In Ukraine, Technology Only Thickens the Fog of War
The deluge of satellite imagery, drone footage, social media and smart phones has generated enough information to support any story you want to tell about what’s happening on the ground.
A picture for every story.
Photographer: Laurent Van Der Stockt/Getty Images EuropeThe “first Tik Tok war,” as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been called, could have been expected to become the most transparent military conflict in history, given the wealth of satellite images and social media posts from the front lines. Yet the overall picture of the fighting is as murky as ever — it may be unclear for weeks if a belligerent party has gone on the offensive or not.
This paradox is a manifestation of a fundamental computer science concept: garbage in — garbage out. It’s not the quantity of available information but its quality that matters.