And "Colossus the Forbin Project"

and "Terminator" trilogy, … … …

Try "I have no mouth and I must Scream" short story my Harlan Ellison

Two words: Battlestar Galactica. I realize that this came from someone's imagination, but "what if" it came true? Do we really want to have them unmanned? What about like in Star Wars Empire Strikes Back on Hoth where the machine blew itself up when it saw the enemy (which was Han Solo and Chewy)?

No, the corporations that have no responsibility but equal rights to human beings will insist on their little robot buddy slaves having rights too, and like corporations they'll be impervious to human justice.

GottaGetOffTheGrid, you're translation was doable, but there were some shaky part. If I'm uncertain about something I will put it in parenthesis

"This reminds me of Termitaor where the robots took control thanks to the blindly stupid military and scientists who always wanted to render the war more and more efficient

It is sickening to think that the USA spends more than 15% of their national product on the military while at the same time a grand misery exists in their country, the richest in the world

Human genius has no limit. Who does not remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the(American)bomb kills the better of hundreds of Japonese. Tomorrow, the war will press the button of becoming so efficient that they will not have to give any more American Nationality to the robots as today one does to the Mexicans or other latino Americans who they promise the moon(. Who) tomorrow are in a wheelchair or worse, in a grave in Texas or Alabama.

eh, I don't understand some of this, but I'm hungry. (I interjected a period and the word who, I think the writer may have been so emotional he forgot one there.

ça rappelle "Terminator" où les robots ont pris le pouvoir grâce à l'aveuglement stupide des militaires et des scientifiques qui veulent toujours rendre la guerre de plus en plus efficace.

On en tombe malade rien qu'à penser que les USA dépensent plus de 15% de leur produit national dans le militaire alors que parallèlement une grande misère existe encore dans ce pays, le plus riche du monde.

Le génie humain n'a pas de limite. Qui ne se souvient pas de Hiroshima et de Nagazaki où la bombe (américaine) tua des centaines de milliers de Japonais. Demain, la guerre presse bouton deviendra d'une telle efficacité qu'on ne devra plus donner la nationalité américaine aux robots comme aujourd'hui on le fait pour les mexicains et autres latino américains à qui on promet la lune demain dans un fauteuil roulant ou pire dans un cimetière au Texas ou en Alabama.

that points out "Terminator" where the robots seized the power thanks to the stupid blindness of the soldiers and the scientists who want to always make the war increasingly effective.

One falls sick from there only to think that the USA spend more than 15% of their national product in the soldier whereas in parallel a great misery still exists in this country, richest of the world.

The human genius does not have limit. Who does not remember Hiroshima and Nagazaki where the bomb (American) killed out of the hundreds of thousands of Japanese. Tomorrow, the war presses button will become of such an effectiveness that one will not have to give American nationality any more to the robots like today one does it for the American Mexicans and others latino with which one promises the moon tomorrow in a wheel chair or worse in a cemetery in Texas or in Alabama.

The real reason we have a vice president should be put to the test. Regarding war any president with there family should be on the front line of any war,and the top 20 Generals to insure us the effort is truly worth anyone's life. That way we know our public servants are expendable (witch they are) serving the needs of the people instead of the politics of big business and wealth by corruption. We the people have failed to convince the exploiter's and criminals they will be held accountable for the actions they take regardless of the wealth or status they possess.

KIVALS: I remain in awe of your evolved (albeit highly logical, yet open to my right brain species of analysis as a true progressive ought be) intellect. Write on!

Siouxrose,

Thanks for doing what you can to make CD a warmer community.

Thad Stone,

"Support Our Killer Robots"

Hilarious!

Ghawar,

I certainly hope that was sarcasm. As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If someday there are police robots with the abilities you describe, within a New York minute they would be used for the most diabolical purposes imaginable. We would be truly screwed.

I'm still looking the reality of threats like biological weapsons, disease, nuclear weapons etc....

When the imaginary weapons become problematic they can join the list of other stupid weapons that threaten our existance of which nothing will be done.

Support Our Troops

Support Our Killer Robots

Ghawar -- When you mentioned "the bot enforcers could be rigged up to detect mendacity and deception. Imagine, an end to lying," I thought about how safe it will for the public, as they'll have so many viable targets in the military and politics. So sad, too bad.

I wish people would not go along with the media's definition of terrorism being "them".

