Posted on 06/16/2016 1:09:49 PM PDT by Mariner
After Orlando and San Bernardino and Paris, there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism. And with the Islamic State’s prolific use of social media, terrorism experts and government agencies continually search for clues in posts and Twitter messages that appear to promote the militants’ cause.
A physicist may not seem like an obvious person to study such activity. But for months, Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami, led a team that created a mathematical model to sift order from the chaotic pro-terrorism online universe.
In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Dr. Johnson and Miami colleagues searched for pro-Islamic State posts each day from mid-2014 until August 2015, mining mentions of beheadings and blood baths in multiple languages on Vkontakte, a Russia-based social media service that is the largest European equivalent to Facebook. Ultimately, they devised an equation that tries to explain the activity of Islamic State sympathizers online and might, they say, eventually help predict attacks that are about to happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
there is new urgency to understand the signs that can precede acts of terrorism.
Can’t they just check the phone logs and visitor logs at the White House to see who the next Johnny Jihad is??
I have a better idea. How about the FBI treat reports of islamist tendencies seriously instead of dismissing those who report them as islamaphobes.
That’s really stupid.
A better predictive tool might be to observe, monitor, and watch young Muslim men who have ever given rise to extremism. once you are on the list, you stay on the list forever. I’d even expand the list to include Christians and Jews.
ANYBODY SUSPECTED OF EXTREMISM ARE ON THE LIST, FOREVER.
Right, because that list would never be abused politically.
You validate it after you deploy it. Just like Obamas prediction of $2,500 per family savings under Obamacare and just like the 100 global climate models all predicted the 18 year “pause” in warming.
What is stupid?
Premise is incorrect.
Professor said Orlando is rare...not so much in Israel when fatwas are released the junkyard dogs in Palestine respond. Israel fights back but it gets ugly first
Since they cannot predict the next Orlando I suggest they game theory is not very well developed
Use gas worked in Iraq under other regimes.
"Since they cannot predict the next Orlando..."
-------------------
I can and did...In Israel AND in the US.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3437199/posts?page=7#7
A very specific window & less than 3 days beforehand. First TA, then Orlando.
Chaos/game theory or physics is a waste of time for predicting Muslim terrorist attacks.
Yeah, that's another way to avoid dealing with reality, while pretending to be scholarly and intellectual -- and probably scoring a nice fat grant to boot.
You are correct humans are the key
It would be easier to just to stop bringing them into the country. Silly physicists..
...because Muslims are just so darn rational and predictable.
We can’t “fight friendly” if we want to win the war.
Why do “we” think that a slow motion defeat will win us “friends” and “allies”?
Yet ANOTHER “Liberal” denial of reality....
We can’t “fight friendly” if we want to win the war.
IOW, don’t go to/pursue war half-heartedly or in a limited fashion. We’ve been fighting friendly in every war since WWII, and have many of those wars did we win?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.