<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Technology]]> 10 <![CDATA[Slingers in Tehran]]> The war in the Middle East, re-premiered with the satanic aggression of the United States and Israel against the theocratic Iran, at first glance, has traces of an unprecedented technological dispute: artificial intelligence, automated interception systems and a digitized war economy. However, beneath this layer of modernity emerges a classic of the art of war, the tension between the material sophistication of power and the functional efficacy of simplicity, not exempt from intelligence and scientific and technical knowledge, reappears. A tension that has been accumulating in a heap of postcolonialist disagreements.Low-cost Iranian drones have become a symbol of the dialectic of simplicity. Tactical success against multi-million dollar armament systems points to the idea that effectiveness is not directly proportional to investment, but to strategic intelligence and adaptability. It is not surprising, therefore, that when it was discovered that these artifacts could become the star of the conflict, the comparison came to mind with the Balearic slingers of ancient Mediterranean times who, with minimal armament and refined technique, became a key part of the Carthaginian and Roman armies of the era.The connection is not merely anecdotal; in the comparison of the two systems –slingers and drones–, the power of the periphery is revealed against the monumentality of power, when it manages to articulate efficiency, ingenuity, and knowledge of the environment. The slingers were an example of this: a successful army, with low-cost equipment, although globally it might not have been so cheap. More than for its cost, it was appreciated for its mobility, lightness, and efficiency, the result of highly professional and disciplined behavior. The members of this troop had been formed and trained since childhood: legend has it that they did not eat until they had hit a target.Julius Caesar used them during the Gallic Wars as light infantry in the vanguard, which engaged just before the main clash of battle, often associating with Cretan archers. Caesar himself, in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, highlights their decisive role. Specifically, when speaking of the defense of the Roman fortified settlement of Bibrax, he says: “Upon their arrival, the Rems saw their protection guaranteed and their defensive ardor increased, and the enemies, for this very reason, lost hope of seizing the place”. In the Punic Wars, it was Hamilcar Barca who recruited them to form part of his army, especially in the campaigns in Sicily, against the Greeks, and in the conquest of Hispania, a feat never repeated by the islanders.In the current Middle East conflict, a logic similar to the one that gave international fame to slingers can be discerned. We could consider it ironic, but the technological accumulation of great powers does not guarantee strategic superiority; artificial intelligence is not equivalent to political intelligence. The only certainty is that large technology corporations, with contracts with the Pentagon and the armies of the United States and Israel, are very expensive for the taxpayers of these countries. They are the same companies that support Trump and the European far-right, against the EU, which intends to regulate their activity. Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, and SpaceX, among others, have an important business niche in war: these are the wars of capital.In this context, low-cost Iranian drones operate as a symbol of a tactical, economic, and adaptability rationality different from that of the great powers. Their effectiveness lies not in the accumulation of power, but in the intelligent management of scarcity. It is this dynamic that refers us to a deeper historical genealogy in time, in which marginal actors manage to influence global domination systems. And, indeed, the Balearic slingers embodied a unique relationship between technique, territory, and strategy. Equipped with exceptional expertise and minimal equipment, they became winners.The asymmetry of power and capacity between the adversaries that characterizes the conflict in the Middle East is explained by several reasons. In the aggressor countries (the US and Israel), two often contradictory circumstances have a powerful influence: (1) colonial intention and (2) the existence of democratic public opinions. Neither the United States nor Israel could withstand the number of victims from Iran. A formally democratic society, with rights to preserve, is obliged to have an advanced and expensive system of protection and interception. In addition to a sophisticated and complex machinery of destruction commensurate with their colonial interest.The fact that Iran is a theocratic regime, with no citizen rights to protect, means that public opinion is managed by the police, which allows it to focus its military strategy simply on inflicting harm on the enemy, both internal and external. There are no essential defense systems, only attack systems. There is no better defense than a good offense. Overall, the current digital war shows a growing symbiosis between political power, data economy, and technological militarization. Following Paul Virilio's dromological reasoning, in which speed is the basis of modern technological society, it could be said that instrumental speed has replaced territorial extension as the matrix of power. However, extreme acceleration does not guarantee dominance. An old Persian proverb says that “patience is a tree with bitter roots and sweet fruits”.

]]> <![CDATA[Is there a problem with AI?]]> Artificial intelligence is opening up a horizon of possibilities and challenges for many people, while others see it as a threat. Taking this debate seriously involves, first and foremost, trying to understand what this technology is and how it works in order to know what risks it poses and how we can minimize them. This is clearly seen in one of its most attractive uses: its predictive capacity.

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Pep Martorell is a physicist, holds a PhD in Computer Science, and is a partner at the management firm Invivo Partners, where he helps develop artificial intelligence (AI) projects. As an expert in the field, he will participate this Thursday, March 12, in the "Companies with a Human Face" symposium in Palma, to discuss the trends that will shape AI in the next decade.

]]> <![CDATA[Artificial fiction]]> Things seem to be moving very fast. In the field of AI, the devastating impact of technology on employment is becoming increasingly apparent, especially among the tech companies' own workers. It's within the companies that are driving AI development that AI itself is usurping the jobs of programmers, who realize that what they were helping to create was a competitor that would do the same thing they do, but much faster, better, and cheaper. I don't know what might happen to these professionals, although we know that certain technical profiles are highly sought after within tech companies. But all the experts are predicting it, some apocalyptic, others fully integrated into a system they now lament not knowing how to rein in: AI will be a revolution that will turn everything upside down.

]]> <![CDATA[Cognitive inequality]]> Several years after the pandemic, which accelerated the digitalization of society, children are arriving at our schools unable to even maintain eye contact, neither with each other nor with an adult. This is especially true for low-income families, because although screen use affects us all regardless of our circumstances, these families face the greatest difficulties in accessing educational and parenting resources for their children that don't involve the 'easy' solution of staying home and plugging into an increasingly complex screen—be it television, mobile phone, or other devices, thanks to the influence of the internet and social media. These children, like many teenagers, have socialized more with screens than with their peers, which would give them a certain 'mastery' of digital tools were it not for their lack of maturity for responsible use.

]]> <![CDATA[Courses to teach farmers how to defend themselves against bureaucracy]]>

A large proportion of farms in the Balearic Islands are run by older people who are increasingly facing greater bureaucracy and the digitalization of the sector. Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the usefulness of online procedures as a communication tool with the government. To help farmers navigate these administrative processes, Unió de Pagesos, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, has organized two free training courses – funded by the Balearic Islands' Agricultural and Fisheries Guarantee Fund, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

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