Most definitions of terrorism do not have a clause to exclude states (or the USA in particular) from being a practicer of terrorism. The FBI definition of terrorism is typical:-

"The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

So to quote from the article "(Robots) "ould easily fall into the hands of terrorists" makes no sense. Robots were created by terrorists. They are currently in the hands of terrorists.

Robot Warriors..."They wil be back"

You can be sure that as well as developing robot soldiers, the USA is also working on space weapons, biological weapons, genetic weapons - anything nasty you can imagine (and a lot that the non psychotic, non military, non gun-loving mind can't). All this killing, will of course been done at a tastefully and piously remote distance. No blood on our hands, they will say. We were thousands of miles away. (They already do: drone operators kill villagers in Pakistan from rooms in Florida.) Equally you can be sure that American and British news outlets will report these dispassionately, with just a tremor of excitement at the thought of all the sexily lethal technology. No suggestion that this is the terrorism of the 21st century, and we are the terrorists.

A cannon would be more "fun" ~CATCH~. 20mm WW 1 anti-tank cannons are available too.

Excellent points CATSEYES, it does de-humanize war and killing other humans. Sort of like being a bomber crew, fire bombng a city. The burning people are out of sight. They aren't killing anyone, they're just releasing bombs.

I'm gonna get one of those (legally available) 50 calibre target rifles that can hit things a coupla miles away, and get some armor piercing ammo. Yeah!

See where all this can lead? Good luck, all.

DavidJames "This article is pathetic chicken little drivel! We need no more fear robotic weapons than we needed to fear horseless carriages(cars).

How about a little perspective. Are robotic killing machines really much of a threat compared to nuclear weapons?"

cars are not new military killing technologies. Nuclear warfare, as bad as it is, will probably be a one time thing. We need to pay attention to it, but it doesnt mean it should be our only concern.

Robotic killing machines, on the other hand, will be a regular tool in the military toolbox. Allowing militaries to kill people without the risk of losing lives on their side. It dehumanizes war. One could even conceive of a targeting system that texture maps civilian targets as military targets, to remove the remorse felt by soldiers and remove inhibitions. That is not far fetched considering american assaults on places like fallujah with soldiers reporting that everyone over 18 was considered an enemy combatant.

Great link COCO thank you. BTW, we also have "jarheads" in our Congress. Lots of them.

Suppose Abrams tanks were robotic? A single person of age ten, with a bottle full of gasoline and a lit rag could destroy one if there are no ground troops to protect the tank.

Now these unmanned "Preditor" aircraft, which carry bombs and missiles, can fly for hours and see everything, day or night, are true robotic killers. They can be flown over Afganastan and be perfectly manuvered by a pilot who is sitting in a war room in Toad Suck, Arkansas. I doubt they will ever be taken over by terrorist however, and be a threat to humanity.

People die horribly in wars. In war, there is nothing but sudden violent death. The Bush White House treats death as if it were a video game. Everything is a game to this White House. It's enough to make you sick.

This article is pathetic chicken little drivel! We need no more fear robotic weapons than we needed to fear horseless carriages(cars).

How about a little perspective. Are robotic killing machines really much of a threat compared to nuclear weapons?

Interesting discussion. Good points raised. Thank you especially to: VOXCLAMANTIS, JD SMITH, HEDOLOGY, RT DRURY, & KIVALS.

MT FISH: Good laugh on your point.
FPAL: Thank you for relating King's genius, he sure understood the whole dynamic. His words echo those related by the sages of Ancient China as per the oracle known as the I Ching. In kua (hexagram) 43 (ironic, as that's Bush's # as prez) the subject of EVIL is explored and the wisdom of the I Ching is evidenced in its understanding of the perpetual nature of violence. In parallel with the teachings of Christ, as per turn the other cheek, the I Ching explains that evil can never be fought by any direct means, for to do so entangles the person of good intentions in acts of evil. (Fighting terrorism with terrorism, i.e. US sophisticated weapons and the abominal numbers of civilians killed and passed off as collateral damage.) The I Ching makes it clear that the way to transcend any evil circumstance is to take energy away from it by investing in OTHER solutions.

We all (in this forum) recognize the repugnant waste of so much blood and treasure being devoted at yet the latest method of murder; whereas civilization BEGS for energy systems that would sustain human (and other) life. Instead of fighting cancer, providing REAL food and less stressful existences would help far more than effectively declaring chemical war on the body through "chemo." Notice how the US under enthrall to MARS and this focus on violence in films,as well as in US foreign and domestic (our prison numbers) policy ALSO influences the practice of medicine where the vast majority of problems are treated by CUTTING or POISONING, i.e. acts of violence. Other nations have medical models that nurture a person and support the NATURAL healing aspects of the human body when it's given optimal support.

