Black comedians, such as Eddie Murphy, have a standard line of jokes that always draws laughs: how white people in Hollywood horror movies never seem to heed the obvious and just run. You're in an abandoned mansion alone, at night, and a disembodied voice says "Leave!" What does the (white) character do? "Hmmm... that's a funny voice. I wonder what's behind this door with blood smeared on it..." Similarly, Americans are fighting the obvious in Iraq. No nukes. No chemical weapons. No biological weapons. No connection to Al Qaieda. No connection to 9/11. People trying to kill you on every corner. Americans can only leave their heavily fortified bases in heavily armored vehicles while wearing body armor. Now we are sending robots to do even that. "Hmmm... I wonder what's behind the door with the blood smeared on it... "
Sarcasm does not come thru well on the screen, but that was my intent when I referred to the Abu Ghraib guards' "training."
In fact, part of their defense in court martials has been that they did not receive the proper training on the treatment of prisoners.
I agree with you though, training or not, what they did was despicable. Although psychological studies such as the infamous Stanford Prison experiments show that any people under those conditions (without clear structure & limits) become authoritarian and sadistic. It's in our nature.
I assume that whomever is operating the dastardly device would still be subject to the Geneva Conventions. The operators will probably receive as much training in the proper treatment of POWs and civilians as the guards in Abu Ghraib did.
Do you know what part of the Geneva Convention bans automated weapons, or what the wording is?
Even if these robot weapons are illegal, it would be well within the Bush admin's modus operandi to deploy them regardless.
I'm sure it is not a coincidence that these robots were named after the robot "autonomous mobile swords" in the film "Screamers."
This was a terrible 1996 sci-fi film, in which the robots evolved beyond their initial design and went on a planet-wide killing spree. I'm sure the Iraqis feel safer already.
The film was based on Phillip K. Dick's 1953 short story "Second Variety." Michael Crichton's recent novel "Prey" is also a remake of this short story.
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Black comedians, such as Eddie Murphy, have a standard line of jokes that always draws laughs: how white people in Hollywood horror movies never seem to heed the obvious and just run. You're in an abandoned mansion alone, at night, and a disembodied voice says "Leave!" What does the (white) character do? "Hmmm... that's a funny voice. I wonder what's behind this door with blood smeared on it..." Similarly, Americans are fighting the obvious in Iraq. No nukes. No chemical weapons. No biological weapons. No connection to Al Qaieda. No connection to 9/11. People trying to kill you on every corner. Americans can only leave their heavily fortified bases in heavily armored vehicles while wearing body armor. Now we are sending robots to do even that. "Hmmm... I wonder what's behind the door with the blood smeared on it... "
Hezbollah is a Palestinian organization completely unrelated to the Iraqi resistance. If you have evidence otherwise, please provide it.
Sarcasm does not come thru well on the screen, but that was my intent when I referred to the Abu Ghraib guards' "training." In fact, part of their defense in court martials has been that they did not receive the proper training on the treatment of prisoners. I agree with you though, training or not, what they did was despicable. Although psychological studies such as the infamous Stanford Prison experiments show that any people under those conditions (without clear structure & limits) become authoritarian and sadistic. It's in our nature.
I assume that whomever is operating the dastardly device would still be subject to the Geneva Conventions. The operators will probably receive as much training in the proper treatment of POWs and civilians as the guards in Abu Ghraib did.
Do you know what part of the Geneva Convention bans automated weapons, or what the wording is? Even if these robot weapons are illegal, it would be well within the Bush admin's modus operandi to deploy them regardless.
I'm sure it is not a coincidence that these robots were named after the robot "autonomous mobile swords" in the film "Screamers." This was a terrible 1996 sci-fi film, in which the robots evolved beyond their initial design and went on a planet-wide killing spree. I'm sure the Iraqis feel safer already. The film was based on Phillip K. Dick's 1953 short story "Second Variety." Michael Crichton's recent novel "Prey" is also a remake of this short story.