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Why is this considered "creepy"? For all I care this is super awesome. Of course there are military applications but there are also a lot of non-military applic

Why is this considered "creepy"? For all I care this is super awesome. Of course there are military applications but there are also a lot of non-military applications (i.e. pallative care for elderly!)

trophycase 9y ago
Because people know that ultimately this will be used for military/policing applications and aren't excited for an inhuman future where AI and robots dispense "justice" and keep "peace"
- mtaksrud 9y ago
  Seriously? Isn’t that a very dystopian view of the future?
  - stuaxo 9y ago
    Yes, but makes sense - Boston Dynamics have funding from the US military and military tech seems to end up in the hands of police forces.
  - MarkMc 9y ago
    Dystopian? Yes. Unlikely? No. Right now you have US military personnel sitting at a desk in Ohio launching missiles from a drone in Afghanistan to kill bad guys. Why wouldn't they also use killer robots when they become available?
- golergka 9y ago
  Why not? There are two options here - either AI will be better at those things than humans, or worse. Why does everyone assume only one of those options is possible?
  - joncrocks 9y ago
    Robots would arguably be better an enforcing law and order. The troubles people fear come from where the people creating and implementing law become increasingly disconnected from the enforcement, and removing people from enforcement removes a feedback from 'the ground'. A person can refuse to enforce what it perceives to be an unjust law. A union can band together and refuse to do certain things. That can happen with robots as well, but the requirements for cooperation are lower. Fewer bad actors are required to achieve a super-bad goal. Imagine the entire police force controlled by one person. The entire army. Would that be good? If you answer is no, or "maybe, it depends" then you also appreciate the unease that people feel about increased concentration of power that could come from automation.
mtaksrud 9y ago
I was wondering the same thing? These are just remote controlled machines. I mean, your average robot vacuum cleaner is more autonomous it seems to me. Is it the fact that it moves on legs instead of wheels?
dvddgld 9y ago
Most people haven’t seen many robots with life-like movement before, except for maybe a few gifs of past boston dynamics projects on facebook. Seeing a machine move fluidly is always going to feel a little weird at first and its not a stretch to associate those products with the last dystopian sci fi movie you’ve seen.
YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
I'm ambialent about the creepiness of this. I think it looks a bit like something out of a T'au Empire army [1]. I'd be interested to see what happens when a man in power armour hits it with a power fist. _______________ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_(Warhammer_40%2C000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_(Warhammer_40%2C000)]

trophycase 9y ago

Because people know that ultimately this will be used for military/policing applications and aren't excited for an inhuman future where AI and robots dispense "justice" and keep "peace"

mtaksrud 9y ago
Seriously? Isn’t that a very dystopian view of the future?
- stuaxo 9y ago
  Yes, but makes sense - Boston Dynamics have funding from the US military and military tech seems to end up in the hands of police forces.
- MarkMc 9y ago
  Dystopian? Yes. Unlikely? No. Right now you have US military personnel sitting at a desk in Ohio launching missiles from a drone in Afghanistan to kill bad guys. Why wouldn't they also use killer robots when they become available?
golergka 9y ago
Why not? There are two options here - either AI will be better at those things than humans, or worse. Why does everyone assume only one of those options is possible?
- joncrocks 9y ago
  Robots would arguably be better an enforcing law and order. The troubles people fear come from where the people creating and implementing law become increasingly disconnected from the enforcement, and removing people from enforcement removes a feedback from 'the ground'. A person can refuse to enforce what it perceives to be an unjust law. A union can band together and refuse to do certain things. That can happen with robots as well, but the requirements for cooperation are lower. Fewer bad actors are required to achieve a super-bad goal. Imagine the entire police force controlled by one person. The entire army. Would that be good? If you answer is no, or "maybe, it depends" then you also appreciate the unease that people feel about increased concentration of power that could come from automation.

mtaksrud 9y ago

I was wondering the same thing? These are just remote controlled machines. I mean, your average robot vacuum cleaner is more autonomous it seems to me. Is it the fact that it moves on legs instead of wheels?

dvddgld 9y ago

Most people haven’t seen many robots with life-like movement before, except for maybe a few gifs of past boston dynamics projects on facebook. Seeing a machine move fluidly is always going to feel a little weird at first and its not a stretch to associate those products with the last dystopian sci fi movie you’ve seen.

YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago

I'm ambialent about the creepiness of this. I think it looks a bit like something out of a T'au Empire army [1]. I'd be interested to see what happens when a man in power armour hits it with a power fist. _______________ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_(Warhammer_40%2C000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_(Warhammer_40%2C000)]