical training, but by the force that most successfully employs novel algorithms to augment human decision-making.” https://t.co/Ia5QntpmLc

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 8, 2022

By TREVOR PHILLIPS-LEVINE, MICHAEL KANAAN, DYLAN “JOOSE” PHILLIPS-LEVINE, WALKER D. MILLS, AND NOAH SPATARO

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at War on the Rocks

“Gary Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time, developed advanced chess after losing his 1997 match to IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer. Advanced chess marries the computational precision of machine algorithms with the intuition of human beings. Similar in concept to manned-unmanned teaming or the “centaur model,” Kasparov’s experimentation has important implications for the military’s use of AI.

In 2005, a chess website hosted an advanced chess tournament open to any player. Extraordinarily, the winners of the tournament were not grandmasters and their machines, but two chess amateurs utilizing three different computers. Kasparov observed, “their skill at manipulating and ‘coaching’ their computers to look very deeply into the positions effectively counteracted the superior chess understanding of their Grandmaster opponents and the greater computational power of other participants.” Kasparov concluded that a “weak human + machine + better process was superior to a strong computer alone and … superior to a strong human + machine + inferior process.” This conclusion became known as Kasparov’s Law.

 

BECOME A MEMBER

 

As the Department of Defense seeks to better use artificial intelligence, Kasparov’s Law can help design command-and-control architecture and improve the training of the service members who will use it. Kasparov’s Law suggests that for human-machine collaboration to be effective, operators must be familiar with their machines and know how to best employ them. Future conflicts will not be won by the force with the highest computing power, most advanced chip design, or best tactical training, but by the force that most successfully employs novel algorithms to augment human decision-making. To achieve this, the U.S. military needs to identify, recruit, and retain people who not only understand data and computer logic, but who can also make full use of them. Military entrance exams, general military training, and professional military education should all be refined with this in mind.

Building a Better Process

Kasparov’s key insight was that building a “better process” requires an informed human at the human-machine interface. If operators do not understand the rules and the limitations of their AI partners, they will ask the wrong questions or command the wrong actions.

Kasparov’s “weak human” does not mean an inept or untrained one. The “weak human” understands the computer’s rules. The two amateurs that won the 2005 chess match used their knowledge of the rules to ask the right questions in the right way. The amateurs were not Grandmasters or experts with advanced strategies. But they were able to decipher the data their computers provided to unmask the agendas of their opponents and calculate the right moves. In other words, they used a computer to fill the role of a specialist or expert, and to inform their decision-making process.

The number and type of sensors that feed into global networks is growing rapidly. As in chess, algorithms can sift, sort, and organize intelligence data in order to make it easier for humans to interpret. AI algorithms can find patterns and probabilities while humans determine the contextual meaning to inform strategy. The critical question is how humans can best be positioned and trained to do this most effectively.

Familiarity and Trust

When human operators lack familiarity with AI-enhanced systems, they often suffer from either too little or too much confidence in them. Teaching military operators how to use AI properly requires teaching them a system’s limits and inculcating just the right level of trust. This is particularly crucial in life or death situations where human operators must decide when to turn off or override AI. The level of trust given to an AI is dependent on the maturity and proven performance of a system. When AI systems are in the design or testing phases, human operators should be particularly well-versed in their machine’s limitations and behavior so they can override it when needed. But this changes as the AI becomes more reliable.

Consider the introduction of the automatic ground collision avoidance system (auto-GCAS) into F-16 fighter jets. Adoption was stinted by nuisance “pull-ups,” when the AI unnecessarily took over the flight control system during early flight testing and fielding. The distrust this initially created among pilots was entirely understandable. As word spread throughout the F-16 community, many pilots began disabling the system altogether. But as the technology became more reliable, this distrust itself became a problem, preventing pilots from taking advantage of a proven life-saving algorithm. Now, newer pilots are far more trusting. Lieutenant David Alman, an Air National Guard pilot currently in flight training for the F-16, told the authors that “I think the average B-course student hugely prefers it [auto-GCAS].” In other words, once the system is proven, there is less need to train future aircrews as thoroughly in their machine’s behavior and teach them to trust it.

