Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

972mag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

941–950 of 1001 posts

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#941

Post by doom2 »

jiggawatts wrote: post #642
rdtsc wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone else is a civilian that can only be directly targeted when and for as long as they directly participate in hostilities, such as by taking up arms, planning military operations, laying down mines, etc. There is some incredible magic that often happens: as soon as anyone is targeted and killed, they immediately transform from civilians to "collaborators", "terrorists", "militants" etc. Of course everything i…

On the flip side, in this war many of the Gaza combatants are either irregular forces or militants deliberately wearing civilian clothing. So if some guy in a track suit and flip-flops uses an anti tank grenade launcher, discards the empty tube, walks away, and gets lit up, then the next day the Internet is awash with videos of the “IDF murdering a civilian!” For reference, I think both sides are in the wrong in this…

> However, the Internet is full of armchair international law experts that are being played like a fiddle by Hamas’ propaganda arm.

And Israeli hasbara? I see a lot of this take, that everyone is just blindly trusting, eg, casualty counts from the Gazan health ministry, but there seems to be very little questioning of and critical thinking about the propaganda the IDF is spreading in this conflict. Why should we take their word for it that killing a bunch of aid workers[1] was just a mistake, for example?

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/israel-idf-air...

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#942

Post by jerpint »

GordonS wrote: post #932
ofiryanai wrote: post #837

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They permitted larger numbers of civilians being killed in the pursuit of terrorist barbarics who raped and murdered and dragged babies with their mothers into underground dungeons, and praised themselves for that while hiding between civilians.

Please stop spreading nonsensical, thoroughly debunked claims such as rape.

Rapes have been officially recognized as having happened by the UN, i don’t see how that is hard to believe given Hamas filmed most of their atrocities on GoPros. Oct 7 was a brutal terror campaign regardless of your position on the conflict, denying that is absurd

> Following a mission lasting just over two weeks, the UN team found 'reasonable grounds to believe' that 'rape and gang rape' took place during the attack on October 7, 2023, while acknowledging the limitations of its own investigation

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/03/07/u....

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#943

Post by steviedotboston »

Buttons840 wrote: post #830
steviedotboston wrote: post #636

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given the total failure to achieve any of its stated objectives, has this use of AI benefited the IDF at all? Hamas has been considerably diminished. It's not accurate to say the war has been a "total failure".

Just a day or two ago there was another IDF raid on Shifa hospital. Months ago the IDF claims that Hamas is operating out of tunnels under the hospital, they raid the hospital. A few weeks later, they raid the hospital again, and again, and again, up until this recent raid some days ago. You claim Hamas is diminished, but how diminished can they really be if they keep popping up in the same predictable place over and…

This is just the nature of urban warfare against an terrorist group that is deeply embedded in the civilian population. The tunnels add a huge level of complexity to it.

Israel did themselves no favors by projecting a message early on that they would be able to "destroy" Hamas entirely in a very short amount of time. It was probably inevitable from the beginning that this would be a long, drawn out conflict. Hamas will continue to exist to some extent for quite some time. But the fact remains that their military capabilities are far diminished now, and continue to be futher diminished. That is the essential goal of the war.

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#944

Post by Qem »

tombert wrote: post #81

Had a minor panic; I got to a final stage of an interview for a company called "Lavender AI". They were doing email automation stuff, but seeing the noun "Lavender" and "AI" in combination with "bombing" made me think that they might have been part of something horrible. ETA: I wonder if this is going to ruin their SEO...it might be worth a rebrand.

In Portuguese, the word for lavender, "lavanda", shares roots with the verb to wash, "lavar". It comes from Latin, and it's due to the blue lavender flowers being used in clothes washing in the past. So I think naming the system Lavender is a cruel joke, and betrays its true purpose. Laundering or whitewashing the killing of civilians, providing cover by automating plausible excuse-making. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavandula

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#945

Post by Buttons840 »

steviedotboston wrote: post #943
Buttons840 wrote: post #830

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a day or two ago there was another IDF raid on Shifa hospital. Months ago the IDF claims that Hamas is operating out of tunnels under the hospital, they raid the hospital. A few weeks later, they raid the hospital again, and again, and again, up until this recent raid some days ago. You claim Hamas is diminished, but how diminished can they really be if they keep popping up in the same predictable place over and…

This is just the nature of urban warfare against an terrorist group that is deeply embedded in the civilian population. The tunnels add a huge level of complexity to it. Israel did themselves no favors by projecting a message early on that they would be able to "destroy" Hamas entirely in a very short amount of time. It was probably inevitable from the beginning that this would be a long, drawn out conflict. Hamas wi…

Hamas is so diminished they have, once again, reclaimed their major hub of operations that is the hospital.

Why didn't the IDF destroy the tunnels under the hospital the first time?

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#946

Post by protomolecule »

dw_arthur wrote: post #14

Two sources said that during the early weeks of the war they were permitted to kill 15 or 20 civilians during airstrikes on low-ranking militants. Attacks on such targets were typically carried out using unguided munitions known as “dumb bombs”, the sources said, destroying entire homes and killing all their occupants. The world should not forget this.

The West can stop it in a moment by imposing the same sanctions as it imposed on Russia. Or in a day, if it imposes that same sanctions that Iran or North Korea are subject to.

Instead the West keeps supplying Israel with weapons and munitions.

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#948

Post by Workaccount2 »

yazfield wrote: post #908
Workaccount2 wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The war in Gaza is unlike Ukraine because Hamas does not issue uniforms or clearly demarcate military targets. When the US was in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda learned that the US (generally) won't shoot ambulances. So what became the most valuable vehicle to Al Qaeda? Hamas took notes, but Israel doesn't seem to care as much as the US. Also, besides all that, once something is used for military operations, it is fair game a…

> "Hamas does not issue uniforms" This is not true you can just google Qassam brigade to see their uniform, they have a very emblematic headband. They are hiding in tunnels though so you're not just gonna find them everywhere, Hamas does not have military equipment to be able to fight head to head with a modern military, it's just an insurgent group. > once something is used for military operations, it is fair game a…

They do have uniforms, they just don't use them because it's way more effective to have Schrodinger super-position civilians who are soldiers when a gun is in their hand, and innocent civilians when they drop the gun.

Also, Hamas's leaders are worth over $10 billion collectively. They can at least afford basic uniforms and spray paint to mark their vehicles. But again, they won't do it, because civilian deaths are the last piece they have left for international support. Which comes in the form of aid, which they seize, and pad their $10 billion with.

Re: 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza

#949

Post by Argonaut998 »

surume wrote: post #917
Argonaut998 wrote: post #897

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those articles are anti-Semitic.

Actually they are. The Jewish people IS Israel and Israel is the Jewish people. To loath Israel is to loath Jews, which is why you see violent pro-Hamas protests at synagogues around the world now. It is understood and ubiquitously accepted that the enemy of "anti-Zionists" are all Jews, and yes, many anti-Zionists are Jews themselves.

Israel is a state and Jewish people are an ethnicity/religion. It is nonsensical to suggest that they are synonymous — what other country in the world can you say that a country is identical to its people? If I criticise the Chinese Communist Party I’m not guilty of Sinophobia, why is Israel any different?

When Israel does something wrong, like kill civilians and/or foreign aid workers, do the Jewish people all over the world collectively bear the guilt of it? Obviously not. You can’t have it both ways.

Post reply on HN