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This Scares Me

post #1 of 17
1/4/09 at 1:18pm
Thread Starter 
From today's Washington Post:

Soon -- years, not decades, from now -- American armed robots will patrol on the ground as well, fundamentally transforming the face of battle. Conventional war, even genocide, may be abolished by a robotic American Peace.
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Pike misses the fact that some ground-based tactical robots (I'll call them "Tacbots," and I'll let you know where to send the royalty checks.) will, inevitably, fall into the hands of adversaries who will reverse-engineer and, possibly, improve upon them.

Once the shiny metal hordes are pointed in our direction, will we really think that inventing them was such a good idea?
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post #2 of 17
1/4/09 at 1:50pm
I'm sure there'll be a fail-safe device or something. Or that they'll be allergic to smiles.
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post #3 of 17
1/4/09 at 2:24pm
If something scares Frank, you know this shit is serious.
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post #4 of 17
1/4/09 at 2:25pm
Are we talking Matrix-resistance or Terminator-resistance? Because I can't plan for both here.
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post #5 of 17
1/4/09 at 2:32pm
Aren't there some bases out there who have robots patrolling flight lines? I swear I read about that. Contractors taking over military jobs is one thing, but robot squads? Ugh, too much.
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post #6 of 17
1/4/09 at 2:34pm
Are people in the military going to complain that robots took their jerbs?
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post #7 of 17
1/4/09 at 3:03pm
And did we ever figure out what Bob Woodward's "revolutionary as the tank" new secret weapon for the U.S. military was?

Quote:
Originally Posted by WP
This would not be a panacea. Thugs would still rob pedestrians, organized crime would persist and so too would terrorists and other small bands of men of violence. But the large-scale organized killing that has characterized six millenniums of human history could be ended by the fiat of the American Peace.

Genocide, and the failure of the outside word to intervene, could also become a thing of the past. The industrialized murder of the Holocaust could perhaps have been disrupted by Allied bombers, but subsequent genocides have been less institutionalized, and far less vulnerable to air power. Intervention would require infantry and a decision to accept casualties. Genocide prevention may be in the interest of our common humanity, but it has never been in the national interest. But with no body bags to explain to bewildered voters, America's leaders may be less hesitant in the future about imposing an end to atrocities in places such as Darfur.
The first thing most people think of they think of new military technology is how it will be abused to dominate and control other human beings. He's assuming what America does is always good for its people and others, and the idea that robots will prevent genocide... As he pointed out, we already have the ability to interfere with other nations with little casualty risk through airpower, and it hasn't ended all wars except for organized crime, terrorism, and "small bands of men of violence." Neither has the nuclear bomb, or that giant squid. I'm all for technology making it possible for humans to be slightly more decent, and I believe that's how humans evolve to be more decent, when it's their easiest option, but if there's something new that kills cleanly and efficiently, you don't get more hopeful. I mean, since the Internet has come, information is free, and we all know that everyone on all levels of our society is now more informed and has access to new and better information, raising education levels and stopping poverty. Thank God that happened.
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post #8 of 17
1/4/09 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
Thing is, I know how this story ends:

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post #9 of 17
1/4/09 at 4:01pm
I for one welcome our new killbot overlords.

I really hope it's this with the handy flamethrower and gatling gun attachments.
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post #10 of 17
1/4/09 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Are people in the military going to complain that robots took their jerbs?
Exactly like that. I work hard for my 2.5 days of leave every month and no robot can fulfill my role as a defender of freedom.
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post #11 of 17
1/4/09 at 5:06pm
Let's just hope they've advanced the technology enough so that Stealth doesn't happen. I don't want to be running for the shelter every time a thunderstorm hits.
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post #12 of 17
1/4/09 at 7:14pm
Anything that lowers the chance that they will reinstate the draft is good news to me.
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post #13 of 17
1/4/09 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by englebert View Post
Anything that lowers the chance that they will reinstate the draft is good news to me.

That is so unlikely. A draft will ruin an all volunteer force.
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post #14 of 17
1/4/09 at 7:29pm
You have twenty seconds to comply.

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post #15 of 17
1/5/09 at 2:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shen Annigans View Post
That is so unlikely. A draft will ruin an all volunteer force.
Didn't the draft during Vietnam spark a disproportionate amount of volunteer enlistments by those that didn't want to be stuck with carrying a rifle?
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post #16 of 17
1/7/09 at 9:46pm
What I find more scary in this is the mechanization of killing. Makes it too easy and tidy.
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post #17 of 17
1/7/09 at 9:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shen Annigans View Post
Exactly like that. I work hard for my 2.5 days of leave every month and no robot can fulfill my role as a defender of freedom.
Not only that but no robot is going to fuck up and then be ordered to do KP. Who the hell will do KP now?
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