For those who always saw James Cameron’s blockbuster Terminator 2
as somehow eerily inevitable, recent trends in the development of warfare are
proving them correct.
How will the nature of warfare change with the advent of autonomous robots
that can make their own decisions to kill? In short, it could change
everything, though it is unclear if it will lead to a final stand by a human
army against the rise of AI.
Think tanks that advise military planning and policies are now warning
that the dawn of autonomous, killer robots – in real life – is upon us, and
could be wielded by the enemy to create an unstoppable force.
As RT reports:
The future of war will involve autonomous robots instead of
humans, according to Air Force General and Vice Chair of the Joint of Chiefs
of Staff Paul Selva, who warned enemies could build “Terminator”-like
machines to fight in battlefields.
Speaking at the think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS) in Washington, Selva said the technology could be developed in 10
years – and that the world’s biggest military should punish anyone who
pursues such weapons.
“This is about an entirely robotic system, completely autonomous,
[that is] not dependent on the human decision,” Selva said. “We’re told by
the technologists that we’re a decade or so away from that capability.”
“I’m talking about a wholly-robotic system that decides whether or
not, at the point of decision, it’s going to do lethal ops.”
Robots are being used now by police (as in Dallas) and the military to
enter dangerous areas, carry equipment and weaponry and other tasks, and will
become better, stronger, faster and smarter with each passing year.
The usefulness and potential dangers of technology are saturating the
operations of the U.S. military and other world powers as they plan for, or
engage in war.
It is an unavoidable issue, and one that will have to be addressed and
decided upon very soon.
But who will make those decisions, and what if they ignore the risks of
Terminators taking out people?
Scary stuff. How the Pentagon want to make Terminator for
real: http://t.co/XDm0AAwpEU via @motherboard
— Sadek Hamid (@SadekHamid) November 24,
2014
The Pentagon is trying to reassure the public that it will always keep
human operators in the loop, while dealing with its own concerns that a China
or another foreign power will take things further than the U.S. has dared to
go.
This, of course, is the feedback notion that justifies such high levels of
military spending, and the pursuit of such dangerous technologies.
As Motherboard reported back in 2014:
Pentagon officials are worried that the US military is losing its
edge compared to competitors like China, and are willing to explore almost
anything to stay on top—including creating watered-down versions of the
Terminator.
Due to technological revolutions outside its control, the
Department of Defense (DoD) anticipates the dawn of a bold new era of
automated war within just 15 years. By then, they believe, wars could be
fought entirely using intelligent robotic systems armed with advanced
weapons.
Some of the dark implications for the future of technology, war and social
control are outlined in a DoD sponsored paper titled: “Policy Challenges of
Accelerating Technological Change: Security Policy and Strategy Implications
of Parallel Scientific Revolutions”:
The 72-page document throws detailed light on the
far-reaching implications of the Pentagon’s plan to monopolize imminent “transformational
advances” in biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence, information
technology, nanotechnology, and energy.
Worse, the sophisticated levels of communications, data monitoring and
cloud storage mean that Skynet may also literally become a reality, and is
something that both China and the United States have been pursuing.
Predator drones have already changed the face of war, with their
controversial use to target radical extremists in various war torn countries
in the Middle East and Africa. These systems are already capable of
autonomous life-or-death decision making, and their use may become
acceptable.
The future might be unrecognizable, and the battlefield may soon become a
place where humans don’t stand a chance.
John Connor, anyone?
Read more:
DARPA Develops Implant With “Terminator” Vision: “Plugs
directly into a person’s DNA and visual cortex”
Autonomous Killer Robots Almost Here: “3rd Revolution in
Warfare After Gunpowder, Nuclear”
DARPA Creepiest Programs For Human Control: “How Dark Will
Our Future Be?”
Tactics to Take Out a Killer Robot and Survive: “Burn, Fry,
Jam, Tangle or Run It Over”
