Using collective intelligence to brainstorm about new terrorist methods - Blessing or curse?

Personally, what I fear most is biological warfare.
A cloud of Anthrax or other incurable and horrible diseases that would cause us all to perish in hideous ways. I’d much rather be bombed than die in the dirt of some horrible disease.

No, I cannot think of anything ‘diabolical’, my mind just doesn’t work that way.

Yes, I think the use of collective intelligence would be more harmful than useful in this instance.

Yes, I can think of all kinds of horrible things to terrorize people with.

No, I don’t think my sharing it would be much of a danger, these people are already way crazier than me.

Here’s the biggest problem I foresee: even if we were able to come up with a theoretical list of all possible types of terror attacks, the authorities would never be able to close them all down. They aren’t really doing all that great of a job handling many of the few obvious strategies that have happened in the past.

I’ve said this before, but there are 2 ways to stop terrorists. One is through spies and proactively infiltrating their networks to discover plots that are in the making. The other is what I think of as “the 9/11 effect” which means that if there’s a terrorist on your flight, you’re no longer going to comply with his/her demands in hopes that they’ll let you go. Instead, every able-bodied passenger on that flight will do everything they can to stop them (because it is seen as a much better chance of survival than cooperating).

I would like to see a bomb-sniffing dog at each metal-detector in an airport, so every passenger/bag is run by a dog. I think such a measure would likely be much more effective than the nudie scanners we have now.

I have always thought that the collective intelligence of a group is inversely proportional to the number of group members.

There are already so many ideas out there whether in movies, books or history. We could never cover all possibilities. The only way this would have a potential of working is if the collective had intelligence information even if it was vague. Suppositions could be made from bits of information, but it still would be a crap shoot. There are just too many targets when you consider we are not limiting the terrorists to military, civilian (as in a particular person) or geographical targets.

I could think of some, but they are not new ideas.

I think there are a few problems.

Firstly, as you point out, this has the potential to give terrorists new and lethal ideas.

Secondly, it also gives terrorists insight into the analysis process of those trying to thwart their activities.

Additionally, as Sun Siu says in “The Art of War”, all war is based on deception. A collective intelligence would give terrorists the ability to manipulate the analysis process by participating and skewing it to their advantage.

Yes or no… Yes or no… This is simply far too evolved to come down to yes or no on this forum, Sir. Under the auspice that discussion is going to happen anyway and, well, our first defense is that we speak another language, I would say YES but we’re probably already way behind the discussion.

I think that this has already been anticipated. Then I also think it is fascinating how often these bombs created by individuals or terror-cell folks fizzle. Also note the Stuxnet virus . . . which makes me think there might already be a program in place to give out plans for fake nukes. These things would supersede discussion—to say nothing of creating avatar terrorists for the bad guys to cheer for. . . ones that don’t ever really get around to doing anything . . .

Sometimes more is less, we would just create a vast haystack of possibilities any one of which could become a deadly needle. The best defence is surveillance to find out what they are planning. That was how the British police learned of the liquid bomb plot which was potentially as catastrophic as 9/11.

yes

A curse. And yes.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that a large open forum with thousands of ingenious good guys creates the larger threat, because bad guys will infiltrate this or just be silent observers.

But I also think that the good guys must have an easy way to share their unique new diabolical idea with the authorities. I wonder how this could be done. Some good guys might rather keep it to himself or herself, because sharing it might arouse suspicion. But this would be a shame.

If I were the FBI or CIA I would want to tap into new ideas from bright people all over the country. I would even create an innovation process, rate all ideas submitted and focus on the 100 top unique new diabolical ideas, then discreetly approach the 100 people who submitted them. The following discussion should be held at a secret location. And when these 100 people do more brainstorming even more unique ideas will be generated. Bright minds meeting bright minds follows the synergy equation 1+1=3. Background checking is key, because none of the 100 people invited should be considered a risk. This could avoid sharing ideas with the bad guys.

@mattbrowne that sounds good but too logical for an organization inspired by J. Edgar Hoover. The alphabet organizations FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. have become too bureaucratic to quickly change its way of thinking. Look how long it too the CIA to gear up to trouble in the middle east away from concentrating on the Soviet Union.

Actually sharing information and talking to outsiders is an unthinkable act for them.

Like a Fortune 500 list for terrorist activity . . .

It came out on NPR today that a college group doing a think tank activity came up with something like an 80% chance of Bin Laden being in the vicinity of where he was. It is a fascinating thought @mattbrowne. Aside from being a demolition specialist or a general pain in the butt I’ve met some folks that would love to sit around and consider ways to be methodically, pointedly awful. Still, just as with early attempts to combat hacking, recruitment and consultation with former hackers was key. Finding a clever way to bring the authenticity and experience of former terrorists and neuvo-American militia might well be the best way to get at the heart of this.

Your question: “Blessing or curse?” cannot be answered YES or NO.

@cloudvertigo – Interesting !

@HungryGuy:

I added a second question at the end of the detail section:

Can you think of a diabolical terrorist act that probably no one has thought of and can’t be retrieved by a Google search? Just answer yes or no, please.

@mattbrowne – In that case: NO

Does anyone remember when the propaganda started for Home Land Security? It was supposed to be a clearing house to gather information from all of the other alphabet organizations and make “intelligent decisions” to prevent further terrorist disasters.

Instead we now have our own personal secret police agency with powers to arrest, detain, torture, and disappear anyone that they find questionable. Much like the Gestapo, and KGB.

Personally I believe that the entire “Patriot Act” needs to be scrapped. The parts that aren’t unconstitutional are just co-opting functions that are in other government agencies. I am pretty sure that we no longer have a constitutional government.