I fail to see anything beautiful about that.jingofever wrote:Back in the day on one of those TV shows about robots and the men who love them they were profiling a particular robot company and their employees. One of the guys said that his dream was that when the robots inevitably take over and hunt down the humans that the robot tasked to exterminate him would recognize that he was their creator, shake his hand, say thanks, and then blow him away. *sniff* It's beautiful.
Moral Battle Robots for War
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Code Unknown
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- jingofever
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- 8bitagent
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Right wing government propaganda mouthpiece Popular Mechanics/Science is always pushing the futuristic military death machine gizmo stuff. They seem to almost cream their pants with excitement at the "latest ways to fight terrorism"
Next year Terminator Salvation come to theaters, but its interesting how close to reality that could be
If the "bad guys" also got the robots, and no humans could be hurt, and it was just a big robot free for all in some desert...I guess, aside from the cost, it would be the first time I wouldnt want to protest a war.
Next year Terminator Salvation come to theaters, but its interesting how close to reality that could be
If the "bad guys" also got the robots, and no humans could be hurt, and it was just a big robot free for all in some desert...I guess, aside from the cost, it would be the first time I wouldnt want to protest a war.
"Do you know who I am? I am the arm, and I sound like this..."-man from another place, twin peaks fire walk with me
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Penguin
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Ah, heres more on this story, seems its really going forward big-time. Geneva Convention obeying robots...Now if only their masters would do the same :S
Via Cryptogon... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rimes.html
Pentagon Hires British Scientist to Help Build Robot Soldiers that ‘Won’t Commit War Crimes’
The American military is planning to build robot soldiers that will not be able to commit war crimes like their human comrades in arms.
The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately.
By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into “autonomous systems”, the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.
A British robotics expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on building robots that do not violate the Geneva Conventions.
Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University’s has just published a book summarising his views entitled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. Can we use ethical theory to help design these machines?”
Pentagon chiefs are concerned by studies of combat stress in Iraq that show high proportions of frontline troops supporting torture and retribution against enemy combatants.
Ronald Arkin, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech university, who is working on software for the US Army has written a report which concludes robots, while not “perfectly ethical in the battlefield” can “perform more ethically than human soldiers.”
He says that robots “do not need to protect themselves” and “they can be designed without emotions that cloud their judgment or result in anger and frustration with ongoing battlefield events”.
Airborne drones are already used in Iraq and Afghanistan to launch air strikes against militant targets and robotic vehicles are used to disable roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices.
Last month the US Army took delivery of a new robot built by an American subsidiary of the British defence company QinetiQ, which can fire everything from bean bags and pepper spray to high-explosive grenades and a 7.62mm machine gun.
But this generation of robots are all remotely operated by humans. Researchers are now working on “soldier bots” which would be able to identify targets, weapons and distinguish between enemy forces like tanks or armed men and soft targets like ambulances or civilians.
Their software would be embedded with rules of engagement conforming with the Geneva Conventions to tell the robot when to open fire.
Dr Allen applauded the decision to tackle the ethical dilemmas at an early stage. “It’s time we started thinking about the issues of how to take ethical theory and build it into the software that will ensure robots act correctly rather than wait until it’s too late,” he said.
“We already have computers out there that are making decisions that affect people’s lives but they do it in an ethically blind way. Computers decide on credit card approvals without any human involvement and we’re seeing it in some situations regarding medical care for the elderly,” a reference to hospitals in the US that use computer programmes to help decide which patients should not be resuscitated if they fall unconscious.
Dr Allen said the US military wants fully autonomous robots because they currently use highly trained manpower to operate them. “The really expensive robots are under the most human control because they can’t afford to lose them,” he said.
“It takes six people to operate a Predator drone round the clock. I know the Air Force has developed software, which they claim is to train Predator operators. But if the computer can train the human it could also ultimately fly the drone itself.”
Some are concerned that it will be impossible to devise robots that avoid mistakes, conjuring up visions of machines killing indiscriminately when they malfunction, like the robot in the film Robocop.
Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist at Sheffield University, best known for his involvement with the cult television show Robot Wars, is the leading critic of the US plans.
He says: “It sends a cold shiver down my spine. I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination is terrifying.”
Via Cryptogon... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rimes.html
Pentagon Hires British Scientist to Help Build Robot Soldiers that ‘Won’t Commit War Crimes’
The American military is planning to build robot soldiers that will not be able to commit war crimes like their human comrades in arms.
The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately.
By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into “autonomous systems”, the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.
A British robotics expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on building robots that do not violate the Geneva Conventions.
Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University’s has just published a book summarising his views entitled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. Can we use ethical theory to help design these machines?”
Pentagon chiefs are concerned by studies of combat stress in Iraq that show high proportions of frontline troops supporting torture and retribution against enemy combatants.
