Will robots fight the next war?

[Aries]

Make Robots Not War
by Erik Baard
September 10 - 16, 2003

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0337/baard.php

"...Imagine a swarm of robots seizing control of the airspace and waters of a besieged port city while amphibious automatons roll up the shoreline to knock out pockets of resistance. The attack is brilliantly coordinated, and each of the robots is an astonishingly effective killer because it learns faster and has more flexible responses than any mere machine. The secret? At its core are real animal neurons—living brain cells—wired into advanced circuitry.

Potter's team at the Laboratory for Neuroengineering, shared by Emory University and Georgia Tech, might be best able to deliver on that wild vision. He's already created the Hybrot, a machine controlled by rat neurons sealed in a patented dish spiked with micro-electrodes. You can actually see those cells growing more complex and hairy with dendrites as they learn and interact with the outside world. The work could spawn an entirely new class of adaptable robot combatants. But there's a hitch: Potter won't take a penny from the military. Sure, the Department of Defense might crib from his published research, but Potter wants to grasp new knowledge without bloody hands.

Technological dominance already equates to short-term military victory, and in coming years advanced technologies could also more tightly secure occupations against guerrilla warfare and terrorism like what we see in Iraq today. Or at least top brass and congressional leaders alike are betting heavily on that belief...."

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No more morale problems...and no more messy human conscience to deal with.

[qb]

1. Yeah, and one of the robots is running for governor of CA

[Generic Other]

2. What happened to Asimov's Laws of Robotics?

In his Robot Series, he stated: "1: A Robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction allow a human being to come to harm; 2: A Robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; 3: A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

Okay, so Asimov was a sci-fi writer, bit he was a genius. And on this issue, I suspect he's right.

What the hell are these mad scientists thinking? May one of their evil creations rise up and crush their useless skulls.

[Aries]

5. Michael Crichton wrote a book

about what happens when "their evil creations rise up"...

Prey, by Michael Crichton

From the Publisher

Deep in the Nevada desert, the Xymos Corporation has built a state-of-the-art fabrication plant, surrounded by nothing but cactus and coyotes for miles and miles. Inside, eight people are trapped -- because outside, waiting for them, looking for them, is a predatory swarm of micro-particles that they themselves created. The swarm is getting bigger and more powerful by the hour, and they must find a way to stop it before it gets inside -- unless it's already too late...

Once again, Michael Crichton combines up-to-the-minute science with relentless pacing to create an electrifying techno-thriller.

[Lisa]

3. but robots are expensive ...

For the forseeable future, it will be cheaper to draft some poor slob and send him/her to the front ... with inadequate equipment and food, thanks to the privatization of the military!

And those high-tech suits of electronic battle armour the Pentagon promised ... of course, they won't be issued to civilians, who account for the majority of casualties in war zones anyway.

[nyrnyr1994]

4. A droid army....

to fight wars for the Haliburton Trade Federation!

[Snow]

6. And they're going to fight and "kill" other robots?

not likely, eh. A better way for us to kill civilians without risking our boys & girls.