Slashdot Mirror
US Army Testing Robots with Shotguns
Darren writes "The US Army is testing robots armed with shotguns. The robots are called Packbots and have already seen some action in Iraq. It also has chemical sensors that detect nuclear, biological, and chemical contaminants. Maybe I've seen a few too many bad sci-fi movies, but robots with shotguns scare me."
Does this mean that we finally can put the quakers to good use? Give them a packbot each and lett hell lose over in the mideast. Never mind that they frag about everything that moves.
/"Eat the yellow dots goddamnit.. The YELLOW dots!"
No, really, I am scared, but hey, that was the point of this article weren't it?
Absolutely. This is the idea behind many of the safety measures that are build into our society. The reason, for example, that you face a jury instead of just a judge is so that, in extreme situations, conscience will win out, and jurors will feel compelled to vote their conscience. They are your last recourse.
Now, I will say that I have no problems with robots with guns, as long as the robots are just waldos or slightly smarter. What I will not tollerate, and will quit my job and become a full-time political activist in the face of, is robot soldiers that are autonomous enough that a small group of individuals (say 1000 or less) can wield enough power to wrest control of the country away from elected officials.
I may dispise the current adminstration, but I will admit that they are a far cry better than a military dictatorship (if you disagree, then I admire your optimism... you have no idea how bad it can get), and what keeps a military dictatorship from happening is the fact that unit after unit after unit would refuse to follow orders if their superior officers told them to take action against their chain of command.
All you reactionaries who will undoubtedly mark this "Troll" or "Flamebait": How else do you categorise a 'roomba' device, attached to an area weapon - like a shotgun?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Which is why I'm all in favor of droping the GC if "the enemy" refuses to abide by the GC. If they want to put on uniforms under a flag, we'll let them have all the GC protections they want, until then, fsck 'em.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0