THEATRE OF WAR: INTERNET OF BATTLEFIELD THINGS

Theatre of War: Internet of Battlefield Things Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2022

NEWS

The Visualising War project, University of St. Andrew's UK interviewed me late last year & the podcast Painting Invisible Threats with Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox went live earlier this month. I am thrilled to be part of such a great podcast series. 

And, there is really insightful accompanying post about my paintings and research Painting Invisible Threats 

Theatre of War: Internet of Battlefield Things

I think this is my 16th Theatre of War painting. The series of works on paper and oil paintings is growing. It would make a great exhibition!

AI Fighter Pilots

Theatre of War: Internet of Battlefield Things was inspired by an article in the The New Yorker, The Rise of A.I. Fighter Pilots by Sue Halpern. She writes "Artificial intelligence is being taught to fly warplanes. Can the technology be trusted?" It is a fascinating article about attempts to teach AI to fly warplanes in a dogfight. Halpern, however, does contextualise this specific aim within a broader military AI pursuit; "Artificial intelligence is being designed to improve supply logistics, intelligence gathering, and a category of wearable technology, sensors, and auxiliary robots that the military calls the Internet of Battlefield Things." 

IoBT

The Internet of Battlefield Things [IoBT] is another way to think about digital and cyber connectivity, interconnectivity, inter-operability, and their contributions to joint [military] force capabilities. Frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] enable these technologies, with light speed - or near light speed - operative functioning. Speed is now a key tactical and strategic component for modern militaries. Speed saves time, even nano-seconds. Speed and time create advantages in a race for the kind of technological prowess modern militaries aim for. They are viewed as essential for future war preparedness and capability.

AI and ML technologies replace the human being at junctures where human speed and time are viewed as disadvantageous or an impediment. This has spurred increasing developments in autonomous systems. These include, but are not limited to, such things as on-board sensor analysis for target identification and tracking, robotic motility through rough terrain, drone flight especially in a swarm, AI optimisation of EMS frequency use. Interestingly research is being conducted into AI military lawyer capabilities. Here is a quote from a recent announcement VISIMO and West Point Advancing Artificial Intelligence for Judge Advocates that 'speaks' to the issue of speed.

With the development of autonomous weapons, the speed of warfare is increasing. Stationed at combatant commands and Air Operations Centers worldwide, Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps members provide critical legal advice during combat, including use-of-force decision-making recommendations. However, Judge Advocates are not equipped to keep pace with modern combat.

Theatre of War: Internet of Battlefield Things
This new painting references my last oil painting Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain. However, rather than one circle I have painted multiple circles, each created with the symbol for light-speed ie: c. I love the way the circles kind of move, if you look at them intensely. This was a discovery that's quite serendipitous!

Each circle is connected to another circle and some seem to extend beyond the painting. Regular readers will pick up that I am playing with the idea of 'the cloud', visualising it's technological construction - a fake cloud. I am also playing with the ideas of interconnectivity, inter-operability and joint force. 

With "Artificial intelligence is being designed to improve supply logistics, intelligence gathering, and a category of wearable technology, sensors, and auxiliary robots that the military calls the Internet of Battlefield Things" in mind, I have tried to question whether the IoBT is really separate from the IoT [Internet of Things]. I mean, all the activities described in the quote could also apply to civilian needs. Here, I am positing that the militarise-ability of civilian technological systems and devices as a concern. Is the contemporary theatre of war a combination of the IoT and the IoBT? In an age of cyber and information warfare, grey zone and hybrid warfare the civilian world is clearly immersed in the contemporary theatre of war. How about an Internet of War Things - IoWT - as a descriptor?

Cheers,

Kathryn

P.S. The article about AI military lawyers has sparked a few ideas for paintings - stay tuned!

BATTLE CLOUD

Battle Cloud Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2022

IoT, IoBT, IoMT

Regular readers will know of my interest in trying to visualise the 21st century techno-cloud  - often just called The Cloud. Also, the Internet, and even the Internet of Things (IoT). 

But, did you know that the military also have terms like the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) and the Internet of Military Things (IoMT)

All these 'internets' rely on the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) for connectivity and interconnectivity, plus operability of hardware and systems, as well as inter-operability. The term dual-use, in a world where civilian technologies also rely upon the EMS becomes almost non-sensical. Why? Because in a world of not only kinetic warfare, we now have remotely operated systems, cyber warfare, hybrid warfare and information warfare. These draw civilian technologies into the various physical and cyber battlefields of our time. Our mobile phones, computers, remotely update-able vehicles and appliances, GPS, social media updates, cloud storage, cyber home assistants and more, can be, and in many instances are, tracked, hacked, surveilled, harvested for data, used as nodes and purveyors of viruses. 

What if the Internet of Things is ultimately a subsidiary of its spawned IoBT or IoMT? Where does that place the civilian in terms of complicity, unwitting or not? 

