[p2p-research] Coming to the Battlefield: Stone-Cold Robot Killers - washingtonpost.com

[Paul D. Fernhout]

Something worse to follow up on my previous post on the development of 
police robots to contain rioters and others.

From:
"Coming to the Battlefield: Stone-Cold Robot Killers"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2159038/posts 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202191.html
"Armed robotic aircraft soar in the skies above Pakistan, hurling death down 
on America's enemies in the war on terrorism. Soon -- years, not decades, 
from now -- American armed robots will patrol on the ground as well, 
fundamentally transforming the face of battle. Conventional war, even 
genocide, may be abolished by a robotic American Peace.
   The detachment with which the United States can inflict death upon our 
enemies is surely one reason why U.S. military involvement around the world 
has expanded over the past two decades. The excellence of American military 
technology makes it possible for U.S. forces to inflict vast damage upon the 
enemy while suffering comparatively modest harm in return. ...
   The rapid emergence of the armed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) that roam 
over Pakistan is a sequel to Moore's Law. Onboard computers became far more 
powerful, so automatic pilots became far more competent. Signal processors 
became more sophisticated, facilitating collection and processing of more 
interesting intelligence. Global Positioning System receivers shrank and 
could be economically employed on small robotic aircraft. Precision-guided 
munitions could deliver lethal firepower. And so forth. ...
   The U.S. Navy has arguably moved farthest toward substituting treasure 
for blood. A generation ago the Reagan administration brought World War 
II-era battleships out of mothballs to provide gunfire support to onshore 
operations. With a crew of more than 1,500, these ships were designed to be 
manned by the low-paid draftees of the 1940s, not the more amply rewarded 
volunteers of the 1980s. The Navy couldn't afford them, and the ships were 
soon returned to mothballs. In their place, the Navy came up with the new 
DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyer, an automated warship with a crew of only 150. ..."

So, technology and robotics is not just replacing people, it is also fewer 
people doing more (damage).

Moore's law shows now signs of stopping for the next two decades. So, we 
will see smarter and smarter machines in the battlefield. And less and less 
people to operate the war machines.

The Washington Post says these robots will only be used to prevent genocide, 
without considering the alternative, that they may be used in them.

I came across that while looking what the freepers say about robots:
   http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/robot/index?tab=articles

This linked one's interesting as it makes fences useless:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8253807.stm
"Video footage has been released of a [shoebox sized] robot that can leap 
over obstacles more than 7.5m (25ft) high."

Looks like the USA is starting to lose control of its own drones (no 
surprise, was only a matter of time):
  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2340387/posts
"The aircraft was flying a combat mission when positive control of the MQ-9 
was lost. When the aircraft remained on a course that would depart 
Afghanistan's airspace, a US Air Force manned aircraft took proactive 
measures to down the Reaper in a remote area of northern Afghanistan."

I've heard of this one before:
"Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2292533/posts

Anyway, the conservatives don't get it about technology invalidating much 
conservative ideology, IHMO. Two big reasons:
* all this fancy technology means that scarcity is potentially over, and
* all this fancy technology means genocide against all people (or any 
arbitrarily categorized people) is easier.
As was said in 1964:
http://educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/C_CC2a_TripleRevolution.htm

Some of the posters at The Free Republic start to get it:
   "U.S. Army Tests Flying Robot Sniper"
  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2235550/posts
"A little more miniaturization and we’ll be in Biblical territory ... 
locusts, with the face of a man, having the power to sting and to torment. 
How else could such a thing have been described two thousand years ago?"

and another there:

"Inch by inch, step by step..robot apocalypse! The end is near."

Many there see it, joke about it, and presumably do nothing. Or remain 
worried, but unable to break out of an ideology that celebrates the market, 
extrinsic security to defend brittle infrastructure, and unilateral 
dominance instead of cooperation, intrinsically secure infrastructural like 
local renewable energy, and mutual security.