Does it really suprise anyone that these murdering bastards would do this? Hell, they probably got the idea straight from "Ah-Node" himself.

I mean think about it... These are the same "fine patriots " and "public servants" that for the last 30 plus years have been knee deep in every single evil thing our government has had anything to do with. Period.

From Iran Contra, and arming death squads that rape nuns and throw them out of hellicopters in Central America, to training and funding Bin Laden and the Taliban, to supporting and supplying weapons to Saddam Huisein, then claiming he was "evil" when he actually used the weapons that Rummy and Reagan gave him to kill his own people. And then when he refused to "play nice", we attack him because he was a bad boy and threatened to flood the market with cheap oil (Hmmm, funny, that sounds sorta like Hugo Chavez).

And now today they spy on us, shred our Constitution and Bill of Rights, pre-emptively attack nations and murder a million people... opperate secret black site prisons that torture and murder in the name of "democracy"...

Gee I'm just stunned that they would stoop to such "imorality". -They seem like such nice guys.

Listen people, we need to wake up, and see things for what they are. Our government has been taken over by a corporate cabal of traitors and murderers, and unless we stop them... NOW, All we are going to get is more of the same. And we can all talk about the "good old days" and kiss what's left of our freedom goodbye, as we wade through more mind-numbing bullshit stories about Paris and Brittany... and we can watch idley as what's left of our country gets handed over to "our good friends" the Saudi's and the Chinese.

....But I could be wrong I suppose. Hmmm. Maybe they really do have our best interests at heart ???.. Perhaps I'm overreacting. Yeah... that's it. On second thought, I think we should trust them. -Nevermind

Aryan (male) Supremacy; Racialized Human Slavery; Gender Slavery; Massive child abuse (installs free-floating rage); Constant war; & Genocide.

When these operate as the primary drivers for a society, abominations abound. Not surprising, it is a psychotic model of life. I see these six as THE primary behavioral drivers for American society. Humans are food here. We'll do anything to anyone - medical experiments, rape, mental/physical torture - and that's just high school. What would you expect we're going to do to invisible "strangers"?

We have the values of cannibals.

If there are some who disagree and think these six do NOT drive the behavior of our country then ask yourself this:

"How easy has it been for the Masters to destroy the Bill of Rights and shred the Constitution?"

"How difficult has it been to curtail Aryan (male) Supremacy; How difficult has it been to eliminate racialized Slavery and Gender Slavery?"

These weren't just social mistakes. All six represent DEEPLY HELD core operating values. THAT'S WHAT AMERICA BELIEVES...

This is merely the beginning of the End. Before this monster collapses we, America, will do things to humans that will make you despair of a loving deity, if you haven't already. We were a rum bunch.

Peace.

Let's just hope that civilization collapses before these things are used any more widely than now. Without oil, and without cheap energy, the ways of war we know will be no more.

That said, it might be worth looking into making yourself a HERF when the robots start hitting the streets where you live.

One nightmare scenario is that after the robot arms race proceeds to some point the corporate fascist US government decides that its robot soldiers could serve as police officers in the US. And it warns the citizens that in order to make sure they are not perceived as a threat by the robot police (which is programmed to immediately neutralize all threats), the citizen should have a chip implanted by a government lab that the robot will be able to read from, over a distance, that will identify the citizen as non-threatening.

Of course the fascist government will retain the ability to write over the information on the citizen's chip, from a distance, and to reclassify a citizen as a threat if the citizen engages in what is deemed to be suspicious activity. Citizens could remove their chips, but over time citizens without chips will be identified as threats anyway.

Then groups of citizens ("terrorists") may try to capture some robots and reprogram them to attack the government and its robots. And then there may be a revolution that escalates, but either way, a living hell.

jconsult-
For that matter you could replace the entire US Congress with a bunch of bobble-head dolls.

Mercifully, none of these robots yet resembles the governor of California. The worst is still to come.

"It is in your nature to destroy yourselves," said The Machine.

And they discovered that they weren't even very good at slaying. So they turned that job over to the machines, too. And the machines finished up the job in less time than it takes to say, "Tralfamadore."

