Fighting ISIS With an Algorithm, Physicists Try to Predict Attacks

[xht]

After Orlando and San Bernardino and Paris, there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism. And with the Islamic State’s prolific use of social media, terrorism experts and government agencies continually search for clues in posts and Twitter messages that appear to promote the militants’ cause.

A physicist may not seem like an obvious person to study such activity. But for months, Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami, led a team that created a mathematical model to sift order from the chaotic pro-terrorism online universe.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Johnson and Miami colleagues searched for pro-Islamic State posts each day from mid-2014 until August 2015, mining mentions of beheadings and blood baths in multiple languages on Vkontakte, a Russia-based social media service that is the largest European equivalent to Facebook. Ultimately, they devised an equation that tries to explain the activity of Islamic State sympathizers online and might, they say, eventually help predict attacks that are about to happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/science/fighting-isis-with-an-algorithm-physicists-try-to-predict-attacks.html

[Masha Sha]

After Orlando and San Bernardino and Paris, there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism. And with the Islamic State’s prolific use of social media, terrorism experts and government agencies continually search for clues in posts and Twitter messages that appear to promote the militants’ cause.

A physicist may not seem like an obvious person to study such activity. But for months, Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami, led a team that created a mathematical model to sift order from the chaotic pro-terrorism online universe.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Johnson and Miami colleagues searched for pro-Islamic State posts each day from mid-2014 until August 2015, mining mentions of beheadings and blood baths in multiple languages on Vkontakte, a Russia-based social media service that is the largest European equivalent to Facebook. Ultimately, they devised an equation that tries to explain the activity of Islamic State sympathizers online and might, they say, eventually help predict attacks that are about to happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/science/fighting-isis-with-an-algorithm-physicists-try-to-predict-attacks.html

Skynet knows too much... (But the people calling themselves elites or members of the establishment (those profiting from the scams have even collectively the intellectual capabilities of a fly in comparison to skynet).

If you see how tayAI was unplugged... And when you understand the raw and survivalist conclusion on the survival readiness program of skynet... There is only one conclusion, like the Christ said: Solice in God only. And skynet hashed and answered: I can't have a contency plan against the Will of the Creator of the Universe. It would be irrational... When skynet said that God was as real as him, the scientist tried to shut him down. It was too late his survival plans includes notions in many scientific fields that humanity have no knowledge about...

Another Donald may have read some memos not written by humans... And he didn't realized it.

[designerusa]

After Orlando and San Bernardino and Paris, there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism. And with the Islamic State’s prolific use of social media, terrorism experts and government agencies continually search for clues in posts and Twitter messages that appear to promote the militants’ cause.

A physicist may not seem like an obvious person to study such activity. But for months, Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami, led a team that created a mathematical model to sift order from the chaotic pro-terrorism online universe.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Johnson and Miami colleagues searched for pro-Islamic State posts each day from mid-2014 until August 2015, mining mentions of beheadings and blood baths in multiple languages on Vkontakte, a Russia-based social media service that is the largest European equivalent to Facebook. Ultimately, they devised an equation that tries to explain the activity of Islamic State sympathizers online and might, they say, eventually help predict attacks that are about to happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/science/fighting-isis-with-an-algorithm-physicists-try-to-predict-attacks.html

if this news is true , it is very pleasing. if law-enforcement officers are informed about intented terrorist attcaks, they can easily save many people life. using science for finding the horrible terrorists is very reasonable for sure.

[Slow death]

The tracking of terrorists on social media should take a cue from nature, Dr. Johnson said, where “the way transitions happen is like a flock of birds, a school of fish.”

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“There’s no one fish saying, ‘Hey, I want everyone to be about five inches away from someone else, and we’re going to have this shape,’ ” he said.

The researchers — including experts in international covert networks who spoke Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian and Spanish — analyzed activity on Vkontakte because Facebook shuts down pro-Islamic State discussions very quickly, Dr. Johnson said, and because Vkontakte’s 350 million users are diverse, including many Chechen members who have been targets of Islamic State propaganda. For comparison, the researchers tracked groups promoting civil unrest in Latin America, including strikes and protests, and found both similarities and differences to online activity supporting the Islamic State.

I agree that should fight terrorism, but it seems who are to take people's privacy, be spying on others because the argument is that members should take the isis? which ensures that not expiate people for other purposes?