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Coming Soon to a Battlefield: Robots That Can Kill
The Atlantic ^ | September 3, 2019 | Zachary Fryer--Biggs

Posted on 09/03/2019 9:45:35 AM PDT by C19fan

Wallops island—a remote, marshy spit of land along the eastern shore of Virginia, near a famed national refuge for horses—is mostly known as a launch site for government and private rockets. But it also makes for a perfect, quiet spot to test a revolutionary weapons technology.

If a fishing vessel had steamed past the area last October, the crew might have glimpsed half a dozen or so 35-foot-long inflatable boats darting through the shallows, and thought little of it. But if crew members had looked closer, they would have seen that no one was aboard: The engine throttle levers were shifting up and down as if controlled by ghosts. The boats were using high-tech gear to sense their surroundings, communicate with one another, and automatically position themselves so, in theory, .50-caliber machine guns that can be strapped to their bows could fire a steady stream of bullets to protect troops landing on a beach.

The secretive effort—part of a Marine Corps program called Sea Mob—was meant to demonstrate that vessels equipped with cutting-edge technology could soon undertake lethal assaults without a direct human hand at the helm. It was successful: Sources familiar with the test described it as a major milestone in the development of a new wave of artificially intelligent weapons systems soon to make their way to the battlefield.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: ai; military; robotics
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To: C19fan

I wonder what happens when drones can get really small and maneuverable like wasps or bees. Someone will be tempted to deploy swarms with facial/identity recognition capabilities and some type of nerve agent delivery system. Then you bring in drone-killing drones to defend against it if you have tech I guess.

When the technology replaces volunteers/mercenaries with drones, citizens will become even more removed and apathetic about foreign engagements than they are now with no conscription for decades. Although there might be a lot more war footage to be seen by then and released on the internet so maybe it would be a draw.

Freegards


21 posted on 09/03/2019 10:20:51 AM PDT by Ransomed
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To: C19fan

22 posted on 09/03/2019 10:24:00 AM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: C19fan

Robot soldiers don’t flinch when ordered to fire on civilians.


23 posted on 09/03/2019 10:26:31 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Ransomed

You can quit wondering.


24 posted on 09/03/2019 10:27:38 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: C19fan

25 posted on 09/03/2019 10:27:42 AM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Ransomed

Might look something like this...
I know, it’s almost mandatory to post this...
https://youtu.be/ecClODh4zYk


26 posted on 09/03/2019 10:32:50 AM PDT by Bitman
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To: C19fan

Watch the British TV show “Black Mirror”.

The episode “Metalhead”

It is about robotic dogs.

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=33&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwibgfjEl7XkAhUqhOAKHb2yCTUQFjAgegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiewire.com%2F2018%2F01%2Fblack-mirror-metalhead-director-david-slade-robot-dog-interview-1201912565%2F&usg=AOvVaw2d-Fd6FaaphOwRGaOqnPvE


27 posted on 09/03/2019 10:34:25 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: C19fan

Asimov is spinning in his grave.


28 posted on 09/03/2019 10:41:15 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Ransomed
I wonder what happens when drones can get really small and maneuverable like wasps or bees. Someone will be tempted to deploy swarms with facial/identity recognition capabilities and some type of nerve agent delivery system. Then you bring in drone-killing drones to defend against it if you have tech I guess.

We are on the way there.

The question is: how long will it take, and will God allow it?

There seems to be a limit to achieving human level intelligence.

At least my highly professional programmer daughter tells me AI is not advancing very fast, a very difficult problem...

29 posted on 09/03/2019 10:44:18 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: C19fan

This is what I pay for in taxes...not paying for illegal aliens and their welfare crap.


30 posted on 09/03/2019 10:48:12 AM PDT by max americana (Fired ONE libtard at work at every election since 2008 because I enjoy it. I hope every lib die.)
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To: EEGator

“Soylent Green, Terminator or Idiocracy.”

This country is likely to become a mixture of all three.


31 posted on 09/03/2019 10:50:45 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: Chauncey Gardiner
Purple Hearts for carpel tunnel syndrome.

Until the enemy robots target our robot command center. Then things will start getting real.

What? You though we were the only ones that would have such equipment?

Welcome to the party.

32 posted on 09/03/2019 10:52:21 AM PDT by flamberge (The wheels keep turning)
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To: Vermont Lt

Asimov was an atheist, he is dead and incapable of spinning.


33 posted on 09/03/2019 10:54:45 AM PDT by Sawdring
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To: All

It’s been true for awhile that they could make fighter jets that would go beyond what humans can tolerate in terms of g-force etc. this stuff is coming no Doubt


34 posted on 09/03/2019 10:57:12 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: C19fan

And the purpose of prominently displaying a cross in the article’s illustration is....?


35 posted on 09/03/2019 11:44:10 AM PDT by QBFimi (It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world... Tarfon)
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To: Vaquero

ED-209.

Was any scene ever worse than Lt. Murphy getting smoked?
I was 12 y/o, but that was brutal.


36 posted on 09/03/2019 11:58:01 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: gibsonguy

No question that it’s coming. I did an inspection of a ginormous factory that was completely automated from start to finish of the process. Even the forklifts were running up and down the aisles, trackless and unmanned, loading, unloading and stacking. The 30 or so humans that worked there were almost superfluous.


37 posted on 09/03/2019 1:00:00 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: freedumb2003

Colossus?

Worse, what if they are AI and together decide something terrible? Before everyone says “Skynet” (or V’ger) you may have heard about the experiment where they hooked two AI negotiating computers together and the two invented a language the designers could not even understand. MUI it scared the hell out of them (and they cut the connect) — and it should scare the hell out of all of us.


38 posted on 09/06/2019 1:00:23 PM PDT by utahb52
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