A common murderer-for-hire is difficult to hire because they'll probably take your money and disappear. A muderer-for-hire that won't get caught is impossible to hire because they don't advertise to the common person.
If you want the full package then it'll cost you five to ten years: Commit a somewhat violent crime to avoid being sentenced to minimum security prison. You'll have lots of time. There's not much to do except be violent and learn whatever you want from other inmates and books. Choose your friends wisely.
The OP article is a synopsis of a synopsis, now so shallow and devoid of nuance to be meaningless.
Russia and Iran have both undertaken cyber influence operations headed into the 2024 presidential election. In our last report, published on August 8, we detailed how Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations sought to undermine the Republican campaign through targeted hack-and-leak operations, covert social media personas, and imposter US news sites. In the past two months, Microsoft has observed a notable shift in Russian influence operations tactics reflecting the changing U.S. political environment. Specifically, we have observed Russia pivot towards targeting the Harris-Walz campaign, with actors disseminating fabricated videos designed to sow discord and spread disinformation about the new Democratic nominee Vice President Harris.
The lengthy report for those with the interest and technical competance.
Understanding propaganda, both external and internal, has become critically important to our collective future. Please, read more books: 1984; The Engineering of Consent; The Manufacturing of Consent. Then, do more than vote and engage others locally when doing it.
Ballot access is made very difficult by the duopoly. And, polls are basically fucked by bias.
Many of the best hypothetical solutions are based on votes. But, all of them have prerequisite of RCV.
For a more immediate solution, 5% of the GE POTUS vote puts an organization on every ballot in the next cycle. It'd be much more difficult to rationalize exclusion from debates when such a choice exists for everyone.
I feel like it will get to the point where AI will start writing code that works but nobody can understand or maintain including AI
Already there, and have been for awhile. In my work we often don't understand how the AI itself works. We independently test for accuracy. Then we begin trusting results without verification. But, at no time do we really understand the logic of how the AI gets from input to output.
If you are able to explain the requirements to an AI so fully that the AI can do it correctly it would have taken shorter time to program by yourself.
This makes sense for a one-time job. But, it doesn't make sense when there's a hundred jobs with only minor differences. For example, the AI writes a hundred AI's. We kill all but the three to five best models.
The vast majority of what's been suggested in the OP and comments focuses on the technical: CS and IT. But, no one's focused on "responsible use of technology". I'd like to see a course that focused on the morality and ethics of usage.
Examples of possible classroom topics:
Is it moral and ethical to spread disinformation as a means to "good" end? Is it acceptable to spread truth if the consequences are likely "bad"?
Is it moral and ethical to use generative AI to effectively libel/slander a political opponent? Does it the analysis change if used for advertising?
Is it moral and ethical to pirate media? Does it depend on what's being pirated? Does it depend on why it's being pirated?
The "problems with such a course:
It'd require prerequisite of basic philosophy/logic and basic CS/IT. It could be a lot of material to cover. Course construction and presentation needs to be focused, rooted in experience, likely a passion project.
The audience may be too young to think in these terms. A little experience goes a long way towards understanding these topics well enough to have a good faith classroom discussion. I don't intend ageism, in fact the opposite. I think today's youth are more capable than when I was such an age: Make it known that the course is "hard". Those that choose it will excel.
We're desensitized by our usage in music and casual interaction. Racists are desensitized by their usage in hatred. The only people made uncomfortable are white moderates unwilling to do anything more than vote for the house n----r.
No. American and allied troops fought in the Vietnam conflict. Our strategy evolved in the Cold War and proxy wars. A proxy war is fought only with fiscal, humanitarian, and arms support.
For example, we destroyed Afghanistan in the 80's by supporting the mujahideen fighting against the Soviet Union: a proxy war. Unable to communicate what's been done, they resorted to extreme violence in September, 2001. So, we fucked 'em all the war back to 17th century religious persecution.
I'm a born American. I love so much about this country at the roots of the land and people I meet in it. But, it's totally fucking rotten at the top and we refuse to admit it. If we did then we'd have to do something about it. Then, it quickly becomes obvious that voting isn't going to do jack shit. That's scary as fuck.
Vietnam and Korea were hot wars. My examples are proxy wars where the locals retiliated with "terrorism".
The US is constantly enmeshed in wars, but when was the last time Americans actually won one? 1945?
We're achieving our goals in Ukraine right now, as we did in all my examples above. The last time we lost was Vietnam, unless we're also counting failed coup attempts (2020).
I understand where you're coming from. I think you're naive.
If we wanted the war to be won then we'd have already settled it with superior airpower and munitions. Instead, we offer limited assistance and imposed Vietnam-style geographic rules.
This isn't an error. A proxy war at the expense of innocents has always been the plan. It's what we do. The rest is just lies we tell ourselves to feel good about it. Ukraine needs to join NATO afterwards so they won't retaliate with "terrorism" like everyone else has in the past. Bonus: Allied airfields on Russia's doorstep.