There seems to be something that gets everyone excited when a robot designed to kill humans runs around on the ground.
The military has been using robots to kill humans, including innocent civilians, for decades. A close encounter with a air-to-air self guiding rocket can ruin your day, just ask the relatives of the folks on flight 007.
The real question to me is, will we be more "civilized" if we can achieve a point where disputes that can't be resolved diplomatically can be resolved by much less bloody robotic combat?
Can, as portrayed in THX 1138, the winner be declared when the battle budget on one side is exhausted? Or would we just announce a "revolution" in low cost combat and go back to employing meatbots to slug it out when the budget runs empty?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Meatbot Mark I @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM
There seems to be something that gets everyone excited when a robot designed to kill humans runs around on the ground.
The military has been using robots to kill humans, including innocent civilians, for decades. A close encounter with a air-to-air self guiding rocket can ruin your day, just ask the relatives of the folks on flight 007.
The real question to me is, will we be more "civilized" if we can achieve a point where disputes that can't be resolved diplomatically can be resolved by much less bloody robotic combat?
Can, as portrayed in THX 1138, the winner be declared when the battle budget on one side is exhausted? Or would we just announce a "revolution" in low cost combat and go back to employing meatbots to slug it out when the budget runs empty?