The use of robotics in warfare

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Danr, Oct 20, 2009.

  1. Danr

    Danr New Member

    As you probably know the United States military have been leaning more and more on robotics on the field of battle. Further there are projections that a large portion of the US military fighting force will be robotic in the near future. Some uses of these new cyberwarriors are pilot-less drones, bomb squad bots and pack bots used for recon. take a look at some of these:



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    pack bot
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    that looks an awful lot like a gun on this one
    [​IMG]


    For those interested here are a few articles:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/18/comment.military


    they are getting pretty creative with this:
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568650,00.html

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10375969-1.html


    a couple of videos
    this first video is a really good intor to the subject
    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.html

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...3feSuHUFY3uqQLj3YSqAg&q=military robot&hl=en#


    Any thoughts on this?
     
  2. De Orc

    De Orc Well-Known Member

    The begining of Terminator perhaps :eek: but then again mankind has allways tried to improve it's means of killing itself
     
  3. Stujoe

    Stujoe Well-Known Member

    I have my reservations about such things. But, it is not going to stop. What turns the people of a country against their leader's wars? The deaths of their own soldiers. These reduce that so they can wage more wars.

    edited for spelling...
     
  4. Danr

    Danr New Member

  5. Stujoe

    Stujoe Well-Known Member

    Man, it might be interested but I just can't listen to a half hour audio clip. I might take a gander at the transcript, though.
     
  6. Danr

    Danr New Member



    some next generation tech being demo'ed.
     
  7. AmeriCAN

    AmeriCAN New Member

    looks exciting and if America can develop it first, the more power to us!
     
  8. KLJ

    KLJ Really Smart Guy

    The fact is, no matter how many robots or smart bombs we design and use, boots will still have to be put on the ground. Save for the Second Coming, nothing can ever change that fact.

    This sort of thinking - that we can fight war without death - is why this nation could no longer stomach the death rate of a World War, much less a Civil War.
     
  9. Danr

    Danr New Member

    are you familiar with this concept of "the singularity" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity ?

    According to these very smart people artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence in the next few decades. "boots on the ground" will just be in the way when there are robots that are more capable than humans. The coupling of better than human artificial intelligence with military robotics will be a very unpredictable event.

    A little more on the singularity for anyone who is interested:
    http://singinst.org/ these guys are trying to make sure that AI develops in a "friendly way".
    http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1 Ray Kurzweil (yes the same Ray Kurzweil who invented the Kurzweil keyboards) has a lot to say about this.

    http://www.vimeo.com/groups/acceleratingfuture/videos/4017569 A huge collection of videos of very smart people talking about the singularity and AI
     
  10. Danr

    Danr New Member

    Yea that really worked out with guns. The guys who developed guns were able to lock up that technology alright.
     
  11. Danr

    Danr New Member

  12. KLJ

    KLJ Really Smart Guy

    I'm quite familiar with the theory. It's athreat that scares me to death. As I see it, if human life isn't worth risking for something (it's why we fight wars in the first place), then it's not worth living. And the computers will figure that out quickly. Logic demands it. And computers act on cold logic, not the warm emotion that sets us apart. And if we're not worth having around, AI computers will see to it that we're not.

    And yes, I'm fully aware that lives have been lost in wars NOT worth fighting. But I'd rather have it this way, that man is left to make mistakes in the exercise of his free will, than to be a servant (or victim) of the machines. Vixi Liber et Moriar!
     
  13. De Orc

    De Orc Well-Known Member

    Like I said the rise of the Terminator
     

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