Lanier’s siren server definition was conceived to describe how companies with the most powerful computers can gain wealth by collecting and processing free, unorganized data, and turning that around to make a profit, but the concept can apply to the intelligence community as well.
In certain sectors such as finance, it can be self-detrimental as in the case of the financial meltdown in 2007-2008. When a predictive system becomes too efficient, it undermines the very foundation upon which it stands.
If you’ve gathered enough wealth and your services are so efficient that their values skyrocket, but there’s no money left for anyone to afford them, then you’ve fallen victim to the seductive power of siren servers.
What will the CIA do with the new-found data?
Now that the CIA claims to be able to predict social unrest days in advance, there are some interesting theoretical possibilities that can come of this.
One is that the CIA’s siren servers will become so efficient that they will predict all social uprising and will be able to prevent it. If they are successful in doing that, there would be no need for the CIA as their technology could predict and prevent any societal upheavals, and the agency would be obsolete.
Another potential outcome would be that the CIA could use the data and not tell anyone, just like the finance sector did, and then make calculated decisions on whether or not to intervene in any socially distressing situation.
“I called it a siren server because there’s no plan to be evil. A siren server seduces you,” said Lanier.
In the case of the CIA; however, whether the agency is being innocently seduced or is actively planning to use this data for its own self-sustaining benefit, one can only speculate.