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Latest Read: Tor

Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy by Ben Collier.

Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy by Ben Collier

Ben holds a MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Criminology from the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. He is a Cambridge Cybercrime Centre postdoctoral researcher and long-term collaborator with this interdisciplinary center, focusing on online hacker communities and cybercrime markets. Today he is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Methods at the University of Edinburgh within the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies (STIS).

The Dark Web is a subset of the internet that was designed to be hidden from search engines and requires specific software, like Tor. Well known for illegal marketplaces (Silk Road) for drugs, firearms, murder for hire, stolen data, selling breached data, and hacking services, yet in fact is also serving as a privacy resource. Here forums allow users to exchange data regarding whistleblower platforms and also permits journalists to communicate in countries with strict censorship.

Insert irony: the very markets trafficking in illicit goods today rely on a architecture engineered by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Deep Reinforcement Learning


Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action by Alexander Zai.

Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action by Alexander Zai

Alex holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)., where he graduated in 2014. He co-founded Codesmith and led its Data Science and Machine Learning research group. He has also been involved in advancing TensorFlow.js, focusing on enabling browser-level deep learning and computer vision applications. Today Alex is a Machine Learning Engineer at Amazon AI.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is certainly one of the most intellectually demanding subfields of Machine Learning. Alex takes a very pragmatic approach by writing this book for the developer who wants to understand the “why” engaging with the “how.” He is utilizing PyTorch as the vehicle, providing a clean, Python interface to very complex algorithms.

Humans learn best from feedback. We are encouraged to take actions that lead to positive results. This reinforcement is applied to computer programs allowing them to solve more complex problems. Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action teaches readers how to program AI agents that adapt and improve based on direct feedback from their environment.

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Change

Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter.

Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter

John holds a MS from the MIT and PhD in Business Administration (DBA) from Harvard. He has been a long tenured professor at HBS. He co-founded Kotter International, his leadership and strategy implementation firm. Leading Change published in 1996 was named one of the most influential business books of all time by Time Magazine.

While John introduced Leading Change in 1996, this book is moving the reader to accept our the world has moved from episodic change to a state of permanent, volatile flux. This falls into perfect alignment with modern IT’s Continuous Delivery.

The focus is on behavioral science, the barrier to organizational change is not bad management, but human nature. As a result, John presents two distinct “channels” for organizations. The Survive Channel: Triggered by threats is reactionary and negatively increasing anxiety. A Thrive Channel: Triggered by opportunities will drive curiosity, collaboration, and creativity. Yet John is outlining modern corporate KPIs and quarterly targets are shutting down innovations organizations need today in order to to stay relevant.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: NeuroAI

neuroAI: Winning the Minds of Consumers with Neuroscience Powered GenAI by A.K. Pradeep, Anirudh Acharya, and Rajat Chakravarty.

neuroAI: Winning the Minds of Consumers with Neuroscience Powered GenAI by A.K. Pradeep, Anirudh Acharya, and Rajat Chakravarty

A.K. holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Founder and CEO of Sensori.AI, Founder and former CEO of NeuroFocus, a consumer neuroscience company acquired by Nielsen. He was Founder and CEO of MachineVantage which focused on applying AI and machine learning to product development and marketing.

Anirudh holds a PhD in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics from the University of Nottingham and is Chief AI Officer at Sensori.AI. Rajat holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and is Chief Operating Officer at Sensori.AI.

Neuroscience-powered GenAi enables a very large impact on medicine to marketing, entertainment to education and much more. Blending neuroscience with AI can according to neuroAI place humanity at the center of GenAi. For anyone seeking to understand neuroAI; what it is, how it works, and of course how to put it to work for your organization to gain a competitive advantage within your markets.

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Red Team

Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy by Micah Zenko

Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy by Micah Zenko

Micah holds a BA in International Relations from University of Wisconsin-Madison, MA in Security Policy Studies at George Washington University, and PhD in Political Science from Brandeis University. He is the Director of Research and Learning at the McChrystal Group. He is also a Whitehead Senior Fellow at Chatham House and previously served as a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Micah previously served at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the US State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, the Brookings Institution, and the Congressional Research Service. He is published in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Business Insider.

Red Team is in fact, a very engaging read and should be almost mandatory for organizational leaders and their IT division. The key reason in fact is that Micah is providing the practice of inhabiting the perspective of potential competitors to gain a strategic advantage.

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