It took a number of policy mandates and personnel turnovers before F-16 pilots began to fly with auto-GCAS enabled during most missions. Today, the Defense Advanced Projects Agency and the U.S. Air Force are attempting to automate parts of aerial combat in their Air Combat Evolution program. In the program, trained pilots’ trust is evaluated when teamed with AI agents. One pilot was found to be disabling the AI agent before it had a chance to perform due to their preconceived distrust of the system. Such overriding behaviors negate the benefits that AI algorithms are designed to deliver. Retraining programs may help, but if a human operator continues to override their AI agents without cause, the military should be prepared to remove them from processes that contain AI interaction.

At the same time, overconfidence in AI can also be a problem. “Automation bias” or the over-reliance on automation occurs when users are unaware of the limits of their AI. In the crash of Air France 447, for example, pilots suffered from cognitive dissonance after the autopilot disengaged in a thunderstorm. They failed to recognize that the engine throttles, whose physical positions do not matter when autopilot is on, were set near idle power. As the pilots pulled back on the control stick, they expected the engines to respond with power as it does in normal autopilot throttle control. Instead, the engines slowly rolled back, and the aircraft’s speed decayed. Minutes later, Air France 447 pancaked into the Atlantic, fully stalled.

Identifying and Placing the Correct Talent

Correctly preparing human operators requires not only determining the maturity of the system but also differentiating between tactical and strategic forms of AI. In tactical applications, like airplanes or missile defense systems, timelines may be compressed beyond human reaction times, forcing the human to give full trust to a system and allow it to operate autonomously. In strategic or operational situations, by contrast, AI is attempting to derive adversary intent which encompasses broader timelines and more ambiguous data. As a result, analysts who depend on an AI’s output need to be familiar with its internal workings in order take advantage of its superior data processing and pattern-finding capabilities.

Consider the tactical applications of AI in air-to-air combat. Drones, for example, may operate in semi-autonomous or fully autonomous modes. In these situations, human operators must exercise control restraint, known as neglect benevolence, to allow their AI wingmen to function without interference. In piloted aircraft, AI pilot assist programs may be providing turn-by-turn queues to the pilot to defeat an incoming threat, not unlike turn-by-turn directions given by the Waze application to car drivers. Sensors around the fighter aircraft detect infrared, optical, and electromagnetic signatures, calculate the direction of arrival and guidance mode of the threat, and advise the pilot on the best course of action. In some cases, the AI pilot may even take control of the aircraft if human reaction time is too slow, as with the automatic ground collision avoidance systems. When timelines are compressed and the type of relevant data is narrow, human operators do not need to be as familiar with the system’s behavior, especially once its proven or certified. Without the luxury of time to judge or second-guess AI behavior, they simply need to know and trust its capabilities.

However, the requirements will be different as AI gradually begins to play a bigger role in strategic processes like intelligence collection and analysis. When AI is being used to aggregate a wider swath of seemingly disparate data, understanding its approach is crucial to evaluating its output. Consider the following scenario: An AI monitoring system scans hundreds of refinery maintenance bulletins and notices that several state-controlled oil companies in a hostile country announce plans to shut down refineries for “routine maintenance” during a particular period. Then, going through thousands of cargo manifests, it discovers that a number of outbound oil tankers from that country have experienced delays in loading their cargo. The AI then reports that the nation in question is creating the conditions for economic blackmail. At this point, a human analyst could best assess this conclusion if they knew what kinds of delays the system had identified, how unusual these forms of delays were, and whether there were other political or environmental factors that might explain them.

Next Steps

With untrained operators, the force-multiplying effects of AI can be negated by the very people they are designed to aid. To avoid this, algorithm-dominated warfare requires updates to the way the military sifts and sorts its talent.

