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Robots, ROBOTS, ROBOTS!
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NOT the next Mel Gibson feature, but the future of warfare. Possibly.
Droning: Between 1,500 and 2,500 people have been killed in Pakistan by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. These are in effect war planes which are controlled remotely, as I have wittered, whimpered and screamed previously. The legality of these strikes is still at question. Most likely, they will be found to be every bit as legal as a bow and arrow. The guy's just standing further away. Still, we should be aware of what's happening, where it's happening, how it's happening and why. To cut a long story short, Terrorism is why it's happening. There are lots of reasons why "non-state actors" can, should and will not be tolerated. Irish people should have a better understanding of that than most. In a situation where we have equal rights a vote each, then political violence is an attempt to subvert that democracy. Terrorists are not the friends of the people, they are the future oppressors of the people, if they get their way.
Still, what underpins and sustains democracy, as well as law and order, is freedom of speech. We should be free to debate. "I'll be back"..
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-- bigtom
24/04/12 at 16:33
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 From :
bigtom
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Posted : 24/04/12 at 16:40 |
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| *cut to senate floor, shot of Claire Danes removing trousers
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From :
evil_giraffe
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Posted : 24/04/12 at 16:42 |
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| Her own trousers or someone elses?
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From :
number10
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Posted : 24/04/12 at 19:11 |
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| The thought that Mitt Romney might be a robot in disguise is actually quite an attractive one!
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From :
tricky
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Posted : 25/04/12 at 12:44 |
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| there was actually a very good, Good Wife where these came in. It was kinda scary seeing footage that was 'relayed' back to the base in Nevada during the process. I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but it definitely fell broadly in line with reality.
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From :
bigtom
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Posted : 25/04/12 at 14:52 |
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| 53 countries have some form of UAV in development, according to that bastion of truth, Wikipedia.
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From :
bigtom
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Posted : 25/04/12 at 14:54 |
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It is always worth listening again to General Ripper.... how he held a straight face after this, I'll never know...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKR32ImWYzw
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From :
bigtom
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Posted : 25/04/12 at 22:01 |
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"Now then, DemitrI..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjN9yK4lhxU
Tablet taken, returning to normal... I've disqualified myself from taking part in this debate, repeatedly... It's a good idea to be aware of issues like this, I think, to have an abstract debate in public, but there's a good reason why we don't, and shouldn't, talk about anything specific which might be related to any operation which might be taking place. "Loose Lips Sink Ships"... Like I say I've been very stupid more than once, and mildly crazy.
So, for safety reasons, I've disqualified myself. And thinking about this stuff is not helping me get it together, and maybe get some work done. But I have to repeat that in relation to this stuff, in particular the concept of "autonomous" weapons systems, there are questions we have to ask. And because of the omerta that surrounds anything operational, it's better to ask now. Dr. Strangelove was based on a novel called "Red Alert", which senior military people on both sides encouraged each other to read, because it painted a scenario which was actually possible.
The same type of work relating to autonomous weapons might be illuminating. It should be realistic and current, we've had things like "I, Robot" and "Terminator". The reality could be a lot more scary.
A guy who's making a grown-up contribution to the ethical debate is Mr. Noel Sharkey, who is a professor of AI at Sheffield Uni. His papers are available online, this one http://rusi.org/downloads/assets/23sharkey.pdf is a decent overview. The place where the argument may be won, in my opinion, is in the "Chain of Command". For all the inhuman behaviour that has taken place up to now, we have had people who could be held answerable for their actions. A Robot can never be thought to have "responsibility". Artificial Intelligence is light years away from being able to cover something like that, if it ever will be.
According to Mr. Sharkey, one of the problems he has is that too few technical people are working on the ethical side of the issue, with the result that Military people have fantasies about what is actually possible in Computing terms at present. Non-technical people see things like video-games, and wonder at the marvels of the obvious processing power of even a video game, and it's true that processing power is remarkable and ever increasing. The key here though is that every possible variable has been written into the code for the game. There is nothing that you can do, nothing that you can be, that has not been accounted for. Nothing can happen in what looks like a world, but is in reality just an awful lot of sums, that is outside of what is "possible", as previously defined.
The problem Computers have with the real world (and especially something as chaotic as a battlefield), is that nothing's defined. You can't program for that. The concept of Artificial Intelligence that exists is very far off the mark... Probably a good place to start would be to say the very few things that a Computer can do.
Then it'll be obvious just how many things it can't.
Anyway. The good news. I can personally vouch for the fact that we have freedom of speech in this country. If we didn't, I'd be well dead by now. Goodnight, Irene.
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