Computers to predict the unpredictable

Get ready for a rant. U of Arizona prof. Jerzy Rozenblit has been awarded a $2.2 million grant to study volatile 'political and military situations' using software that will predict the actions of paramilitary and ethnic groups, terrorists and criminal groups, etc.   I'm in constant amazement with the human race.  Why does it seem that every time we make any scientific progress in a specific area, our first instinct is to use it to make weapons.

$2.2 Million Grant Calls for Designing Computer Software to Predict the Unpredictable

The Asymmetric Threat Response and Analysis Project, known as ATRAP, is a massively complex set of computer algorithms (mathematical procedures) that sift through millions of pieces of data, considering many factors including social, political, cultural, military and media influences, said Rozenblit, who holds the Raymond J. Oglethorpe Endowed Chair in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the UA.

The software can handle data loads that would overwhelm human analysts, while dispassionately exploring actions and behaviors based solely on the data, sidestepping human cultural biases that might prematurely rule out unorthodox or seemingly bizarre courses of action.