Tests like the Navy’s Aviation Selection Test Battery, the Air Force’s Officer Qualification Test, or the universal Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery rate a candidate’s performance in a range of subject areas. With machines replacing certain kinds of human expertise, the military needs to screen for new skills, specifically the ability to understand machine systems, processes, and programming. Changing entry exams to test for data interpretation skills and an ability to understand machine logic would be a valuable first step. Google’s Developers certification or Amazon’s Web Services certification offer useful models that the military could adapt. The military should also reward recruits and service members for completing training in related fields from already-available venues such as massive open online courses.

For those already in the service, the Secretary of Defense should promote relevant skills by prioritizing competitive selection for courses specializing in understanding AI systems. Existing examples include Stanford University’s Symbolic Systems Program, the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology AI Accelerator course, and the Naval Postgraduate School’s “Harnessing AI” course. The military could also develop new programs based out of institutions like the Naval Community College or the Naval Postgraduate School and build partnerships with civilian institutions that already offer high-quality education in artificial intelligence. Incorporating AI literacy into professional military education courses and offering incentives to take AI electives would help as well. The Air Force’s computer language initiative, now reflected in Section 241 of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, represents an important first step. Nascent efforts across the services need to be scaled up to offer commercially relevant professional learning opportunities at all points during the service member’s career.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly disrupting traditional analysis and becoming a force multiplier for humans, allowing them to focus on orchestration rather than the minutia of rote and repetitive tasks. AI may also displace some current specializations, freeing people for roles that are better suited for humans. Understanding Kasparov’s Law can help the military cultivate the right talent to fully take advantage of this shift.

BECOME A MEMBER

Trevor Phillips-Levine is a naval aviator and the Navy’s Joint Close Air Support branch officer. He has co-authored several articles regarding autonomous or remotely piloted platforms, publishing with the Center for International Maritime Security, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings magazine, and Modern Warfare Institute. He can be reached on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Michael Kanaan is a Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He is also the author of T-Minus AI: Humanity’s Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Dylan Phillips-Levine is a naval aviator and a senior editor for the Center for International Maritime Security.

Walker D. Mills is a Marine infantry officer currently serving as an exchange officer at the Colombian Naval Academy in Cartagena, Colombia. He is also a nonresident fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Modern War and a nonresident fellow with the Irregular Warfare Initiative. He has written numerous articles for publications like War on the Rocks, Proceedings, and the Marine Corps Gazette.

Noah “Spool” Spataro is a division chief working Joint All Domain Command and Control assessments on the Joint Staff. His experiences traverse dual-use technology transition and requirements, standup and command of a remotely piloted aircraft squadron, and aviation command and control. He is a distinguished graduate of National Defense University’s College of Information and Cyberspace.

The positions expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent those of the Department of Defense or any part of the U.S. government.

Image: Public Domain”

Garry Kasparov – Chess Grandmaster | Tech Snippets Today | July 5, 2022

Tech Snippets Today: I enjoyed sitting down with #Grandmaster chess player Garry Kasparov who shares his vision on how #cryptocurrency will transform the world, especially in areas with highly authoritative regimes: https://t.co/izVsLK5VfT

— Joseph Raczynski | @ThomsonReuters (@joerazz) July 6, 2022

By Joseph Raczynski

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Tech Snippets Today.

“In the speaker’s green room at the Consensus 2022 conference, Garry Kasparov, Chess Grandmaster, and I caught up. This covers all things cryptocurrency and his belief in the importance of the technology to create more freedom for people across the world, especially in areas with more authoritarian regimes.”

Bear market? “So what,” says World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov | Cointelegraph | July 1, 2022

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Cointelegraph.

