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“China and Russia are developing battle networks that are as good as our own. They can see as far as ours can see; they can throw guided munitions as far as we
by themgt 10y ago
“China and Russia are developing battle networks that are as good as our own. They can see as far as ours can see; they can throw guided munitions as far as we can,” said Robert O. Work, the deputy defense secretary, who has been a driving force for the development of autonomous weapons. “What we want to do is just make sure that we would be able to win as quickly as we have been able to do in the past.” ... The weapons, in the Pentagon’s vision, would be less like the Terminator and more like the comic-book superhero Iron Man
Such blatant propaganda by the NYT. Just like with Stuxnet, the US is pouring black budget dollars into novel asymmetric offensive weapons that'll be rapidly put to use in the field, all under the guise of "defense". It's grossly irresponsible.
In the position of sole superpower barely hanging onto our role with the obvious rise of a multipolar world, the USA should be pulling all its strings to put in place international institutions and laws that will uphold stability and the type of global civilization we've become used to. Instead we're throwing money that should be rebuilding infrastructure and paying for people's health care into crazy destabilizing weapons systems where we'll have a 5 year "strategic advantage" headstart on the tech but the precedents we set (a cyberweapon that infected computers worldwide, Terminator autonomous weapons?) will come back to haunt us and the rest of the world.
- M_Grey 10y agoThe military-industrial complex won. It's that simple. We just blew trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and people are basically baying for more. We're cooked.
- orly_bookz 10y agoCounterpoint: maybe we become the Klingon empire?
- M_Grey 10y agoI'd say the key to their success was FTL travel and a big galaxy to plunder.
- djsumdog 10y agoAmerica's manned drone programs are an outright war-crime. This video from 2012 is telling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ46ZkJY8oo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ46ZkJY8oo ..and sadly nothing has changed. Obama has continued to authorize the use of drones to kill countless people we know little to nothing about, without any type of oversight. Make no mistake; no matter who wins the coming election, this will continue and escalate. It will not make the world safer. Wasn't China our allay? I'm pretty sure they make all of our stuff .. including many of the electronic components that make their way into drones. The Russian rhetoric hasn't changed at all since the Cold War when Regan's Team B was making up all kinds of technologies the Russians didn't actually have in order to continue defence spending (see the documentary: The Power of Nightmares). The type of propaganda we see obfuscates the reality of western foreign policy. US supported rebels in Syria decapitated a kid who looks to be about 12 ~ 13 years old. The BBC cropped the photo to remove the kid and then claimed they killed a dangerous young combatant. (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEsDAoUvOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEsDAoUvOI) View every attempt to justify more war and more bombings critically. They will not make the world safer.
- rhino369 10y agoThe focus on drone programs is misguided. Drones are the best way to conduct a war and minimize casualties, of both US soldiers and foreign civilians. Traditional air strikes, artillary, ground assaults, or airborn assaults would result in much more death and destruction. I expect you really just believe the US shouldn't be fighting the Taliban in the tribal area of Pakistan. But since we are, drones are the best way to do it. Just look at what Russian intervention in Syria looks like. Or Saudi intervention in Yemen looks like. Drones are much less destructive.
- lhc- 10y agoI'm not sure how you can argue drones minimize foreign civilian casualties, given the constant reports of drones bombing weddings and social gatherings based on the location of a cell phone. That's basically just repeating direct propaganda.
- jwatte 10y agoA strong ability to use force is absolutely needed to protect the civil civilization we enjoy. There are enough psychopathic leaders in the world that any wealth area will be taken by force is it's not defended. This is simply the realpolitik of the world. Now, exactly what the shape of that force should be is a fine subject for debate. If you start your argument with "all defense dollars are wasted," though, you don't get to help decide that shape.
- ryuker16 10y agoUsually it's civil civilization versus civil civilization.