Big Brother of Smarter Planet, Smarter Cities

Photo: Ileana Johnson 2009

IBM has a vision for you, Mr. and Mrs. Global Citizen, a vision for Smarter Cities around the globe. You have not been consulted about it but you will be subjected to their vision whether you agree to it or not. And if you want to learn more about IBM’s international effort to build “a Smarter Planet, Smarter Cities,” in preparation for what they dubbed, “the cognitive era,” you can read more about it here. http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/overview/

IBM aligned its philanthropic pockets with the plan to build a Smarter Planet. Some goals mirror U.N.’s Agenda 2030 seventeen stated goals for the globe. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Following a revelation in November 2008 that the planet is becoming smarter, “IBM began a conversation” about things that make the world work, cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes, natural systems such as agriculture and waterways, and many other things that need to be mined and controlled through data and information systems.

“IBM is committed to a vision of Smarter Cities as a vital component of building a Smarter Planet. A Smarter City uses technology to transform its core systems and optimize finite resources. At the highest level of maturity, a Smarter City is a knowledge-based system that provides real-time insights to stakeholders as well as enabling decision-makers to manage the city’s subsystems proactively.”

“IBM Corporate Citizenship has launched the Smarter Cities Challenge to help 100 cities around the world become smarter through grants of IBM talent and technology.”

“The City of St. Louis is one of the 24 cities [U.S.] to earn a grant from IBM as part of that company’s philanthropic efforts to build a Smarter Planet. IBM’s Smarter Cities-Challenge aims to contribute to the improvement of high-potential cities around the world.”

The IBM 6-member team identified the “public safety ecosystem” as the communal reach and interaction of those participants in the public safety arena: mayor, board of aldermen, metro police, circuit attorney, clerk, judges, sheriff, corrections, probation, and parole, in essence controlling everything and everybody.

IBM published its findings and recommendations in a 64-page paper in 2011, IBM Smarter Cities Challenge Report. https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/mayor/documents/upload/IBM-Smarter-Cities-Challenge-St-Louis-Report.pdf

The specific report for St. Louis analyzed the causes of crime and made recommendations for public safety. Great detail and importance were given to “criminal justice” and its organizational structure, involving many governmental departments. Recommendations on how to deal with potential offenders included “cloud” and “data banking surveillance,” as well as “profiling.” In a global economy, IBM sees a co-operation between non-profits and government with the citizen being the subject of their control.

This website shows that IBM’s Smarter Cities is already international in cities like Africa, U.S., Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America. https://smartercitieschallenge.org/cities

The Smarter Cities framework chart shows four overlapping circles of control that leave nothing to chance:

-       Population management

-       Language

-       Wealth

-       Education

-       Community

-       Wellbeing

-       Retail

-       Housing

-       Environment management

-       Managing crime/public safety

-       Traffic

-       Street furniture

-       Office infrastructure

-       Broadband

-       Infrastructure

-       Securing inward investment

-       Economy

 

To express it more plainly, IBM envisions cities as a “system of systems.”  Independent systems will disappear and will become interconnected, supervised, and controlled by the powerful government that will see in real time how much and what you consume and engage in, thus will be able to curb anything you do that they deem “wasteful.” crime/

public safety

Environ

Education

Retail

Broadband

Infrastructure

Securing inward

investment