As usual, our military planners and the scientists who do their bidding learned exactly nothing from the Simpsons' experience at Itchy & Scratchy Land.

I, on the other hand, have duct-taped a disposable camera to the inside of my groin.

I'm as devout a futurist as the next 'droid, but I can't help wishing that the scientific community was not in thrall to the Masters of War, and was instead devoting its time and talent to perfecting personal bubble-copter technology and harvesting plankton as an abundant and tasty food source.

Why should we spend so much money for a fighter robot when the real solution to our problem could be less expensive? How much would it cost to manufacture a President (just a clone based on Bush Junior in order to save money)? Certainly much less than what the US Army will pour into the robot investment.

If we consider the 3 rules of robotics (cf Asimov Robots:
1.A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. / 2.A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. / 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.), we can say for instance that:

• This new Robot President would not have gone to war in Iraq not to injure a human being as I think that an Iraqi guy is still a human being.
• This Robot would have obeyed to the Americans who wanted an end to the war in Iraq

All this to say that our scientists should devote all their energy to solve human needs instead of inventing new destruction tools.

I remember an old Star Trek episode called The Doomsday Machine.
The idea of these type of killing machines was alive and welll way back in the 1960's. A machine cannot distinguish targets. No target is 'friendly' to an automated killer.
Anyone that would actually construct something like this qualifies as a "Master Of War" (to coin Bob Dylan)
The human race is inhernetly self-destructive. These machines just put us one step closer to our own inevitable self-destruction.

This is soooo amerikan and of course israeli. Just as the protoplasmic citizens of these pariah nations become more robotic in every way....their machines are becoming ...dare I say ....more "human".

What will the zionazi elites in tel aviv and washington do with their armies of brain dead protoplasmic uniformed killers (the quaint "our troops" which has always excused serial amerikan genocide) once these automatonic widow-makers are unleashed against the humans?

It's gonna be a great future when the geriatrics roll out these abominations on our filthy mean streets.

David_78 The article doesnt say that robots will start attacking us, it quotes one guy saying that hes worried about machines behind built that make the decision independently wether or not to "terminate" someone. I missed the part in the article where robots "have emotions" and "become conscious".

PEACEMAN AND KEM PATRICK

oh, how embarrasing..........i've just clicked on the link i sent you to make sure i had got it right.....it's not what i intended. i don't know how that happened but i apologise. (however, kem will probably like it...)
sorry guys. it was supposed to be marvin gaye singing an old but poignant song from 1973.
coco

David_78 "I'm amused that such crappy journalism is taken seriously.

There are legitimate questions that can be asked about military robots … but pondering their emotions or the idea that they'll become conscious and attack us is just stupid.

In case you're wondering I've been working with machine intelligence for over 15 years and I can promise you that unless there is a MAJOR change in how computers work in general there is ZERO chance they will turn terminator on us … in any case we're safe as long as we have Schwarzenegger to protect us.

But I'd be happy to send this guy a nice big "The End Is Near" sign to wear on a street corner."

Its not stupid. You seem like the typical tunnel vision scientist. Im less concerned about AI-controlled robots than Joe soldier sitting
in a bunker somewhere and blowing shit up like it was a playstation game.

PEACEMAN AND KEM PATRICK

thankyou both for your explanations. this is for you:
www.dailymotion.com/video/x26109_marvin-gaye-save-the-children-set-1

coco

#
catseyes February 27th, 2008 12:04 pm

"thats the next logical step. Alot of the criticism i hear emanating from the US about their wars is about their "boys and girls" getting in harms way. Once they have 0 death wars (on the american side) they will have removed one big hurdle to making war a more "palatable" idea."
Catseyes, this is exactly right, and a point which I have made on various posts. If the body bags stop coming back to our countries(the US and UK), then the majority of people will not be concerned about how many innocents we murder and maim, or how many countries are destabilised or destroyed.
This is just one step closer to making war "acceptable".

Shades of Robocop! This is another in a long line of goofy elaborate schemes to extort our shrinking dinero on the unchecked passions of coddled scientists, engineers and military skanks.

One could also say that Iraq is now yesterday's war and this bumps it up to a newer war ow taking shape.

