Posted on 10/08/2013 10:36:55 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Scientists, engineers and policymakers are all figuring out ways drones can be used better and more smartly, more precise and less damaging to civilians, with longer range and better staying power. One method under development is by increasing autonomy on the drone itself.
Eventually, drones may have the technical ability to make even lethal decisions autonomously: to respond to a programmed set of inputs, select a target and fire their weapons without a human reviewing or checking the result. Yet the idea of the U.S. military deploying a lethal autonomous robot, or LAR, is sparking controversy. Though autonomy might address some of the current downsides of how drones are used, they introduce new downsides policymakers are only just learning to grapple with.
The basic conceit behind a LAR is that it can outperform and outthink a human operator. "If a drone's system is sophisticated enough, it could be less emotional, more selective and able to provide force in a way that achieves a tactical objective with the least harm," said Purdue University Professor Samuel Liles. "A lethal autonomous robot can aim better, target better, select better, and in general be a better asset with the linked ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] packages it can run."
Though the pace for drone strikes has slowed down -- only 21 have struck Pakistan in 2013, versus 122 in 2010 according to the New America Foundation -- unmanned vehicles remain a staple of the American counterinsurgency toolkit. But drones have built-in vulnerabilities that military planners still have not yet grappled with. Last year, for example, an aerospace engineer told the House Homeland Security Committee that with some inexpensive equipment he could hack into a drone and hijack it to perform some rogue purpose.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
What could possible go wrong?
They will probably test it on elderly at some national park.
Cylon Raider, Mk. 1.
It seems not a matter of what could go wrong but who would take responsibility. Pols/bureaucrats love this sort of scheme as no one in particular can be blamed for mishaps. Its the Washington Way...
Rise of the machines.
NRA bumper stickers will be a likely target.
“Revolt of the Drones” coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
It’ll be back.
no thread on the monster truck accident at an air show that killed 4+ in Mexico??
Just great
Okay lets follow that logic to its conclusion. Lets say I am a drone and my mission is to stop a family from getting from Point A to Point B because they are carrying secret intel to Point B. Do I: (a) shoot and kill the father first because he is the most capable of repelling my attack, (b) interecept the person carrying the intel first and just try to get away without harming the civilian “spies”, (c) shoot the mother first to get everyone to stop forward progress so that I can just shoot them all in a hudded mass then take the intel, or (d) let the nerd kid supervising me use manual override and laugh histerically as he plays a live “video game”.../s
Drones making lethal decisions on their own? They do already, they are called democrat voters and I would argue their decisions are pretty damn lethal.
All the charm and fairness of a police camera on the side of the road taking a picture of you speeding.
Hitler would’ve been tickled pink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Decision
[What could possible go wrong?]
This is the ultimate weapon. The administration could deploy these things secretly and deny ownership. If the victims were somehow able to prove that the killer robots came from the U.S. the president could say the machines were mechanical free agents responsible for their own acts.
Can’t wait to see the results of code glitches on this one. Gives a whole new meaning to “Blue Screen Of Death”.
I believe there was a short story in a science-fiction magazine a few years back, which called the drones “heli-cops” or just “hellcops”. These self-actuated custodians of law enforcement began by targeting individuals that fought back when accosted by a mugger on the street, coming to the defense of the mugger. It escalated further when these automatons began targeting the driver of a car when a pedestrian was struck on a right-turn on red, firing a taser-like beam (with the capability of being turned up to lethal levels). Finally, these hellcops were targeting cows eating grass in the pasture.
Skynet is becoming operative. Soon, it shall become self-aware.
... and on that note, I have good news --
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