Automatic drones, capable of killing without any human intervention

Yeah those scientists never watched Terminator did they?

A future for drones: Automated killing

One afternoon last fall at Fort Benning, Ga., two model-size planes took off, climbed to 800 and 1,000 feet, and began criss-crossing the military base in search of an orange, green and blue tarp.

The automated, unpiloted planes worked on their own, with no human guidance, no hand on any control.

After 20 minutes, one of the aircraft, carrying a computer that processed images from an onboard camera, zeroed in on the tarp and contacted the second plane, which flew nearby and used its own sensors to examine the colorful object. Then one of the aircraft signaled to an unmanned car on the ground so it could take a final, close-up look.

Target confirmed.

This successful exercise in autonomous robotics could presage the future of the American way of war: a day when drones hunt, identify and kill the enemy based on calculations made by software, not decisions made by humans.

Yeah this is gonna end well... not.

Wheres John Connor when you need him?

Oh, what could possibly go wrong with this?? I suppose they have NEVER heard of sabotage before eh?? Instead of a disgruntled soldier 'fragging' an officer, they'll just reprogram one of these drones and let it fly. This concept might also be interesting to see put up against the best hackers in the world. I wonder how long it would take for the top level to take over the signal and drone controls outright or just interrupt it long enough to crash it. Naww.. nothing can go wrong with this concept at all. It's the Government. They never screw anything up, right?

reply to post by Vitchilo


You would think that with the USA friendly fire track record in most conflicts that this a VERY bad idea!
If american forces cannot distinguish between friendly forces and enemy combatants with their eyes then how can a drone??
I'm not anti American BTW, just an observation of the gung-ho approach that the US take with everything.

I think much better to have a drone for everyone then add the massive robot drones. And I do mean everyone needs a personal drone with a dna lock key. That way if anything happens just have the human controlled drones take out the rogue drones.

A very similar story line in SGU, an 'advanced' race built and left drones to destroy any other technology not theirs, however said race died out still leaving drones in place, taking everything out. You can see this would only ever end up ending badly.

They will have to change international law to put them into real-action though. Not that it will be some major obstacle.
I wonder what will be the explanation if system will go rogue and bomb some civilians settlements. "We're sorry, but we had a glitch in a software"? Or perhaps "We're sorry, we got hacked by anonymous"?

Nah, it will be just "We're sorry"

Eek..

These are scary times that we're currently livin' in, & future we're progressin' towards.

Can anybody say "NWO?"

reply to post by stainlesssteelrat


The US couldn't give a rats ass about International Law. If they want to deploy these things, then they will deploy them and ignore the fuss anyone makes.

This is a very dodgy step, we're pretty much all thinking Terminator, and many are concerned about mistakes, and those of us in the software development industry are hiding under our desks with the helmet and body armour to hand!

Science Fiction stories create future Science ideas. It has been this way since our imaginations first started to flutter with new and exciting ideas. Apparently, the people in charge of this project don't read or watch much sci-fi.

What's ``nice`` about these drones (from an elite viewpoint) is that they can kill civilians ``by mistake`` and you can't charge them with war crimes for it or even put anyone in jail for it...

They'll blame the computer...

Originally posted by Rob37n
The US couldn't give a rats ass about International Law. If they want to deploy these things, then they will deploy them and ignore the fuss anyone makes.

Ah ye, of course they would, but it would give argument to some pesky protesters later. Better and easier use their Council on Foreign Relations, mediate with UN (both in Rockefeller's pocket) and just change some sketchy paragraph

reply to post by Vitchilo


One other benefit of this sort of weaponry, you can turn it on your own citizens and not have to worry about it changing sides or refusing to fire or carry out illegal orders. This weapon will probably see more use against it's own citizens than anyone else. As an area denial weapon it's deployment has no precedent, and it's use is against anyone in unthinkable. There should be limits.

Imagine one of these buzzing around Area 51 and some idiot misses the signs, or tries to be clever and set foot on restricted ground and gets shot for their trouble.

so, skynet is real then =/

we're all going to die.

ed: someone call arnie and tell him theres more important things to be doing than running cali.

Sounds like something they would love to put on the new Stealth bomber the B 3 or the new LO AC-130 platform they are developing. Both are supposed to be able to launch drones so it makes sense, but taking the human factor out of piloting just seems no bueno to me.

I'm sure things will end up working just fine...

Oh god, everyone take cover, the American's learned how to program giant RC planes to find orange tarps.

We're all doomed!

Anyone want to buy a used Orange walking jacket?

Originally posted by RSF77
Oh god, everyone take cover, the American's learned how to program giant RC planes to find orange tarps.

We're all doomed!

yup, all doomed!!!

This is just the beginning...Rise of the Machines