I, For One Welcome Our New Robotic Overlords

[tellner]

The Army has had some issues with automated weapons systems. The Sergeant York Gun had a propensity for targeting fans and outhouses. Of course, that's not as bad as the experimental crew-less Navy ship that blue screened years ago and had to be towed back to port. Serves them right for using Windows to run something that complicated.

The latest-back-to-the-drawing-board moment happened to the SWORDS robot. I got the story from Gizmodo, which has been following the progress of the gadget since they were first deployed for reconnaissance. It's small. It's cute in a military sort of way. It's got GPS, tracks, optional X-rays and an M-249 with a box of ammunition. It's more resistant to being shot at than an actual soldier.

The program was just set back a few years when "the gun started moving when it was not intended to move".

Oops. They aren't supposed to do that until after the Robot Uprising.

 

[exile]

:rofl:

I don't suppose you're a sci-fi fan, T. But, on the off-chance you are, you've probably heard of Brian Aldiss. Check out his short story, 'The New Father Christmas', (in No Time Like Tomorrow, I think) for the last word on what life will be like under Full Robotic Automation...

 

[tellner]

I don't suppose you're a sci-fi fan

Well, if by "fan" you mean "goes to conventions at least once a year, reads fan fiction and thinks that the plural is 'fen' ", then no. But if you mean "started on the Heinlein Juveniles at age seven and has several hundred linear feet of science fiction and fantasy books" then guilty as charged :wink2:

Aldiss definitely has his moments. The Helliconia books he is best known for are OK. But I read Paul Parks' Soldiers in Paradise at about the same time. It was one of those Clay vs. Liston bouts.

 

[exile]

Well, if by "fan" you mean "goes to conventions at least once a year, reads fan fiction and thinks that the plural is 'fen' ", then no. But if you mean "started on the Heinlein Juveniles at age seven and has several hundred linear feet of science fiction and fantasy books" then guilty as charged :wink2:

Aldiss definitely has his moments. The Helliconia books he is best known for are OK. But I read Paul Parks' Soldiers in Paradise at about the same time. It was one of those Clay vs. Liston bouts.

Better than Hellconia by far, I think, are the stories in the collections, in particular, Galaxies like Grains of Sand, Starswarm and No Time Like Tomorrow. The title story of the first is unbearably poignant, and some of the stories in Starswarm come close, especially 'Old Hundredth'. But 'The New Father Christmas' is a wonderfully macabre sendup of the Robot Despotism theme... bleak black humor, and really timeless...

 

[CoryKS]

Get those things on a wireless connection and charge the kiddies $19.95 a month to operate them. We'll not only have the most devastating military in the world, but one that actually turns a profit.

 

[Topeng]

I guess including Asimov's three laws would flush that project right down the toilet.
Hopefully Skynet won't gain total consciousness anytime too soon.

 

[tellner]

Get those things on a wireless connection and charge the kiddies $19.95 a month to operate them. We'll not only have the most devastating military in the world, but one that actually turns a profit.

And one where the recruits come pretrained.

I'm wondering what happens when (inevitably) the remote control system gets cracked. All of a sudden you have their joystick jockeys battling with our joystick jockeys for control of the same robot.

The proposals for completely autonomous armed robots are just a little too scary. But they aren't as bad as something I saw on DARPA's website a few years ago. The idea was for a networked, self-healing auto-mobile minefield. Each mine would communicate with the others. When one blew up the others would move around to optimize the spacing of the remaining mines. Just think of what could go wrong

 

[tellner]

The Register has more via Slashdot:

Fahey said there had been chilling incidents in which the SWORDS* combat bot had swivelled round and apparently attempted to train its 5.56mm M249 light machine-gun on its human comrades.
...
The Pop Mech analysts consider that the rattled GIs in Iraq are just being silly.

So SWORDS was yanked because it made people nervous. Meanwhile, the V-22 Osprey program has killed 30 people during test flights, but the tiltrotor aircraft is currently in active service.​

 

[K31]

Previous experiments with less-than-human weapons control had similar results: http://www.oddee.com/item_91684.aspx I'm particularly happy with the anti-tank dogs turning on their inhumane masters.

 

[tkd1964]

Get those things on a wireless connection and charge the kiddies $19.95 a month to operate them. We'll not only have the most devastating military in the world, but one that actually turns a profit.

I watch Futureweapons all the time and I can't believe how many weapon systems are controlled by a Game Pad.
Mack has the greatest job in the world. He gets paid to play with all the Big Boy Toys.