By Rachel Wolfson

“Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess grandmaster and chair of the Human Rights Foundation, doesn’t appear at all bothered by the current crypto bear market. Kasparov, who is also a long-time Bitcoin supporter, told Cointelegraph during Consensus 2022 “so what” in regards to his thoughts on the bear market. Kasparov added that he thinks 99% of all coins are “crap,” yet he expressed that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are already integrated into traditional financial markets due to recent price fluctuations. He said:

“They’ll lose a bit more, but they’ll also gain more, which shows that these are already being integrated into the financial system. This is what the whole history of the stock market is about. It’s about people making tons of money and then losing a lot of money. But right now,even without recognizing it, the financial markets have already incorporated Bitcoin and Ether and other related currencies into the system.”

The NFT market will rebound

Kasparov also remains confident that the market for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, will make a comeback as the world becomes more digital. While the market for NFTs has certainly slowed from its peak, a recent industry report from DaapRadar showed NFT sale volumes at $3.7 billion in May. Although volumes were down 20% from April, Kasparov believes that the NFT market will rebound as the world continues to rely on digital transactions.

Kasparov further shared his thoughts on why he launched an NFT collection last December with the NFT marketplace 1Kind. According to Kasparov, he wanted to understand how the process worked in addition to having his life displayed digitally. He said:

“I think the collection is pretty unique. It’s probably the first attempt to have my entire life displayed from the early days of my childhood, to the shift of my career from being a professional chess player to a political and human rights activist.”

According to Kasparov, the scoresheet from the game he played and won against Soviet chess grandmaster, Anatoly Karpov, sold for 51 ETH. “The big item in my collection was my score. November 9, 1985 was when I became the World Chess Champion.”

Check out the full interview on our  YouTube channel , and don’t forget to subscribe!”

Speaking at the EU Parliament | #Regulation4Innovation Conference | June 28, 2022

An honour to welcome @kasparov63 to this afternoon’s Regulation4Innovation on #AI & #geopolitics.

Let’s get started!

Watch live here: https://t.co/Yty8ypKaSX pic.twitter.com/KGV1bRUEUi

— Eva Maydell (Paunova) (@EvaMaydell) June 28, 2022

My thanks to EU Parl and @EvaMaydell for this event & inviting me. For too long, dictatorships like Putin‘s have enjoyed open access to the innovations of the free world, using them to repress their people. That must end. No more meeting evil halfway. https://t.co/DNXLA6lpHr

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 28, 2022

https://t.co/y3U6rO9gfS

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 28, 2022

Thank you to everyone who made #Regulation4Innovation, hosted by @EvaMaydell, a success!

What an honour for us to welcome @Kasparov63 here in the European Parliament.

Fascinating conversations on #AI and geopolitics – thank you to all the speakers and attendees! pic.twitter.com/DMlXF3pJiB

— Slavina Ancheva (@SlavinaAncheva) June 28, 2022

Der russische Schachweltmeister Garri @Kasparov63 ist schon lange ein heftiger Kritiker des System Putins.

Bei unserem Treffen stimmten wir überein: Wir müssen alles tun, dass die freie Welt gegen den Angriffskrieg einig & entschlossen bleibt und Putin damit in die Knie zwingt. pic.twitter.com/1kmz7FJ9nZ

— Othmar Karas (@othmar_karas) June 29, 2022

You can see more at the EU Parliament website.

Garry Kasparov: It’s Imperative Marketers Don’t Lose Focus on Ukraine | Adweek | June 20, 2022

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Adweek.

By Chris Ariens

“CANNES, France — Regain Ukraine.

That was the cry from former Russian chess grandmaster-turned-human rights advocate Garry Kasparov Monday morning during the opening keynote at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

But Regain Ukraine is more than a clarion call from Kasparov. It is a brand launched in partnership with Kasparov’s Renew Democracy Initiative and Edelman to keep the marketing community’s focus on the war.

The goal, said Edelman CEO Richard Edelman in his opening remarks, is, among other things “to help recruit women who are left at home and invest in a production hub in Kiev called Freedom Center.” The work on that is already underway in partnership with Publicis.

Kasparov was in this very theater in 1988 when he strode the stage playing chess against 10 different countries, via satellite. “This was the pre-internet era,” he said. He used a chess analogy to implore the creative community not to look away from Ukraine.

