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Weapons Systems That Kill According To Algorithms Are Coming. What To Do?
Lasrick writes "Mark Gubrud has another great piece exploring the slippery slope we seem to be traveling down when it comes to autonomous weapons systems: Quote: 'Autonomous weapons are robotic systems that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further intervention by a human operator. Advances in computer technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics may lead to a vast expansion in the development and use of such weapons in the near future. Public opinion runs strongly against killer robots. But many of the same claims that propelled the Cold War are being recycled to justify the pursuit of a nascent robotic arms race. Autonomous weapons could be militarily potent and therefore pose a great threat.'"
Yet another predictor.
Bring on the Terminators.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
They're not "coming" as if from space. We just need to choose for them not to exist and they won't. These things will (or won't) be made by individuals who can make moral decisions.
Don't be a terrible individual; don't make or participate in the making of terrible things.
Terminator
ST TNG: Arsenal of Freedom
Etc...
I don't get this... Aren't human soldiers killing based on something other than algorithms? Or is it that the implementations are coded in vague human languages, that makes them feel somehow warm and fuzzy? Well, Pentagon's Ada may be considered similar, but only in jest...
I'd say, whether such systems are bad or good is still up to the algorithms, not the hardware (nor pinkware), that executes them.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Another guy'll be making a robot painting system that aims it's cars "so make a more profitable assembly line".
Yet another'll make a self-driving car "so you won't have to worry about drunk drivers anymore".
Once those pieces are all there (hint, today), it doesn't take much for the last guy to glue the 3 together; hand it a gun instead of spraypaint; and load it with a databases of faces you don't like.
I think that there is a difference, though. It is one thing to create unrelated technology that when linked together is dangerous. It is another thing to just create technology that doesn't have an application outside of killing people. By your argument, every invention all they way back to using flint and tinder to create fire is nothing but a weapon, and why should we even have bothered?
My prediction is that this technology will float about the edge of popular awareness, until an unbalanced individual sets up a KILLMAX(tm) brand 'smartgun perimeter defense turret' in an elementary school and murders a bunch of children and escapes because he didn't have to be on the scene. Then national outrage will lead to mass bans on such weapons.
Should we be making such weapons? I don't know, I suppose that the argument can be made that they fill the same role as land mines, but have the upside that there is less problem with getting rid of them when the fighting stops. I find the glee we as a species have in building better was of killing each other to be really depressing on the whole.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
To all the engineers working on this: you're responsible. You are doing this. You are a terrible person.
We still rely on chemical energy to power our weapons and as such they all have the ultimate fail safe system.
Brace yourself before clicking the link. This may come as a surprise to you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Failsafe system will be contracted out to the people who profited by writing and then fixing the Affordable Healthcare websites.
So the Canadians will be responsible for SkyNet?
I can't remember the documentary; maybe Fog of War starring Satan's favorite child Robert McNamara. But, they figured out that in combat 25% of of soldiers weren't actually shooting at other people. They were intentionally shooting up in the air to avoid killing. So, part of the Army's training post WWII was to get soldiers to fire without thinking. The outcome was soldiers were more effective in battle. The consequence was soldiers weren't evaluating the act of taking lives until AFTER they'd done it which contributed to the increased mental issues Vietnam-era soldiers endure.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
To kill someone with a knife, you have to stand very close to them and thrust the weapon into their body. To kill them with a gun, they have to be in line of sight and pull the trigger. To kill them with a drone, you need them on live camera and push a button. To kill them with an autonomous robot, you need to have a description of what they look like and what area they are located in and program that into the robot. Every step becomes more indirect, more emotionally detached.
"Guns don't kill people" is just a slogan. A gun is a tool. For killing people. The real questions include "Do guns deter crime or make it more violent?" and "Does home gun ownership help prevent a government from turning on its own people?", but those have no simple answers, so they are not as useful in propaganda.