dreamdancer 0 #1 March 10, 2009 here come the machines...and they've got guns! QuoteIN THIS age of super-rapid technological advance, we do well to obey the Boy Scout injunction: "Be prepared". That requires nimbleness of mind, given that the ever accelerating power of computers is being applied across such a wide range of applications, making it hard to keep track of everything that is happening. The danger is that we only wake up to the need for forethought when in the midst of a storm created by innovations that have already overtaken us. We are on the brink, and perhaps to some degree already over the edge, in one hugely important area: robotics. Robot sentries patrol the borders of South Korea and Israel. Remote-controlled aircraft mount missile attacks on enemy positions. Other military robots are already in service, and not just for defusing bombs or detecting landmines: a coming generation of autonomous combat robots capable of deep penetration into enemy territory raises questions about whether they will be able to discriminate between soldiers and innocent civilians. Police forces are looking to acquire miniature Taser-firing robot helicopters. In South Korea and Japan the development of robots for feeding and bathing the elderly and children is already advanced. Even in a robot-backward country like the UK, some vacuum cleaners sense their autonomous way around furniture. A driverless car has already negotiated its way through Los Angeles traffic. In the next decades, completely autonomous robots might be involved in many military, policing, transport and even caring roles. What if they malfunction? What if a programming glitch makes them kill, electrocute, demolish, drown and explode, or fail at the crucial moment? Whose insurance will pay for damage to furniture, other traffic or the baby, when things go wrong? The software company, the manufacturer, the owner? Most thinking about the implications of robotics tends to take sci-fi forms: robots enslave humankind, or beautifully sculpted humanoid machines have sex with their owners and then post-coitally tidy the room and make coffee. But the real concern lies in the areas to which the money already flows: the military and the police. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126986.300-high-time-to-act-on-armed-robots.htmlstay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #2 March 10, 2009 I'm all for it. These can never be autonomous although the programming could help the operator and perform routine functions. Picture this; the operator is about to launch a big-ole weapon and a message comes across the screen reading "civilians in blast radius". The robot's user does not have to return fire to protect himself. There are no more "me or him" situations where there are kids in the background. Regulate? Sure."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #3 March 10, 2009 QuoteThese can never be autonomous Oh, you foolish boy. 5% of your neighbors are already Cylons. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #4 March 10, 2009 This is why we need to start buying robot insurance NOW! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyxzxNu6J98 - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #5 March 10, 2009 QuoteIn the next decades, completely autonomous robots might be involved in many military, policing, transport and even caring roles. What if they malfunction? What if a programming glitch makes them kill, electrocute, demolish, drown and explode, or fail at the crucial moment? Whose insurance will pay for damage to furniture, other traffic or the baby, when things go wrong? The software company, the manufacturer, the owner? Already happens. If your anti-lock brakes malfunction and lock-up at high speed, that's already an autonomous robot of some sort killing you. Then there's the terminator/matrix robots that can think for themselves and make the decision to kill people because it's logical. I for one, don't think humans will ever be able to create such A.I. - that scenario would be more the role of a psychopathic programmer that takes it upon himself to program the robots to kill. A.I. of that sort is so complicated, it would take everyone on the planet writing programs for a few hundred years to complete. Plus, I really think society is de-evolving, rather than improving. Idiocracy is our future, not The Matrix.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #6 March 10, 2009 We'll be O.K ... they are not allowed to hurt us.... (1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. (2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. (3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #7 March 10, 2009 Quote Quote These can never be autonomous Oh, you foolish boy. 15% of your neighbors are already Cylons. Fixed it for ya! You are so living in the 90's! Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt.Slog 0 #8 March 10, 2009 QuoteQuoteThese can never be autonomous Oh, you foolish boy. 5% of your neighbors are already Cylons. And Johnny Five is ALIVE. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #9 March 10, 2009 the cylons don't scare me! (those pod people are very creepy though - and there are no firm figures on their numbers)stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #10 March 13, 2009 and if the robots don't get us - the viruses will... QuoteCYBER-ATTACKS on a nation's military and commercial computers have grown a lot more sophisticated since the days of the lone hacker targeting a system's defences just for the thrill of it. Nowadays, electronic attacks are increasingly seen as a cheap and easy way for one nation to attack another. "It's the ultimate bargain hunter's way of destroying everyone's way of life," says Glenn Zimmerman, a cyberspace specialist at the Pentagon. "It may even be free." So worried are governments by the prospect of an all-out cyber-attack that last month UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon revealed that cyber-weapons are to be added to the list of arms falling under the remit of the UN's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, which develops policy on weapons of mass destruction. Ban said recent breaches of critical systems represent "a clear and present threat to international security", since the public and private sectors have grown increasingly dependent on electronic information. But despite the threat, current NATO war games tend to treat cyber-attack simulations as an afterthought, according to military sources. Now the Pentagon is hoping to change that by developing a centre at which the military can play realistic electronic war games. Called the National Cyber Range, the centre will mimic not only the hardware that might be used to inflict cyber-attacks, but also the likely behaviours of the people behind the attacks. The centre, being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is part of the US government's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, launched last year. Until now, cyber-attacks have been relatively limited in scope. In 2006, for instance, Russian hackers, angered by the removal of a Soviet war memorial, launched a sustained denial of service attack on government and business websites in former soviet state of Estonia. In 2007, Chinese hackers attacked US and UK government websites, knocking them temporarily offline, and in 2008 Georgia suffered massive internet outages alongside its military battle with Russia. In January, Kyrgyzstan became the latest victim when its two largest internet service providers were targeted by a denial of service attack from hackers in Russia. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126994.600-cyber-attacks-are-a-clear-and-present-danger.htmlstay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #11 March 13, 2009 It's deeper than a simple cyber attack. We need to be concerned with the likes of The Electric Church coming to fruition. "It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #12 March 13, 2009 WARNING! WILL ROBINSON... WARNING... WARNING! Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #13 March 13, 2009 http://xkcd.com/534/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bolas 5 #14 March 19, 2009 Quote We'll be O.K ... they are not allowed to hurt us.... (1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. (2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. (3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Ya obviously missed the end of the movie... Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