“We have freedom, life and love versus tyranny and hatred,” he said, adding, “this is like chess. But unlike chess, there is no draw, there is no compromise.”

Kasparov shared a recorded message from Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba who also had a message for marketers in the room: “Russia’s propaganda is strong. Your creativity is much stronger,” Kuleba said. “Ukraine is a brand of bravery, courage and of the future. Join this brand. Stand with us,” Kuleba said.

“It’s important that the advertising industry keep focused on Ukraine,” said Kasparov during a smaller event for a handful of brands and a few journalists. “It’s a front line of a never-ending battle between freedom and tyranny.”

Born in Azerbaijan, then a part of the former Soviet Union, Kasparov has been living in exile and last month was declared a “foreign agent” by Russia’s Justice Ministry. He said he’s been a critic of Putin since writing a January, 2001 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “How did I know? I didn’t have a magic ball. All I did, was I listened.””

Can I Beat the Greatest Chess Player of All Time, Garry Kasparov? | akaNemsko | June 18, 2022

You can watch the original video at akaNemsko‘s YouTube channel.

How Cryptocurrency and DeFi Can Do Good in the World | US News Money | June 16, 2022

This article is a reprint. You can view the original at US News Money.

By John Divine

“The crypto community is still rather niche. The value of all cryptocurrencies in the world still only amounts to about $900 billion at the time of this writing. Four U.S. companies – Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) – each have valuations greater than the sum of all the cryptocurrencies in circulation.

Considering the enormous size of the stock market, still just 58% of Americans own stock, according to a 2022 Gallup survey. Even fewer understand stocks well.

So it’s no surprise that the much smaller – and far more arcane – world of crypto, blockchains and decentralized finance, or DeFi, is poorly understood by the public at large.

One of the most prominent misconceptions about this space is that crypto is a dark and nefarious playground for bad actors or a haven for criminals. And bad actors, do, of course, exist in crypto – just as they do in any genre of human endeavor.

But crypto has some prominent advocates who see beyond the market fluctuations and negative headlines to a greater purpose for digital assets.

Among those is Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time.

“The argument that [crypto] benefits bad guys occasionally doesn’t fly to me,” Kasparov, who also is a security ambassador for the software firm Avast, says in an interview at the Consensus conference in Austin, Texas. “Humans have a monopoly for evil. How can you stop progress by saying potentially it could be used” for ill? Kasparov asks.

In fact, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology and DeFi are all playing an important role in attempting to make our world a better place, and their potential is only beginning to be tapped.

Here are four examples of how cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and DeFi are shaping the world for good:

Funding dissidents and the oppressed.Rapid philanthropic fundraising.Documenting potential war crimes.An expanding pool of charity funds.Funding Dissidents and the Oppressed

Born in the Soviet Union, Kasparov, who has long been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, explains how he got into cryptocurrency.

“I think it’s very natural … combining my interest in technology and also in individual freedom, as a human rights activist and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation – I couldn’t escape paying attention to the rise of the coins,” Kasparov says.

Kasparov remembers first hearing about cryptocurrency in 2013. He encountered the concept “at one of our Oslo Freedom Forums – this is the signature event of the Human Rights Foundation. We had some members of our group that were big supporters of Bitcoin from the very early days. … I just recognized that it’s the future,” Kasparov says.

He sees cryptocurrency as a tool for individuals to protect themselves against ever-increasing government power. And under oppressive regimes, that means an ability to quietly support dissidents, or even for regular individuals to hold their assets and conduct transactions away from the watchful eyes of Big Brother.

“Right now we have the opportunity for the average person, for people who are oppressed, for people who have no power, to move funds – to actually also escape oppressive regulations,” Kasparov says.

“We see now more and more of the coins – mostly Bitcoin but also other coins – used to support freedom around the world,” he adds.

