About Google, trolls, and nimbus
Google is a global monster, not unlike the multi-headed trolls from Norwegian mythology. The troll can also be seen as a modern version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Askeladden and the Troll at the Moor (1910). Th. Kittilsen.
This week, Google's plans to open a huge data center in Skien finally became the subject of debate on Norwegian television. The title question and the debate itself proved beyond any reasonable doubt the lack of critical thinking among Norwegian politicians as discussed in the article: Norway, birthplace of fools.
Google has applied to use power equivalent to 5% of Norway's annual consumption. What will the electricity price be then? (NRK Debatten)
Local politicians and the Støre government allow one of the world's richest companies to plunder Norwegian energy resources and put future generations in Norway in serious trouble. Eivind Salen and Bård S. Solem, both from Motvind Norge, have delved into the matter and shown how thoroughly deceived we are. Google once had the motto: Don't be evil. It was removed in 2018 - and that was probably just as well. (Steigan.no)
I will let the whole Norwegian debate and the inherent contempt Norwegian politicians seem to have for their own country rest for now. Rather, let's see if this multi -head trolled Google has really stopped their evil.
Nimbus-troll
All Norwegians have a relationship with trolls, but far from everyone knows the history. The word nimbus is more unknown among both Norwegians and foreign readers, so I cost me some public information, before I proceed with today's article:
Troll: Wikipedia says the word may be derived from the word "trell," meaning slave, but equally interesting in this context is this:
The expression "to go troll in words," meaning that something negative happens if one talks about it, is based on beliefs in taboo and taboos, that is, the widespread and ancient fear of mentioning evil forces or dangers by their proper name. In Swedish, it was already said in 1678 that "when one talks about the troll, it is not far away" (in German, we find the variant "where the devil is named, there he wants to be").
Nimbus: Latin for ‘dark cloud’, but here too there are several other interesting definitions and/or connotations:
Misty cloud that according to ancient mythology the gods came to earth on
Glory, especially halos and radiant crowns around the head of God or Jesus
Radiant honor, fame, and exaltation surrounding someone or something ("radiance" in a figurative sense) (Wikipedia)
Let me then introduce yet another new use of the word nimbus, one that of course is not explained on any Norwegian news sites. (After you have read and shared the article, I encourage all readers to do a little experiment on - and with Google: Search for the word nimbus in the news tab, and see what you find.)
You will have to search well and long to find this: פרויקט נימבוס
It’s not without significance that the Wikipedia page only is available in English and Arabic. Since Project Nimbus is not mentioned on Norwegian news sites, we must turn to foreign media:
Google does a lot of stupid things. All giant corporations are the same in that regard. But it takes special effort to do something truly terrible. That's where Google's Project Nimbus comes in on the spectrum.
Project Nimbus is a joint effort of Google, Amazon, and the Israeli government that provides futuristic surveillance capabilities through the use of advanced machine learning models. Like it or not, that's part of the future of state security, and not any more terrible than many other similar projects. Many of us even use similar tech in and around our homes.
Where things get dark and ugly is what Google says about Project Nimbus' capabilities using the company's technology:
Nimbus training documents emphasize “the ‘faces, facial landmarks, emotions’-detection capabilities of Google’s Cloud Vision API,” and in one Nimbus training webinar, a Google engineer confirmed for an Israeli customer that it would be possible to “process data through Nimbus in order to determine if someone is lying”. (Androidcentral)
In 2015, when Eric Schmidt was still the top boss of Google (and later that year, Alphabet), he visited Israel. To the Israeli website Ynet, he was quoted as saying:
It's probably not just the Israelis who don't follow the rules. Google doesn't either. Just ask the EU:
LUXEMBOURG, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O1), Google on Tuesday made a last-ditch effort at Europe's top court to overturn a 2.42 billion euro ($2.6 billion) EU antitrust fine imposed for market abuse related to its shopping service, saying that regulators failed to show that its practices were anti-competitive. It was the first of three penalties for anti-competitive practices that have cost Google 8.25 billion euros in total in the last decade.
This is just small change for the owners, including the Norwegian Oil Fund, which is the fourth largest owner of Class A shares in Alphabet Inc.
The Oil Fund has its own Council on Ethics. It ought to take a look at whether it can be considered ethically justifiable to invest in a company with this track record.