I'm buying stock in Old Glory

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/video_oldglory_hi.html

I salute all of you, fellow humans. Your comments are beautiful and make me proud to be a creature of flesh and blood. Now let's think this through as real human are wont.
The sheer irrationality of the robotic plan bowls me over.
Let's see. According to Jacob Bronowski, "War is organized theft." That's right. Whenever we want our neighbors' resources, we concoct some excuse that resonates with the tribal-impulse that evolution programmed our brains with and voila! The country unites behind the leader. And we proceed to plunder.
Now, let's step back and ponder the value of this commodity---one worth stealing, worth killing and worth dying. It follows that this resource must be not just priceless but _necessary_ to our survival. Therefore, no expense is too great. So, if these silly machines cost from $150 to $200 _K's_ per unit and we plan to manufacture thousands, it follows that the commodity we seek must be worth much more than the cost of producing these units.
What could this priceless resource possibly be and who will profit once we acquire that commodity?
Instead of war and investment in killer robotics, what if we invested our money in R&D to synthesize that commodity? Surely we could find a more cost-effective way to either reverse-engineer that commodity or invent a substitute. Are we that lacking in ingenuity? Or does sociopathy have deeper roots in the human condition? Such that it is considered more acceptable to kill others for their resources--despite the fact that in the long run it would be more cost-effective and less lethal to find a substitute.
This robotic plan makes no economic sense. But it has its definite pathological value...
Those who concoct these plans remind me that there may already be robots among us. Nay, monsters.

I was thinking about Frankenstein too but 'A voice apart' beat me to it.

So I'll just point out that Frankensteins will be what rogue robots will be called.

A rogue robot? Yeah...the ones who get taken over by a enemy hacker and turn their guns back on their creators.

Or maybe they'll be the robot machine gun which used a Diebold programmmer?

Hell ... is made for our kids to live in. I'm glad I'm old. What mercy is to be found in the heart of a killing machine? None we are told. That is the point... we are ...assured.

Evidently we are fast creating Frankensteins everywhere (Franken foods). Hearts? No problem... these robots will use our hearts... we don't intend to use them either.

No one mentioned the nazis. They'd have fashioned robot exterminators. Well... sadly... just give it time.

Yeah kiddies... I'm glad I'm old.

When do we fashion swords into plowshares?

Ultimately, Frankenstein turned on his creator.

Here's an very interesting, funny, and actually informative book that people interested in this topic might find useful. I own it, and really like it:

How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion
by Daniel H. Wilson

http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Robot-Uprising-Defending/dp/1582345929

"Automated Killer Robots 'Threat to Humanity': Expert"

It took an expert to figure that out? D-duuhhhh, that's the very idea!

Kill kill kill! the only drawback is you don't get to actually feel the life oozing out of the target - right? But, man, the explosions are really cool! Love to see that cloud of blood go poof! More fun than a tomatilla festival!

That's how sick you are.

You just described Dick Cheney, is he the Terminator?

Listen. And understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are all dead!!

so when will the real skynet become self aware??!!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Violence

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.... Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. "

Allen Weisman's "The World Without Us" seems more inevitable.

Not too expensive if you're a CEO of Exxon or Halliburton.

Coming soon, The Terrorist Stepford Wives.

depends on whats in the lawn that 'needs mowing' i geuss. 200grands kinda spendy for a lawnmower tho' ...

I agree heavyrunner... a machine gun attached to a remote control vehicle seems like childs play compared to the vast arsenal we are all sitting on here in the USA!

Was that article intended to be satirical?

Automated Killer Robots 'Threat to Humanity': Expert

Yeah - How about 10,000 nuclear warheads on top of rockets on computerized hair trigger warning status. Does that sound like a dangerous robot?

AHHHHHHHH run the killer robots controlled my the terrorists are coming for us !
Is it just me or does the fly in my room sound more threatening then that?

David_78,

I missed comments regarding robot "emotion" or robots becoming "conscious," though that may have been implied with references to works of science fiction. However, it would seem a significant danger would arise from any number of possible scenarios, including those similar to the following:

(1) Country A (as in USA) develops more and more sophisticated military robots in order to plunder weak nations (e.g. Iraq) with minimum casualties.

(2) Country B (e.g. China or Russia) has an interest in the natural resources being plundered and develops its robots (copying where it can) to help the weak nation resist.

(3) Country A institutes an intensive robot arms race to stay ahead of B, incorporating more and more AI and probabilistic reasoning. Though the technical problems for complex tasks are daunting, with computers and robotics if one person somewhere in the world solves a problem, the solution can be instantaneously copied in innumerable platforms. And Country A would likely engage in more and more fundamental research on nanotechnology, possibly new exotic forms, with increasing parallelism for maximum speed in decision-making and to enable more generalized problem-solving.

