Almost. I'm not talking about drones, or weapons with various trigger mechanisms. I'm referring to true artificial intelligence that results in a machine making a kill decision based on programing, but not based on human decision making in the field. Campaigners call for ban on "killer robots" (bolding mine) True artificial intelligence is supposedly a long way off and I believe that. We don't even understand how the brain is conscious so how could we make a machine that was? In fiction, there are a lot of machines that take over, or the intelligent ghosts in the machines start acting independently. Occasionally, like in the movie, "Red Planet", there are machines that go haywire and start attacking humans. That would be consistent with this report. But the machines in future fiction are typically more independently intelligent, like Hal in "2001". And that kind of AI is much further off than people imagine. My novel is set in the near future so I'm always interested in the place we can expect technology to reach in the next century. It's not hard to make stuff up, but I want things to be more evidence based. On the other hand, technology moves so quickly, it's hard to imagine the technology of the future very accurately. Gibson in Neuromancer famously didn't anticipate cell phones. Anyway, I found this news article interesting for someone like myself who is anticipating where real technology will be in the near future.
That's sounds great (not the killing of humans, mind)! Personally I'm excited for the one-way trip to Mars. I have no idea what we'd be doing there, but just saying it had been done when so many books have thought about it is just amazing.
The movie "Screamers" was the first thing that came to my mind. I think that the mechanics of creating robot planes, tanks, soldiers already exists. And I believe that it will soon be possible to create robots (or, more accurately, surrogate robots) that can do anything a human can do. I've watched tv programs on the subject of computers which can read the thoughts of humans (which is particularly upsetting when combined with advertising), as well as an article I found here. Once it's possible to meld the mind with the machine then a revolution in our society will emerge. It will be too easy to invade a country when no humans are needed or at risk. It's frightening.
Yes! I love that movie. Watched it a few months ago and nostalgia hit me hard. Best part are those mechanical screaming kids.
My son thinks the merged human-machine will be the future. It makes sense. It's not quite the same as the title to that article implies, a machine that is reading your mind. After all, I don't say my fingers are reading my mind as I type, I say my mind is controlling my fingers. Though I read an article a couple days ago where dream brain waves were actually interpreted to some degree. I await the studies that will show if you need to map each individual's thoughts or whether anything here is consistent from individual to individual. The abstract.
Immediately made me think of Isaac Asimov's I,robot and The Matrix. There just isn't enough rise of the machines -and not like terminator but like I,robot-violence out there. Games, movies, series and the internet are so saturated with tall tales of Zombie invasions (mind you, i do love me some Zombies), Vampires, Werewolves and other fictitious creatures of the night.
"Killer robots" is the modern version of an ancient fear--the fear that our offspring/creations will come back to destroy us. It's the same motive that gave us Oedipus Rex, Jurassic park, and The Matrix. As to the article in the OP, I feel it's important to distinguish (as Sharkey does) that there is a big difference between 'autonomous' and 'cognizant' machines. The B1 Spirit (stealth bomber) can autonomously run an entire mission (humans take-off and land the plane, but otherwise are only there for judgment calls). Stock trading bots can autonomously parse news in real time and buy/sell stocks based upon the data they process; but they cannot 'think' in the sense that a cognizant being can. That technology is still pretty far off.
I've actually done a lot of research on this for a short story I'm still working on. some scientists believe that when the internet expands to the point that the number of interlinking website addresses matches the number on synapsis in a conscious organism, that consciousness will form of its own accord. what that consciousness will be, they are unsure as the basis for its knowledge would be any and everything on ther internet and its reach would extend just as far. the way that they explain it makes more sense than how i did but the concept is pretty much the same. as stated we are far from understanding such complexities as consciousness, and as far as the forseeable future, i would guess the only way it would happen was by accident. internets kind of interesting though, because if it was based on the accumulitive knowledge of all that we are, will be, know, and aspire to know will in a way define it. it would be the apitamy of our knowledge and creativety. our religeon and thoughts. every thing that has ever been put on the internet at its disposal. makes me wonder what it would think of us with such knowledge. would we even be worth it trying to save or would it just rid the world of what it percieved as a plaugue upon the natural order of the world. that's just a theory though, but if your already conscious internet, save me for last. the fall of man would be an amazing story to witness.
^ If youtube and reddit give any indications, the conscious internet could be easily defeated by a ball of yarn and a laser pointer.
