Topic: US Army robots will outnumber human soldiers 10 to 1 by 2023

[oldcoastie6468]

US Army robots will outnumber human soldiers 10 to 1 by 2023

Talking at a US Army demonstration of autonomous weaponized robots at Fort Benning, Georgia, experts said that "ten years from now, there will probably be one soldier for every 10 robots. Each soldier could have one or five robots flanking him, looking for enemies, scanning for land mines."

Those are the words of Scott Hartley, co-founder of 5D Robotics, who demonstrated his companies' machines along with Northrop Grumman, QinetiQ, HDT Robotics and other robotics corporations catering to the US military. Harley also added that "robots can save lives." And indeed they can, helping soldiers survive in a hostile environment and making their lives easier. But, obviously, they are also making them to kill.

According to the organizers, the main core of the event were the live fire demonstrations:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/us-army-robots-will-outnumber-human-soldiers-10-to-1-by-1465669535

[Libertas]

I don't like this...SkyNet, ThinkingMachines, AI...whatever you call it, I don't like it...the more warfare is made unhuman the inhuman acts could become more commonplace...with humans at least there is a chance of a rational thought along the lines of "should I really do this thing?"...I don't like this at all.

[Weisshaupt]

I don't like this...SkyNet, ThinkingMachines, AI...whatever you call it, I don't like it...the more warfare is made unhuman the inhuman acts could become more commonplace...with humans at least there is a chance of a rational thought along the lines of "should I really do this thing?"...I don't like this at all.

Someone still needs to put fuel in the tank.  Really the battery tech just doesn't exist. They have to either use an internal combustion engine, or move heavy batteries around, and recharge them somehow ( how do you battle harden a solar panel? Bullet proof glass?)   And the AI is getting better for autonomous deployment.  They need a human handler. Without the handler, the robots will be largely useless.

[Libertas]

I don't like this...SkyNet, ThinkingMachines, AI...whatever you call it, I don't like it...the more warfare is made unhuman the inhuman acts could become more commonplace...with humans at least there is a chance of a rational thought along the lines of "should I really do this thing?"...I don't like this at all.

Someone still needs to put fuel in the tank.  Really the battery tech just doesn't exist. They have to either use an internal combustion engine, or move heavy batteries around, and recharge them somehow ( how do you battle harden a solar panel? Bullet proof glass?)   And the AI is getting better for autonomous deployment.  They need a human handler. Without the handler, the robots will be largely useless.

For now.

[oldcoastie6468]

Any computer can be hacked. It's dangerous. Period.

Even the article says they could be trained to kill. Kill whom, and on who's orders?

[Glock32]

Reminds me of a bit from the comedian Tim Wilson, when he sees a hitchhiker he wants to just pull over out of sheer curiosity and ask "Have you not seen the movie?!"

Same question for these people...have they not seen the movie?!  Take your pick, autonomous killing machines ain't exactly new material. The possibility of their becoming self-motivated is bad enough, if unlikely. They're plenty bad even without learning to think for themselves. Sure, the military will cite having them because they can do things without risking a human life, they can go places a human can't go, but the real reason they want them is because they will do what they're programmed to do -- to quote Alien -- "unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality".

Human soldiers reach points where they refuse to continue following orders. Machines don't. That's why they want them. When they want to massacre American civilians they don't want any mutinies on their hands.