Salon: Pentagon to Send Robot Soldiers to Iraq

[MetalFingersDOOM]

Jan. 22, 2005 | ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. (AP) -- The rain is turning to snow on a blustery January morning, and all the men gathered in a parking lot here surely would prefer to be inside. But the weather couldn't matter less to the robotic sharpshooter they are here to watch as it splashes through puddles, the barrel of its machine gun pointing the way like Pinocchio's nose.

The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq beginning in March or April.

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[zann725]

1. Keeps getting 'darker' and 'darker.'

n/t

[Oversea Visitor]

2. Robots to decide

on right or wrong. On the other hand you cant charge a robot for war crime. Robots fighting against human :(.

[Cats Against Frist]

3. Uh, is this like the fucking "Terminator?"

The last thing in the world that I ever want to think about is a robotic sharpshooter coming after me. Humankind is officially dead.

[darkism]

4. The last bit of desperation before the inevitable draft... n/t

[bluestateguy]

5. The droid army

:eyes:

[LynnTheDem]

6. Not my country any more. America is dead.

This atrocity in its place is not America.

[burrowowl]

7. Should be interesting

when some of these expenive robots get blown up.

[rooboy]

14. Or hacked - even better results. n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Even in this day and age, it is traumatic for a soldier to pull the

trigger on another human being. There was a study in WW2 that showed that 20%+ of soldiers in combat never fired their weapons. Those numbers have been reduced since then, but there will always be those who are just too humane to inflict that kind of damage unless absolutely necessary.

This little device removes the shooter from the target, puts the target on a video screen. It's no longer combat, it's 'Wolfenstein'. Not aim and shoot, but point and click.

One more way to dehumanize the target.

[IndianaGreen]

10. What if the Nazis had used robots as concentration camp guards

the Holocaust would be measured in billions instead of millions!

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Somehow I don't think that concentration camp guards had any

problems with pulling the trigger.

My problem is with the way it separates the ordinary soldier from his actions. Turns it into a video game.

Not good.

[rooboy]

16. A lot of them did, actually...

the Einsatzgruppen (sp? - special execution squads) that Hitler sent around Europe had to be given extra rations of alcohol to try and mitigate the psychological problems their actions created.

You are right in that it turns it into a video game, though.

[IndianaGreen]

9. So we are turning the Iraq War over to the Cylons!

And how long before our robotic monsters decide to take over from humanity?

Remember that Scifi is based on real life and it poses questions that challenge us, and of those questions has been what would happen if humankind's machines become smarter than humans and decide to rule.

[Nineteen Eighty Four]

13. Alpha Leader Reporting for Duty

Let's start building the Colonial Fleet. When do I get my Viper?

[orthogonal]

12. Robot soldier? You mean they're sending Rummy personally?

Robot soldier? You mean they're sending Rummy personally?

[CHIMO]

15. Puddles And Snow

Wouldn't Napoleon wished to have a second, third... go around.
OK maybe just a few more trillion.

[rooboy]

17. This tactic will guarantee more terrorism...

and greatly increase the use of WMD by terrorists on civilians.

If you don't stand ANY chance on the battlefield, what options do you have in the face of tyranny?

Rumsfeld thinks he's condemning others to death - he's actually condemning us.

[Moderator]

18. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1174060