Reoptimization for Great Power Competition

“I’m extremely proud of the Space Force and all the good it has accomplished. But, as good as we are, as much as we’ve done, as far as we’ve come, it’s not enough. We are not yet optimized for Great Power Competition.”

~ Chief of Space Operations
Gen. Chance Saltzman

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force was a direct response to threats arising from Great Power Competition in the space domain. Nevertheless, our legacy roots leave us sub-optimized for the security environment confronting us today, and we must finish fine-tuning the service to continue meeting its National Defense Strategy responsibilities

In early 2024, the Department of the Air Force unveiled sweeping plans for reshaping, refocusing, and reoptimizing the Air Force and Space Force to ensure continued supremacy in their respective domains while better posturing the services to deter and, if necessary, prevail in an era of Great Power Competition. Through a series of 24 DAF-wide key decisions, four core areas which demand the Department’s attention will be addressed: Develop People, Generate Readiness, Project Power and Develop Capabilities.

The space domain is no longer benign; it has rapidly become congested and contested.

We must enhance our capabilities, develop Guardians for modern warfare, prepare for the high intensity fight, and strengthen our power projection to thrive and win in this new era of Great Power Competition.

Video by Kenneth M McNulty, Kevin D Schmidt

Dr. Katrina Schleisman - AI and Self

Air Force Research Laboratory

Sept. 22, 2023 | 56:58

Description: In this edition of QuEST, Katrina Schleisman will join us for a discussion of 'the self’

Key Moments and Questions in the video include:

Phenomenal Consciousness and self by philosophers
Vajrayana buddhist philosophy of self and consciousness

Describing vs creating consciousness
Assumption on approaches
Defining is not a prerequisite to talk about implementing consciousness/AI consciousness
Not an approach of materialistic descriptions, but a draw of creative

Science and scientism in conscious research: IIT

What is the relationship between the self and consciousness

Reflections on the origins of QuEST
Types of qualia

Neural Correlates of the self

The self and the resting state of the mind
Intrinsic versus reflexive information processing
Type of modeling in AI

Neural correlates of self/other representations
Giving self to AI
Self is a duality
Self and the other

Principles and assumptions for developing an AI self
Self-reflective processing could be implemented as intrinsic

Self Knowledge Structures and Representations
How would you go about implementing a self-concept in an AI?
Autobiographical memory–lifetime periods/general events/specific events
Episodic memory structure
Episodic future memories

Responsible AI
AI learning and adaptation

Audience Questions

What's the next thing that we should build, the next thing that we should go after?

If we agree that we humans are conscious and this is one process for maybe, you know, having a closer realization of that, that consciousness or that full consciousness is there something could we do?

What are the terms that we have for these modes when it comes to DoD-relevant examples?

Are you familiar and could you talk a little bit about Access consciousness, if you're familiar with that term? And how that fits in here is that you have the self and that's like some core and then there's some other executive reflective part?

How well do we understand episodic memory, can we model it? Do we know how to model it to that level of detail?

It seems that a lot of autobiographical memory is emotionally linked? It was either a time that you did really well or a time when you did really bad, and those seem to be kind of the anchors?

What about Glia? Aren't aren't glia important?

Maybe we can build a system with good models of self?