And it’s not just the oppressive, autocratic and war-torn societies where the chess grandmaster and activist sees benefits. In democratic states, too, he sees virtues of a currency that can’t be manipulated by a government, a point that comes into greater focus with inflation running hot and U.S. debt-to-gross domestic product higher than it was than even in the wake of World War

“Printing money is just the most exquisite form of borrowing without our consent. And I think we’ve reached a point now where we as a public, as individuals, we have to fight back,” Kasparov says.

Rapid Philanthropic Fundraising

Setting cryptocurrencies aside, the world of DeFi also offers exciting opportunities for doing good. A major advantage of DeFi is the absence of bureaucratic red tape that can make traditional methods of organization tedious, cumbersome and time-consuming.

And when an urgent problem arises that requires rapid action to address, being mired in paperwork and legal minutiae can slow down the ability to deliver much-needed help.

“Why should [forming] a company take this two-week, three-week cycle?” asks Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, a popular decentralized Ethereum scaling platform. “It should take five minutes,” Nailwal says in an interview at the Consensus conference.

“And actually that’s what I, in a way, proved in the form of charity – like you know, back in the day when COVID unleashed this big problem in India with the delta wave, I started a simple COVID relief fund,” Nailwal says. The fund is called Crypto Relief.

“I created an address – OK, donate to this – and that actually blew up, that went viral, and one day we were able to collect 3, 4, 5 million dollars, and then I think in one week it was like $10 million and then Vitalik donated that $1 billion [in] Shiba,” Nailwal says, referring to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

This decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, which Nailwal effortlessly spun up to fight a deadly COVID wave in India, shortly thereafter received about $1.2 billion worth of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) token from Buterin.

The massive transfer caused SHIB to plunge, but the SHIB funds were converted into spendable liquid currency. At the end of the day, after conversions, the fund got more than $470 million in cash and the stablecoin Tether.

The fund’s website, CryptoRelief.in, which aims to keep its activities transparent, shows that more than $57 million has been disbursed through grants. In working with UNICEF, Nailwal says, this organization, which started as a humble online address, has now bought hundreds of millions of syringes and helped to vaccinate a meaningful percentage of India.

“We had a role to play in that,” Nailwal says.

Documenting Potential War Crimes

In the following example, too, the “trustless” and transparent nature of blockchain technology offers a compelling, positive use case for the tech in the real world.

Jonathan Dotan is the founding director of the Starling Lab and a fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Blockchain Research. Starling Lab is the first academic research center in the world dedicated to exploring how decentralized technology can transform human rights.

The lab, which has been working in Syria to document possible war crimes for years, quickly mobilized to focus on Ukraine after the unprovoked Russian invasion began in February.

During a presentation June 10 at Consensus, Dotan highlighted a school, called School 17, that was struck by the Russian military.

“The evidence of all of this … was covered in Telegram and other online sources. Many of those sources, however, don’t last. They’re ephemeral. They’re taken down for various reasons,” Dotan says.

That’s where blockchain technology, which underlies the new iteration of the internet known as Web3, comes in. “All of this technology is premised on the idea that you can create immutable records, lasting records,” Dotan says.

The Starling Lab is using this feature in a new effort named Project Dokaz aimed at scaling the documentation of what could end up being judged as war crimes in Ukraine. “Dokaz” in Ukrainian means “proof.”

Using a multistep process, Project Dokaz captures and stores the evidence of potential war crimes as it emerges and then uses independent human verification to authenticate it for good measure.

The project uses web capture technology to collect and store information, including metadata, as soon as it’s encountered. This information is authenticated at the source as soon as Project Dokaz investigators come across it – a timestamp is created, and it’s put into an archive along with who did the work and how.

Then the information is encrypted and registered on multiple protocols across what is known as Web3.

“What cryptography can do is it can ensure that over time there’s an audit, so we know this information can remain intact, and every 24 hours we have cryptographic proofs that are publicly attesting to the fact that none of this information has changed,” Dotan says.

Independent verification of this evidence follows, and that too is registered on the chain.

“This effort exists not just with social media, but it also includes looking at websites, other forms of messaging infrastructure, and even cameras and cellphones themselves can be brought into this process to authenticate all of this evidence,” Dotan says.

