Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers, page 1
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Topic started on 2-12-2008 @ 04:04 AM by dodgygeeza

Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers


www.telegraph.co.uk
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.
(visit the link for the full news article)


reply posted on 2-12-2008 @ 05:01 AM by sty
reply to post by dodgygeeza



well, then you cannot make a truly moral robot, can you ? it would be so called "narrow AI" - it means that it is just a program running smart. A truly AI would be able to learn , make conclusions then even change its own program . It would be surprising what a true AI would find as moral! would that match humans ? would we all sudenly be the enemies???

[edit on 2-12-2008 by sty]


reply posted on 2-12-2008 @ 05:04 AM by sty
reply to post by Merriman Weir



in a way I believe that the AI can be the destroyer or the saviour for us. An AI used to create and enhance science / life , would be great. AI used to destroy and dominate the other side..


reply posted on 2-12-2008 @ 05:07 AM by Daniel666
reply to post by Merriman Weir



Is this were ALL that bailout money is going?
Cause i dont see signs of it anywhere else!


reply posted on 2-12-2008 @ 05:53 AM by DataWraith
The way the military thinks about 'robot soldiers' is that they can send it into combat and it will make the right choice at the right time, All well and good in theory, but looka the actuallity of teaching a robot right from wrong'.
You've built said robot, 'taught' it and then given it a gun. you send it to a battle field where it can prove its worth to kill the 'enemy' .
Its charginging around firing at anything the programmers have decided 'looks' like an enemy.
Can a robot tell the difference between a fat civilian and a terrorist with a bomb vest?
Can a robot differentiate between an ak47 and a toy gun in the hands of a child?
Supposing and there are cases of children being utilised in war, at what age or height can the robot determine if someone is to young to fire a gun properly and doesn't really want to be there coz their scared, or there because they really want to 'kill the infidel' ( sorry for using current terminology from the 'War on terror' but if combat spills to the Asian countries or African states that use child soldiers then I'll amend terminology as needed.
Can a robot tell a scared person who has been told to fire a gun or "we'll kill your family" or someone of diminished mental capacity told to " go kill them and you'll get 70 virgins in heaven" because they've been persuaded?
There is only one reason to have a robot on the battlefield - to kill as many people as they can so they won't be able to mount a resistance to the occupying forces.
At least a Human soldier can make on the spot decisions to either tell the enemy combatant to " drop they're weapons" or just fire to wound / incapacitate. whereas a robot will shoot to kill , as per programming instructions.
Sure send a robot soldier into a cave system where you know for certain that all inside are enemy combatants, but in a town or city they will kill more civilians than soldiers.
Ethics for a robot is only as good as the ethics of the person programming or told to programme by the higher echelons which aint good at the best of times.
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