(4) Country B responds and intensifies the robot arms race, copying what it can. The technology becomes more and more developed and widespread in its application.

(5) Country A recognizes that the most effective means for success would involve directing its robots to eliminate key humans in Country B. And Country B responds in kind. And the robot war continues with increasingly aggressive measures, with no natural stopping point short of human extinction.

Another scenario could involve computer systems with information processing and decision-making capabilities vastly superior to that of humans, leading humans to turn over decisions with regard to robotic weapons to such systems, with unpredictable outcomes.

Now we are merely at the beginning point of such an arms race, and the easiest way to stop it is to work on a treaty banning robotic weapons. The further we go along, the more momentum it will have and the more difficult it will be to stop.

Does anyone know if these robots are available with a lawn mowing attachment option?

Perhaps killer robots should be programed to defend the people of Darfur.

Would killer robots ever have PTSD?

If I had to make a choice between having my kid in Iraq or a robot....send in the machines!

Get used to surveillance cameras mounted on every street corner in every city in every nation on the planet.

To process the video, Intel will be pumping out CPUs and memory chips by the billions, and San Francisco will get new paint jobs on its Golden Gate Bridge every year to the delight of the tourists and residents.

coco,

Like KEM said above, the origin of the term jarhead had to do with the type of hat they wore, as in a 'mason jar' (for bottling cooked food) or else by the close-cropped haircuts.??? The term gyrene is possibly a combination of the words GI and marine.???

About four years ago I picked up a magazine (can't remember the name, something I had never seen before) and on the cover was a very frightening picture of a "warrior". The headline was something like "What War Will Look Like in 2025". The article was about all of the research and development for the US Army. I had never before thought about that before. "At this moment somewhere in America someone is making money by thinking up and creating new ways to kill 'them' and protect 'us'. It will never stop", I remember thinking. It was Christmas time at my parents-in-law and the magazine was in the powder room. And every time I went to pee there was this friggin, horrible picture and story. I remember I drank a lot of bourbon that Christmas. And it's always stayed in my head. We will be extinct, one way or another, in about 150 years, I think. Tra-la, Tra-la!

The Terminator Series was brilliant three anti-war anti-nuclear weapons movies. A lot of people miss that point about them.

Or go to Infowars;
http://www.infowars.com/

All you "progressive liberals" keep on asking the government to take care of anything and everything from cradle to grave and they will .GLADLY.

Looks as though they came up with a back up solution to all your problems.

"That which governs least governs best"
to paraphrase Thomas Paine

Please research: read "The Bilderburg Group" by Daniel Estulinor go to his web site.
http://www.danielestulin.com/?op=noticias&noticias=ver&id=318&idioma=en
or watch Endgame:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053600562261

These people are the REAL PATRIOTS .They have and are risking there lives every day in an attempt to make the public aware of REALITY .

THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT ON YOUR SIDE.

THEY WILL NOT PROTECT YOU.

THEY WILL KILL YOU.

Have a nice day.

So what else is new? This is just a continuation of the American violent solution to 'problems' that has been used since Europeans showed up in the western hemisphere in 1492. Unfortunately most Americans know next to nothing about this violent past and still regard the US as a lumbering giant trying to 'fix' things. For a look at some of this history and the devastation it has caused go to
www.amoralamerica.info
free download

Hi ~COCO~. It's because they have their heads shaved when they first get to basic traing. They are "Jarheads". Then I understnad it may have had somethng to do with the military hats they wore many years ago. They and the sailors often brawled and the term "Jarhead" would often set off a bar-room fight. The sailors didn't like the Marines because the Marines always controlled the stockade, or brig, or prison, and they treated sailors very brutally.____ They still do.

~LIZARD~ I understnd that you are a practicing medical doctor, have a PHD in Geology, and are also a scientist of some type. That all according to your prior posts here at Common Dreams since being banned from another progressive site. You are a very busy fellow LIZARD, having blogged comments over 80 times on Monday alone here at Common Dreams. I don't know how you manage it all, or how your medical patients you described do either. However, all of that that aside, I humbly disagree with you.

I agree that the unnecessary deaths of any Iraqis, because of our unjust and also illegal war and occupation of their contry is indeed important, it should never have happened. There are many other important worldly issues which should be addressed and corrected.

