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Why did the U.S. Navy reinstate celestial navigation as part of its curriculum a few years ago? Well, you can’t hack a sextant.

In this episode, we look at some of the vulnerabilities that come with an over-reliance on high-tech defense systems. Our guests are Peter Singer and August Cole– national security experts who have taken to writing futuristic techno-thrillers to sound a few alarms. Among their warnings: The opening battles of WWIII won’t happen on a battlefield, and they will probably be silent.

GUESTS: Peter Singer, strategist and senior fellow at New America; August Cole, non-resident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Burn-In, Forbes.

Ghost Fleet, The Diplomat.

China Uses AI To Enhance Totalitarian Control, The Atlantic.

April 11, 2018: On Tuesday, Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg apologized in a congressional hearing for the abuse of data scraped from Facebook users without their permission. Testimony this week was motivated largely by reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the data from 87 million Facebook users. Zuckerberg sits before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today where he faces more questions about how and when information was shared and to what effect. The Takeaway reviews Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony and what prospects of future regulation may come from it. Plus, we take a look at how Europe has been managing Facebook’s oversight of user data; the announcement from GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan that he will not seek re-election; and the real-life address of Sherlock Holmes that has become embroiled in a mysterious ownership inquest.

December 22, 2015: 1. Afghanistan: America’s $17 Billion Boondoggle | 2. Big Data Elections: What Political Campaigns Know About You | 3. Elon Musk Makes Space History | 4. A Brief History of the Christmas Card | 5. Doctors Without Borders Director Looks Back on a Difficult Year