#12 All kidding aside, the writer DOES make some good points, esp. those about there being a lower threshold for initiating combat operations. I program computers, and know how finite and error-prone programmers, programs, and computers are.
The biggest comfort I have re our armed forces is that they are REAL Americans: in a recent informal poll, a Marine officer discovered that his entire unit would refuse to obey a direct order to disarm the American populace, regarding it a violation of the Second Amendment. Will that sort of reticence be programmed into robot warriors? I favor the Revised Superman Krypton model, where heavily armed robotic suits are worn and directed by individuals. Any AI would be strictly in advisory mode, a-la Cortana of Halo fame. They should not be heavily modified in an organic sense, though, like Master Chief or Robocop are/were. Another acceptable possiblity makes every solider an officer of a mini-platoon of robots, and for which he must take total and complete credit and responsibility.
I am very reluctant to take humanity out of the loop. Dire shit always seems to come down when we separate power from consequences, responsiblity, or accountability: those things separate dictatorships from representative democracies and republics.
As for the "mechanical" aspects of robotics/AI, such as >>low level reasoning<<, path finding, sensory input, discrimination, mechanical platforms, and such: It's just a matter of time, and I am much more optimistic about the answer to "can we?" than the author. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that typical Yankee ingenuity will eventually make this stuff work, and work spectacularly. So much so, that NOW is definitely the time to start thinking about the "should we?" and "how should we?" questions.
|
The American military is working on a new generation of soldiers, far different from the army it has. "They don't get hungry," said Gordon Johnson of the Joint Forces Command at the Pentagon. "They're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot. Will they do a better job than humans? Yes."