Battle Cloud

My visualisations of 21st century technology and its Cloud are created with paint - oil paint or gouache and watercolour paints. I love using paint to critically examine contemporary militarised and militarise-able technology. Why? Because, unlike the technology I critique and examine, painting is not reliant on the EMS for creation, exhibition or storage. This independence provides a critical distance. It is a form of resistance.

I listened to a fascinating conference hosted earlier in the year by the Disruption Network Lab in Berlin. The conference was called The Kill Cloud. One message from this bluntly titled conference was that the airborne drone needs to considered as part of a network. This resonated with me, and is why my PhD focusses on increasing military interest in the EMS as an enabler of technology, a type of fires (weapon), a manoeuvre space (tactics) and a domain (strategy). Any robotic hardware, whether an airborne drone, or a ground, sea or under-the-sea robotic system, functions as part of a network. The network is enabled by signals transmitted via EMS frequencies. As frequencies become more congested, due to not only increasing military needs, but also civilian needs, there is a heightened sense of urgency for militaries to dominate the EMS. Congestion is only one issue, another is contestation from state and non-state malign entities. 

I chose to paint Battle Cloud in red, after hearing the term 'kill cloud'. Maybe I could have called it Bloody Cloud or That Bloody Cloud. I don't think I need to explain the title any more - you 'get' it.

The washed out text running across the painting is binary code 'instructing' the word CLOUD. I like the way the code seems to dissolve, as if it is actually cloudy. The illusion of connection...

Three Other Cloud Paintings: 

There are actually more than three...scroll through the blog and you will see them. 

Theatre of War: Plague Cloud

Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud

Theatre of War: Infrared

Cheers,

Kathryn

HUMAN IN THE LOOP

Human in the Loop Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2022

 

NEWS

My work is included in the University of St. Andrew’s, UK, newly launched online Museum of Peace . The Museum exhibits an array of different approaches to peace in different themed ‘rooms’. You can see my exhibit in the Visualising Peace room, plus a couple of the other rooms.

I am thrilled that Otilia Meden, in her thoughtful essay "Cyber Peace and Artivism, with Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox" has connected my earlier work with my more recent paintings.  

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Autonomous Systems

As technological systems increasingly include autonomous functions, a plethora of questions about human work and agency arise. These questions relate to human labour and human decision making. 

With regards to weapon systems, autonomous functions within a system raise questions about a creeping attrition of human participation. This usurped participation could include activities such as, analysis of data, decisions about deployments of human and non-human warfighters, assessments of kill zones, identification of targets, and more. Autonomous functions enabled by AI and machine learning decrease delay, often caused by human beings taking time to think. Speed is increasingly viewed as a tactical and strategic edge, even a purveyor of weaponry, if not a weapon itself. I have a particular interest in speed, more specifically light-speed electromagnetic spectrum frequency-enabled connectivity and interconnectivity.

Two Paintings

The two paintings in this post, Human in the Loop and Threat, reflect upon the concepts of  'human in the loop' - 'human on the loop' - 'meaningful human control' - 'meaningless human control'. 

In Human in the Loop [above] binary code 'instructs' the word Human. This is followed by text "in the loop.". This is a reference to another recent painting Theatre of War: Law  which is a response to recent news about research into an AI legal assistant for in-combat military situations. The human being becomes an algorithm?

In Threat, binary code at the bottom of the painting 'instructs' the word HUMAN. The aerial view of what looks like a military air force base, seems to be viewed on a 'screen'. Perhaps this is drone footage? Does the code mean that a human being is monitoring the surveillance, identifying the threat, targeting the threat - or - does it mean a meaningless presence?

I use the word 'instruct' because code is essentially instructional. By painting code I attempt to make visible normally invisible instructional forces that drive our techno-world. Painting is a form of resistance, as it does not feed data back into the system. A digital photograph of a painting feeds data about the photo, not the actual process of creating the painting. 

Internet of Battlefield Things

Both paintings also indicate that interconnectivity via 'the Cloud' or the Internet of Battlefield Things [IoBT], enables interoperability across multiple domains. Another recent painting Theatre of War: Internet of Battlefield Things responds to this permutation of 'the Cloud'. 

 I have just listened to the proceedings of a very interesting and serious conference "The Kill Cloud: Networked Warfare, Drones and AI" hosted by The Disruption Network Lab, Berlin, March 2022. Sobering listening. It was a call-out to look beyond the drone [hradware], and to examine the system. This is exactly the focus of my PhD research, examining increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS], as an enabler of technology, a type of fires, a manoeuvre space and a domain. Without reliable access to the EMS, connectivity, operability, interconnectivity, interoperability - at speed - could not occur. 

And, there's a lot more to write and think about, but I will leave this to you!

Cheers,

Kathryn

Threat Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2022