How-some-ever, the one issue whch is of the most extreme importance and one whch will most assuredely kill not just a million Iraqis, but will snuff out ALL life on our little planetary biosphere, is the eventual release of the frozen Arctic's methane gas into our atmosphere. Now that is assured, unless we address that most serious problem and do it soon. It is a truly serioius problem, unlike this terrorists ever getting their fingers on our military robots and that being a threat to humanity.

So for you to tell me to set my priorities ~Lizard~ is rather like your other obnoxious posts, where you denied global warming even exists, you agree with the head of General Motors, that Global Warming is nothing but bull shiit. ___ Of course you are dead wrong.

Has anyone told Sarah Connor?

"Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world — from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones — can already identify and lock onto targets without human help."

[Yeah -- "It's what they do..."]

PEACEMAN

thankyou for your reply. i still don't get it.......but let me try: gyrenes are marines (rhymes) but why don't they just call them marines? and jarheads. well, is it because they wear jars on their heads? sorry, but i cannot apply anything to this terminology......i've tried but i've failed.
i am a 'foreigner' and do not understand alien speak. i would appreciate a translation.............

The TSA has already promulgated new regulations providing for the confiscation of Transformersâ„¢ or Power Rangerâ„¢ action figures carried by juveniles. If such items are discovered on board, it's a straight shot to the Wee Terrorist Wing at Gitmo.

I'm not up on current kiddie action heroes; this is the best I could come up with off the top of my head.

They may also outlaw paint.

This headline, and story, remains surrealistic to me even though it stands to reason that technological advances will indeed lead to the creation of autonomous automatic weapons systems (entities?), and I likewise suspect that there's a parallel push to simply remanufacture physically damaged soldiers with advanced prosthetics and return them to combat.

I've read creepy Newspeak psychological opinions that promote recycling soldiers who are traditionally discharged and pensioned off as disabled. They point to gung-ho soldiers who are, um, dying to get back to the war, arm or no arm, leg or no leg; they cast this as a sort of win-win outcome, insofar as returning to duty is a positive goal which motivates people to work harder at therapy, adjustment, etc. And negative psychological moods, states, or disorders, e.g. depression, anxiety, withdrawal, alienation, etc., which may fester when a soldier is released into civilian life and loses the structure and "support" of the military, and the companionship of his combat buddies, are minimized. It actually sounds "sensible" in a soulless sort of way.

So, before too long, we may have home-grown Borgs, or platoons of stormtrooper droids being controlled by a pasty lieutenant holding a Cheeto-stained controller. Hooray for our side!

PS: The notion that this technology would be used against Decent Folk by Them-- the terrorists lurking in the shadows-- is laughable. Bullshit with gravy, on toast. This kind of weaponry will be rolled out by Uncle Sam or the professional mercenary corporations first, indubitably.

Also, in case you're wondering I am VERY opposed to any kind of autonomous military robot ... not because of their intelligence, but because of our stupidity.

Microsoft can't get windows to be bug-free and I don't think the programmers of these robots will do any better.

I'm amused that such crappy journalism is taken seriously.

There are legitimate questions that can be asked about military robots ... but pondering their emotions or the idea that they'll become conscious and attack us is just stupid.

In case you're wondering I've been working with machine intelligence for over 15 years and I can promise you that unless there is a MAJOR change in how computers work in general there is ZERO chance they will turn terminator on us ... in any case we're safe as long as we have Schwarzenegger to protect us.

But I'd be happy to send this guy a nice big "The End Is Near" sign to wear on a street corner.

The scientists and tech geeks are not our friend, never have been, and never will. These morally defunctive humans exist for the inventions in finding new ways to kill. Tell me just one thing that these so-called geniuses have ever accomplished for the good of mankind. one thing. Best scenario: these robots turn on their inventors and then maybe we can have some justice. always about how to effectively kill our human brothers, never about how we can help with food, housing and medical care.

a "risk free war"....a "risk free war"....sorry Will Robinson this does not compute....

Look for war games being played near you...in your back yard...on your soil .... in Colorado and New Mexico....soon

Stop worrying. The work in progress by a little known DNA company in England will save us all.

The plan is to retrofit Glowworm/Firefly DNA onto the foreheads of all politicians, doctors, religios leaders, etc.

The design is supposed to be a normally pale yellow glow which changes to blinking red when subject is disingenuous.