Still, this may be an interesting theme to build on: :-)
"Real Soldiers Love Their Robot Brethren"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255730/posts
"""
Human warriors have long spoken of the bonds forged in combat and of 
becoming a "band of brothers." The fact that some of those fellow soldiers 
are made of metal has not discouraged human feelings toward them.
   Thousands of robots now fight with humans on modern battlefields that 
resemble scenes from science fiction movies such as "Terminator Salvation." 
But the real world poses a more complex situation than humans versus robots, 
and has added new twists to the psychology of war.
   "One of the psychologically interesting things is that these systems 
aren't designed to promote intimacy, and yet we're seeing these bonds being 
built with them," said Peter Singer, a leading defense analyst at the 
Brookings Institution and author of "Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution 
and Conflict in the 21st Century" (Penguin Press HC, 2009).
   Singer highlights many accounts of human soldiers feeling strong 
affection for their robots - especially on the Explosive Ordnance Disposal 
(EOD) teams where Packbots and Talon robots undertake the risk of disabling 
improvised explosives planted by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
   One EOD soldier brought in a robot for repairs with tears in his eyes and 
asked the repair shop if it could put "Scooby-Doo" back together. Despite 
being assured that he would get a new robot, the soldier remained 
inconsolable. He only wanted Scooby-Doo.
"""

So, maybe one can hope for robots and people working together at something 
other than destruction?

Contrast:
   "War is a force that gives us meaning"
   http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/War_Peace/War_Gives_Meaning.html
and:
    "War is a racket"
   http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

So little time left as this trend grows exponentially. Mainstream papers are 
now saying "years, not decades" to this stuff on the ground.

Still, some hopeful signs:

"Hospital Robot Helps to Save Lives Off Battlefield "
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143769/posts
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52209
"""
Once confined solely to the pages of science fiction, remotely controlled 
robots are now commonplace on today’s battlefield, extending the reach of 
bomb experts and being used extensively to search for and destroy booby 
traps intent on killing U.S. troops.
   Remotely piloted aircraft also have proven their worth in combat, and now 
are in high demand, allowing the U.S. military to project its firepower and 
reconnaissance capabilities beyond its troops’ reach.
   And behind the scenes in a handful of military hospitals, the use of 
remotely controlled robots is being explored as a means of projecting 
doctors’ expertise beyond the walls of their own medical facilities and into 
places where troops need their specialty care.
   “It takes a little bit of an imagination. It’s hard for some people to 
grasp everything that you can do with this thing,” said Dr. Kevin Chung, the 
medical director for the burn intensive care unit at the Army’s burn center 
at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. “The potential is limitless.”
   Chung is one of the military’s pioneers in robotic telepresence, and he 
regularly pilots a robot around the halls of the intensive care unit at 
BAMC. His RP-7 robot, made by InTouch Health, a robotics technology company 
based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is a wireless, mobile, robot that allows 
Chung to be in many places at once.
   A laptop computer connected to a wireless signal serves as the control 
station for the robot, which brings to mind a souped-up, four-foot tall 
version of Disney’s animated robot “WALL-E.”
   A computer screen serves as its head, with a camera that can pan, tilt 
and zoom. Two-way audio and video allows for interaction between doctor and 
patient or staff. Using the robot, Chung can interact with patients, check 
vital-sign monitors, examine X-rays and zoom in to read charts or examine a 
patient's wound. The system also can capture and share digital images and 
videos.
   The RP-7 can move freely, guided remotely by Chung. Chung recently 
returned from a six-month deployment as a critical care doctor at a combat 
support hospital in Baghdad. While he was there, he said, he was able to log 
in via satellite to the robot at BAMC and make his rounds seeing patients 
there. Twice, Chung was able to see and direct treatment for patients he had 
seen first in Baghdad to follow up on their care after they were flown to 
BAMC. ... The program still is in its pilot stage, but the goal is to have 
robots stationed at all military treatment facilities so that the experts 
can project their presence anywhere, Chung said. ... Chung acknowledged it 
also takes some time for the staff and doctors to get used to using and 
interacting with the robots. The patients, however, seem to like the robot, 
he added. ...
   “If you look at this simply, it is a video teleconference on wheels,” 
Chung said. “As the technology improves, I think this is going to become a 
very useful tool.”
   Already, though, the robot has proved its worth in Chung’s eyes, as a 
tool that can be used to save lives. Since he has been using the robot, he 
said, a handful of his patients were dying, and he was able to direct their 
resuscitation from a different state. ...
"""

And also:

"Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers that 'won't 
commit war crimes'"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140628/posts
"The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building 
machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing 
machine that murders indiscriminately. By 2010 the US will have invested $4 
billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military 
jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the 
desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers. A British robotics 
expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on building robots 
that do not violate the Geneva Conventions."

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/
http://www.beyondajoblessrecovery.org/