Anyone who’s ever done any home renovation knows what a messy job removing paint can be. But imagine that instead of a flat wall you were tasked with stripping a curvy streamlined fighter plane. And the paint you were removing was designed to endure the stresses of supersonic flight. It’s a daunting task, which is why the Air Force wants to hand the job to laser-wielding robots. More »
Thanks to the use of drones, there is a reduced need for sending human beings into the field of battle which in turn could cut down on the amount of lives lost (at least for one side), but given what we’ve seen in movies like Terminator, it could be possible that one day in the future, our wars could be fought by fully autonomous weapons. While fully autonomous weapons are not a reality just yet, the Human Rights Watch has released a report in which they are appealing to the rest of the world to abandon the search and development of fully autonomous weapons, leaving an ominous warning by saying “before it’s too late”.
According to the report, the Human Rights Watch is worried about the implications of fully autonomous weapons because they would lack certain human controls about them, namely the ability to decide whether or not to kill someone, which perhaps could be thought of as mercy in some cases. The Human Rights Watch is also calling upon governments to draft an international treaty that would ban such autonomous weapons before it is too late.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Drones for Peace UAV is specifically built for the masses, U.S. Navy to install Linux on its drones,
Human rights groups are calling for a universal ban on robotic weapons systems that are able to determine when to fire without human interaction. Clearly, someone has watched The Terminator too many times. Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic have both called for all states to agree to ban the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.
The US military has several robotic weapons systems that are capable of operating autonomously that are equipped with weapons. However, those weapons are controlled by humans when it comes time to attack a target. The same human rights groups want the designers of robots to enact a “code of conduct.” That sounds like an effort to prevent Skynet.
The fear is that numerous automated weapons systems in use around the world that currently identify, target, and give humans only a little time to decide whether the target is obliterated might be turned into fully automated systems. Some of those weapons systems may need only a software upgrade. The human rights groups say, “action is needed now, before killer robots cross the line from science fiction to feasibility.”
A ban on fully automated weapons systems would reportedly require a new and major arms treaty amongst nations. Those who support the ban point out that fully autonomous weapons systems wouldn’t be able to comply with international humanitarian law. Others believe that fully autonomous weapons systems could be more reliable than humans because people can make bad decisions under stress.
John McGinnis, a Northwestern University Law professor, suggests, “artificial-intelligence robots on the battlefield may actually lead to less destruction, becoming a civilizing force in wars.”
[via The Globe and Mail]
Human rights groups call for ban on automated killer robots is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
ICBMs are great and all, but since they are used almost exclusively for nuclear strikes, launching one would practically guarantee WWIII. So, to get non-nuclear ordnance anywhere in the world in under an hour, DARPA is developing the reusable, hypersonic Falcon delivery system. More »
War isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes it’s been necessary for sweeping changes to take place. But it is, for the most part, a tragic time. Because aside from risking the lives of soldiers, there’s also the matter of taking away the lives of innocent civilians. These days, fewer human lives are risked in the skies as the military uses drones to carry out a lot of their bombing.
As you can see, it’s pretty well-documented. And now with the click of a button, you can view images of drone-hit areas in war zones like Afghanistan, where hundreds, if not thousands, of buildings and other structures have been leveled by these blasts.
This is all possible through Dronestagram, which makes use of image-sharing platforms like Tumblr and Instagram to share these images of destruction.
Behind the project is James Bridle, who explains his motivation behind it:
Wadi al Abu Jabara. Beit al Ahan. Jaar. Dhamar. Al-Saeed. Tappi. Bulandkhel. Hurmuz. Khaider khel. These are the names of places. They are towns, villages, junctions and roads. They are the names of places where people live and work, where there are families and schools. They are the names of places in Afghanistan and Yemen, which are linked by one thing: they have each been the location of drone strikes in the past couple of months.
Follow Dronestagram on Tumblr and Instagram and see the damage for yourself.
[via Dvice]
Dolphins are known for their intelligence, exceptional diving ability, and trainability. It didn’t take long for us humans to begin testing these mammals to perform specific tasks, such as the ones we can find on water parks. But unknown to some, the U.S. Navy also saw the potential of these mammals and even created a specific program for it called the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP). The aim is to study the military use of marine mammals to perform tasks such as ship and harbor protection, mine detection and clearance, and equipment recovery.
The program has been labeled as controversial, hence forcing the U.S. Navy to look somewhere else. Just recently, BBC is reporting that the U.S. Navy is ready to replace its military dolphins with cheaper robots by 2017. “We’re in a period of transition. After nearly 50 years, he says, the Navy plans to phase out its Sea Mammal Program and retire its pods of dolphins and sea lions that are currently used to help locate, and in some cases destroy, sea mines,” said Captain Frank Linkous, Head of the U.S. Navy’s Mine Warfare Branch. “In general, we’re looking to phase out that program beginning in fiscal year 2017.”
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Dolphin Browser now on the BlackBerry PlayBook, Dolphin browser for iOS updated,
Our need for resources is driving development of some of the world’s most remote regions. So how do we get the heavy machinery needed to explore areas where roads exist only as dotted lines on a map? You use a helicopter the size of a jumbo jet. More »
Obama has signed a highly secret directive which will allow the military to act more aggressively when it comes to stopping cyber attacks striking the US. More »
Coinciding with the start of its massive Velayat 4 air-defense maneuvers and amid rising tensions over its nuclear program, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi unveiled Iran’s newest weapon on Monday—a recon drone-launching, missile-firing, all-terrain-travelling hovercraft. One that looks suspiciously just like the ones they bought from the UK decades ago. More »
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has announced that it has submitted its final proposal to the United States Air Force for its Space Fence Radar. Space Fence is an advanced ground-based radar system aimed at improving the ability of the United States Air Force to identify and track objects in orbit around Earth. The proposal would replace the current Air Force Space Surveillance System installed in 1961.
According to the Air Force, the original surveillance system wasn’t designed to track hundreds of thousands of smaller objects orbiting the planet. These small pieces of space debris threaten important satellites in orbit and pose a threat to the international space station and future space missions. The Air Force wants to begin constructing the first Space Fence site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Construction on that initial facility will begin in the fall of 2013 with an initial operational capability hoped for 2017. If the proposal from Lockheed Martin is approved the contract would be worth $1.9 billion over a seven-year term. Space Fence is a ground-based S-band radar technology.
The goal of the Space Fence system is to enhance the capability of the United States to detect, track, measure, and catalog orbital objects and space debris with significantly improved accuracy and timeliness. The radar system also promises increased surveillance coverage. Lockheed Martin has already demonstrated a prototype Space Fence radar system and proved that the prototype could detect resident space objects.
Lockheed Martin submits final proposal for Space Fence radar the USAF is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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