Government creating a mind of its own

A knife is brandished on a crowded subway platform. A backpack sits abandoned in a busy airport terminal. Images of sickness and death appear on social media. Security cameras often play a forensic role after a crime is committed, while an online platform can serve as both a megaphone and recorder. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) hopes to get to a point where a camera not only recognizes the difference between a standard and suspicious action, but can alert law enforcement before something bad happens, and a trend on Twitter can signal a disease outbreak to doctors.