To refuse the retrofit would indicate an intent to deceive.

Should cause a flurry of ingenious new headwear design.

It's a lot easier to remove a battery from a "killer" robot than it is to de-energize a politician.

Don't forget that CONGRESS holds the "power of the purse"! Consequently, they decide if the DOD will get the money for these "killers". Frankly, I think we should be more concerned about the behavior of our congressional leaders than these robots.

The fact is, machine-made robots are much easier to control!

coco,

gyrenes and jarheads are U.S. Marines.

I believe that one of Asimov's stories described the automatic construction of aircraft and bombs - from the smelting of the ores, the construction and maintenance of factories to the automatic flight of the aircraft on bombing runs over enemy territory.

The enemy was doing exactly the same thing. There were no humans.

We're getting there.

no Patrick: The most important issue isn't the methane gas in the arctic, the most important issue is the continuing murder of Iraqis. That is happening today, not tomorrow. Get your priorities right.

NELSWIGHT

for the 'uniniciated' can you please tell me what 'gyrenes or jarheads' are. thank you
coco

*Star Wars Theme*

A Droid Army? What's next, a Clone Army? GOD DAMN POLITICIANS!!!!!!!!!!! If movies like "Star Wars," "I Robot" and "Terminator" aren't enough to show of the things that could potentially come about, then I don't know what will create an impact!
Honestly, creating killing robotics is an act of terror itself. When we have other million man march, the police are not going to be patrolling the rally, oh no, it's going to be those goddamned robots. They can just as easily be programmed to turn against the very people they are supposed to protect.
WHY DOESN'T the US Military EVER THINK OF THE ETHICAL QUESTION??? As if Imperialization in the 21st Century weren't enough, now we have to make it EASIER to do so? You want to know why Americans are hated by foreigners, it's cause Americans believe they are arrogant, selfish-never considering the other person's point of view esp foreigners, and because America has so much influence in the world, they think they can do anything and get away with it and there will be no repercussions. Now don't get angry from that analysis, as an immigrant to the U.S I can pretty much tell you this is how it is, for the most part.
It's time we correct our image in the world and BAN ROBOTIC SOLDIERS! Imagine the respect, the applause, the jubilation! We would once again be the "curve setters" so to speak.

Who,me,worry- We alreadyhave killerrobotics by the thousands - they call them gyrenes or jarheads.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,
by Richard Brautigan (1968)

I like to think
(and the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

"The use of such devices by terrorists should be a serious concern . . ."

WAR ITSELF is terrorism!

Peace Through Superior Firepower . . . . The American Way . . . .
If you can't shoot back you had better be running because the operators of these things are miles and miles away. And they don't care . . . . The best bet, have superior firepower yourself . . . . If you don't believe that then you have already given up. So bow down.

These robots will never take off! Why? Because humans love to kill other humans themselves, love to pull the trigger, see someone's head splattered all over the place.

Humans are killers, primitive beasts. Just watch a few rounds of that Extreme Sport if you don't believe me. Those guys become prehistoric, savage animals in that round cage and so do soldiers on the battlefield.

Man is a dangerous creation!

www.dangerouscreation.com

PERCEPTIONEXPERIMENT

i looked at your website. i like it. there was one phrase pertaining to the robot killers that caught my eye: 'they will kill without mercy and without compunction'. i can relate this sentiment to employees of slaughterhouses.................

Death has become art.

Anyone remember the mid 1950's movie, 'Gog'?

Funding these weapons is more important than universal health care.

NONDESCRIPT

i beg to differ: 'dark star' was not a stanley kubrick film. it was made by a bunch of college students in the early 70's as far as i remember. and is now a cult following.

PAUL BRAMSCHER

re: 'vandalism' - yes, it's the machines getting even with the humans....

KEM PATRICK

'one day it will be over'.....it needn't have been. but what's sadder is the fact that we'll go out with a blot on our copybook............

Honestly now, do you really think the Pentagon gives a rat's ass what we armchair intellectual windbags think? Of course not. Fully automated hi-tech killing machines with mini nukes,chemical weapons, etc. are most likely already being tested, manufactured and deployed with avid enthusiasm. There is no turning back. Get used to it. No amount of liberal hand wringing, pissing and moaning will change anything. I wish this was not the case! But there will only be more and more of these insidious killing machines in our "brave new world" in the coming decades. I feel sorry for future generations...hi technology could eventually make mankind obsolete.