A puzzle beyond control
Here it might be worth mentioning who Eric Schmidt is, and what he has achieved besides making Alphabet the world's fourth-largest company:
According to Forbes, he is ranked 91st among the world's richest, with a total fortune of 20.9 billion US dollars. He campaigned for Barack Obama and invested to get Hillary Clinton elected president in 2016. It didn't go so well, but perhaps as a consolation, he got a stint as the leader of the US Defense Innovation Board when it was established in 2016.
In relation to Google's planned data center outside Skien and the Norwegian Oil Fund's ownership, it is relevant to mention that Schmidt (according to Wikipedia) believes fossil energy sources are an abomination:
Schmidt has proposed that the easiest way to solve all of the domestic problems of the United States at once is by a stimulus program that rewards renewable energy and, over time, attempts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.
This is remarkably similar to the Biden administration's "Federal Sustainability Plan," which has the same buzzwords and goals that out-of-touch politicians worldwide are trying to get their populations to believe in.
Once more these words make us think of the Google Datacenter Norwegian politicians want to run on wind power. Of course, without thinking about the fact that all wind power needs backup electric power - from gas, oil, coal, hydroelectic or nuclear power - when the wind doesn't blow.
Like our elected politicians, you as the reader are a tiny piece in a gigantic puzzle. The odds of any of us being able to change the course of the game are not great, but this article is a tiny attempt at getting more people to understand which way the players want the wind to blow.
I didn’t use the word ‘puslespill’ (puzzle) by coincidence, if you thought so. Getting ChatOpen AI to understand this when I wanted to translate from Norwegian, gave me this rather hilarious reply:
"Puzzle" indicates that it's a complex and challenging situation, where it's necessary to gather information and piece together parts to gain a comprehensive understanding of what's going on. It's about looking behind the scenes and understanding the hidden aspects of Google's plans, and how it affects various factors like energy resources, politics, and society at large. It's a metaphor used to describe the effort required to uncover and understand the whole picture.
Exactly.
Now I don’t know if the Tech giants are working in tandem here, or not, but actually there’s another English word for ‘puzzle’:
Prebunking
Jigsaw is a word you might as well learn right away. It's actually another Google company. Previously known as Google Ideas, but as people and politicians begin to understand that Google isn't the eighth wonder of the world, the clever Eric Schmidt came up with the idea to change the name in 2016:
Today we’re announcing the expansion of Google Ideas, Google’s think tank, as a technology incubator called Jigsaw. The team’s mission is to use technology to tackle the toughest geopolitical challenges, from countering violent extremism to thwarting online censorship to mitigating the threats associated with digital attacks. (Medium)
So, exactly one week ago, the Reuters news agency informed its subscribers (coincidentally not referenced in the Norwegian press) that none other than Jigsaw will ensure that misinformation ("fake news") does not ruin the sleep of candidates for the EU Parliament before the elections in June:
Building on previous campaigns the company has tested in Germany and central Europe, Jigsaw said the new project was an opportunity to reach citizens in countries with some of the largest number of voters in the EU, utilising the company's local expertise in these regions.
The ads will feature so-called "prebunking" techniques, developed in partnership with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, aimed at helping viewers identify manipulative content before encountering it. (Reuters)
Taste the word ‘prebunking’.
In my (possibly limited) understanding, it means that news consumers in the EU will not get the chance to use their own wit and judgment to decide what is right or wrong. Since Russia is portrayed as the big bad wolf in the article, it is likely that European voters will not be informed that the EU is beating a dead horse...
Here’s one more piece in the puzzle:
Here's a bit from the article pictured above, found at Novara Media, penned by Rivkah Brown:
This transition led to speculation that the initiative was intended to shield Israel from international law and state sanctions. In an interview with The Intercept, Jack Poulson, director of technology surveillance who left Google in protest in 2018, said:
"The former head of security for Google Enterprise - who now heads Oracle's Israel office - has publicly argued that one of the goals of Nimbus is to prevent the German government from requesting data related to the Israel Defence Forces for the International Criminal Court" (at that time, Germany was attempting to influence the ICC to protect Israel during the court's investigation into potential war crimes in Gaza).
Whaddayasay?!
Comparing Google with Norwegian trolls seems too weak. I think Google is better compared to the Pied Piper of Hamelin!
Thus, some of us may be better off praying to Higher Powers, if not the Norwegian Askeladden can come to our rescue?!
PS:
Don't talk too loud about this, because Google not just sees you, they hear you too! Here are some advice on how to slow them down:
Is Google Listening to You? Yes, and Here’s How to Stop It
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