Ronald Arkin, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech university, who is working on software for the US Army has written a report which concludes robots, while not “perfectly ethical in the battlefield” can “perform more ethically than human soldiers.”
He says that robots “do not need to protect themselves” and “they can be designed without emotions that cloud their judgment or result in anger and frustration with ongoing battlefield events”.
Airborne drones are already used in Iraq and Afghanistan to launch air strikes against militant targets and robotic vehicles are used to disable roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices.
Last month the US Army took delivery of a new robot built by an American subsidiary of the British defence company QinetiQ, which can fire everything from bean bags and pepper spray to high-explosive grenades and a 7.62mm machine gun.
But this generation of robots are all remotely operated by humans. Researchers are now working on “soldier bots” which would be able to identify targets, weapons and distinguish between enemy forces like tanks or armed men and soft targets like ambulances or civilians.
Their software would be embedded with rules of engagement conforming with the Geneva Conventions to tell the robot when to open fire.
Dr Allen applauded the decision to tackle the ethical dilemmas at an early stage. “It’s time we started thinking about the issues of how to take ethical theory and build it into the software that will ensure robots act correctly rather than wait until it’s too late,” he said.
“We already have computers out there that are making decisions that affect people’s lives but they do it in an ethically blind way. Computers decide on credit card approvals without any human involvement and we’re seeing it in some situations regarding medical care for the elderly,” a reference to hospitals in the US that use computer programmes to help decide which patients should not be resuscitated if they fall unconscious.
Dr Allen said the US military wants fully autonomous robots because they currently use highly trained manpower to operate them. “The really expensive robots are under the most human control because they can’t afford to lose them,” he said.
“It takes six people to operate a Predator drone round the clock. I know the Air Force has developed software, which they claim is to train Predator operators. But if the computer can train the human it could also ultimately fly the drone itself.”
Some are concerned that it will be impossible to devise robots that avoid mistakes, conjuring up visions of machines killing indiscriminately when they malfunction, like the robot in the film Robocop.
Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist at Sheffield University, best known for his involvement with the cult television show Robot Wars, is the leading critic of the US plans.
He says: “It sends a cold shiver down my spine. I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination is terrifying.”
- beeline
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
Link
The Quadrotor Drone Learns Several Terrifying New Tricks
The last we checked in with U Penn's frighteningly maneuverable little quadrotor, we noted that it could probably zip through your window and kill you in your sleep. Well, now it can fly through windows while they're moving. Guhhh.
Yes, today U Penn's GRASP Lab posted the aptly titled "Aggressive Quadrotor Part II," showing off all of their drone's freaky new feats. It can buzz around in menacing circles, calculate an optimal path through several rings, and even squeeze through an opening that's on the move itself. That means it could fly through your window and kill you in your sleep if you were sleeping in a train's sleeper car. Nowhere is safe!
Thankfully, we know that Daniel Mellinger and Vijay Kumar, the U Penn researchers behind the project, will only use their talented little bot for good. Like flying through supervillains' windows and killing them in their sleep.
The Quadrotor Drone Learns Several Terrifying New Tricks
The last we checked in with U Penn's frighteningly maneuverable little quadrotor, we noted that it could probably zip through your window and kill you in your sleep. Well, now it can fly through windows while they're moving. Guhhh.
Yes, today U Penn's GRASP Lab posted the aptly titled "Aggressive Quadrotor Part II," showing off all of their drone's freaky new feats. It can buzz around in menacing circles, calculate an optimal path through several rings, and even squeeze through an opening that's on the move itself. That means it could fly through your window and kill you in your sleep if you were sleeping in a train's sleeper car. Nowhere is safe!
Thankfully, we know that Daniel Mellinger and Vijay Kumar, the U Penn researchers behind the project, will only use their talented little bot for good. Like flying through supervillains' windows and killing them in their sleep.
- Simulist
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
"Moral Battle Robots"? What will they think of next?
"Virgin hookers," perhaps?
"Virgin hookers," perhaps?
"The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego."
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- dbcooper41
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
this post is getting so close to the truth. perhaps this weekend i'll let it all fly. and what a bizarre tale it is.
- Laodicean
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
Set those little guys a flyin' in malls all across the U.S. and you'll have the hottest Christmas gift evar!!
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War

"There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." ~ A.N. Whitehead
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
It's eagerly awaited.dbcooper41 wrote:this post is getting so close to the truth. perhaps this weekend i'll let it all fly. and what a bizarre tale it is.
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” - William Faulkner
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American Dream
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Re: Moral Battle Robots for War
Not sure what to say about PW Singer, but worth checking out...
Video: P.W. Singer on military robots and the future of war
Video: P.W. Singer on military robots and the future of war
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."
-Malcolm X
-Malcolm X