In a nutshell, Project Dokaz is using blockchain technology to provide an objective, incorruptible and transparent account of wartime atrocities as they unfold in Ukraine. For the historical record, to combat rampant Russian misinformation campaigns, and for justice.

“This morning,” Dotan said, as he paced a conference stage on June 10, “we made a submission to the International Criminal Court that provided them with information around attacks on schools in Kharkiv – all of that process was authenticated with humans and technology. … And as of this morning, it’s now in the hands of prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.”

An Expanding Pool of Charity Funds

Finally, while the emergence of cryptocurrencies has allowed for brand-new philanthropic formats like the one used by Crypto Relief, traditional nonprofits have largely missed out on the opportunity to grow their donor pools through facilitating crypto donations.

Enter The Giving Block, a platform that helps nonprofits accept crypto donations and allows donors to connect with crypto-ready charities.

For donors, The Giving Block encourages charity by emphasizing tax incentives for donations, and it has devised something called the Crypto Giving Pledge – “an ongoing commitment to donate crypto to charitable organizations every year.”

Several organizations and individuals have publicly taken the Crypto Giving Pledge, including crypto exchange FTX, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, former pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and hundreds of others.

While many organizations instantly convert the donated crypto to fiat, receiving crypto donations also gives organizations the option to hold digital assets and have them appreciate over time.”

Guerre en Ukraine : “la crise des armes lourdes a atteint un point critique”, Garry Kasparov l’ex champion d’échecs russe lance l’alerte | L’Indépendant | June 10, 2022

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at L’Indépendant

By Martial Mehr

“Le maître des échecs pendant l’époque soviétique, ex-champion du monde devenu aussi l’un des principaux opposants au pouvoir Russe, vit désormais exilé à New York. Depuis le début du conflit, il ne cesse d’alerter l’Occident sur la menace que constitue le régime de Poutine sur l’échiquier mondial.

“Je crois que le régime de Vladimir Poutine est la principale menace pour la sécurité mondiale… Je prédis cette guerre depuis au moins 7 ans… Nous assistons à des crimes de guerre à l’échelle industrielle … Une bataille entre la liberté et la tyrannie.”  L’ex-champion du monde d’échecs Garry Kasparov, ex-dissident soviétique et opposant à Vladimir Poutine, continue de défendre à sa manière le peuple ukrainien. Il redoute aussi de plus en plus une escalade militaire irréversible.

Car selon lui, “la crise des armes lourdes en Ukraine a atteint un point critique. Le Royaume-Uni et la Pologne ont une réaction disproportionnée. Scholz (le chancelier allemand, NDLR) tarde à agir et ment. Les États-Unis ne précisent toujours pas leurs objectifs de guerre et envoient moins d’équipements que promis à l’Ukraine”.

Et le maître des échecs de rappeler l’enjeu de ce qu’il se passe aujourd’hui aux portes de l’Europe. “C’est une guerre entre le bien et le mal. Le résultat réalignera l’ordre mondial vers la démocratie ou l’autoritarisme. L’Ukraine se bat comme en enfer, mais la plupart de ses alliés suivent toujours le scénario de Poutine selon lequel il s’agit d’un conflit régional. Ce n’est pas le cas”.

A lire aussi : Guerre en Ukraine : Emmanuel Macron pourrait se rendre à Kiev la semaine prochaine… la situation en direct ce vendredi

Et dans un autre tweet, le champion d’échecs russe ajoute : “Si vous avez la chance de vivre dans un pays libre, les soldats ukrainiens se battent et meurent pour vous en ce moment. Des enfants ukrainiens sont tués, arrêtés et déportés par une armée russe qui a probablement été financée par vos achats d’énergie“.

Et de conclure : “Poutine n’a jamais fait semblant, pas vraiment. Il ment tout le temps, mais son intention de détruire l’État ukrainien est claire depuis 15 ans.” ”