<i>Jeff Goldblum:</i> Don't you see the danger inherent in what you're doing here? Killbots will be the most awesome force the planet's ever seen, but you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun.<p><i>Richard Attenborough:</i> I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before… Our robots can do parkour and even dance!<p><i>Goldblum:</i> Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.<p><i>Attenborough:</i> What about search and rescue? They're not just for the military, you know…<p><i>Goldblum:</i> (shaking his head) No…<p><i>Laura Dern:</i> Well, the question is, how can you know every possible use for a new technology? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in this building that are poisonous, you picked them because they look good, but these are aggressive near-living machines that have no idea what's right from wrong, and they'll defend themselves, violently if necessary.<p><i>Attenborough:</i> Sam Neill, if there's one person here who could appreciate what I'm trying to do...<p><i>Sam Neill:</i> The world has just changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look... Killbots and man have just been suddenly thrown into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?<p><i>Attenborough:</i> (laughing) I don't believe it. I don't believe it! You're meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!<p><i>Goldblum:</i> Power, uh, finds a way… to oppress.
I just don't see a way around a future with autonomous killing robots. As China ramps up its military rhetoric and technology spending, it's hard to imagine them drawing a line in the sand against using a technology that could give them military superiority. Once they have it, we're going to need it too, because at that point we're already threatened by its existence anyway, so there's really no point in us purposefully keeping ourselves militarily limited relative to China.
Someone mounted a handgun to a drone a few years back as a DIY project. Honestly: this isn't a big deal - this is a remote control <i>something</i> with a firearm. About as dangerous as a Battlebot (those have had .22 firing guns put on them - not very effective against the armor on those robots).<p>The big deal here would be the deployment of autonomous target acquisition: contrary to popular belief nobody deploys video game style automated turrets, though interestingly the use of "loiter-capable" missiles has gone largely unremarked upon even though by definition these are autonomous robots which attack human-occupied targets without direction.
The big problem is that there's a strong incentive to make UAVs autonomous as doing so would mitigate the risk from jamming to a control signal. Downside is that now we're putting control over weapons into the hands of a (likely) poorly understood amalgamation of algorithms. I'd see this happening with aerial UAVs before the robo-dog, however.
I am very happy that 9/11 happened when drones and robots weren’t ready for military use. If they had been available I bet the administration back then would have deployed them to any country they may have perceived as a threat.<p>Wars are in a sense self regulating. When the human losses get too much, most politicians will reconsider. Happened in Vietnam and also in Afghanistan for the Russians and later the US .<p>With robots this may change. If you lose only robots it’s very tempting to keep wars going with horrendous results for the civilian population in the occupied country while the costs for the occupier are only financial .
Playing devil's advocate here: isn't this just another step in the progression of warfare? Do you think people questioned the shear destruction that could be dealt using gun-powder when that was first used in anger? Same again with tanks, and guided missiles. I'm sure questions were asked, but then if your enemy is going to be using the technology, you'd better be using it as well.<p>Biological warfare scares me far more, and I don't think we've seen anywhere near the potential for that in any way yet.
Just think about this for a sec.<p>We're reading this from cozy place, thinking wow cool/scary, and 5 minutes later we'll forget about it.<p>Meanwhile, 5 years later some civilian in area of conflict being hunted by these robots, while at that same time the rest of us worrying what movie to watch next.<p>Flying cars, self-driving cars, robot dogs, gun-carrying dogs. We truly living the life of what used to be sci-fi. I'm not sure I like where it's headed though.
See what you did black mirror? you gave them ideas.<p>Honestly though, I be surprised if advanced militaries already didn't already something better than this.