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I think you are half right. It would take wars exactly like Irag and Afghanistan. And here we are, testing autonomous vehicles. Perhaps I'm wrong, but my unders

I think you are half right. It would take wars exactly like Irag and Afghanistan. And here we are, testing autonomous vehicles. Perhaps I'm wrong, but my understanding was the current raft of autonomous technology was supported in it's early stages by DARPA, with their priorities set by what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Someone I know frequently relays an anecdote. They were designing a new military helicopter. One of the requirements was that if the pilot was injured the aircraft should be able to return to base and come to a hover. They were trying to figure out how to cut weight. My friend said, well, if we just remove the pilot and all the equipment needed to support them, we'll lose a lot of weight, and the vehicle will be more aerodynamic. His suggestion wasn't taken seriously. That was before Iraq/Afghanistan. That project got canceled, my friend retired. I have another friend working at the same company. They are building an autonomous helicopter. *Edit: ok looks like someone else already noticed this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17600849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17600849

close04 8y ago
What I mean is that it's not these wars that will bring you autonomous vehicles. It's war in general, the idea of using autonomous machines of any kind for war is very old, and so is the study of it. But Iraq has been a war zone for decades now (with intermezzos). And although some of the tech was there since before the Gulf War we still haven't progressed that far in ~30 years. This kind of war brings slightly accelerated incremental progress, evolution. Something like a WW or a cold war where you question whether your city will be the next Hiroshima brings you a jump: the nuclear bomb, the ICBM, man in space and on the Moon, and so many other Sci-Fi tech. That's what I meant. Yes, today we have slightly better autonomous vehicles than a decade ago but this is natural evolution and it relied on progress in so many other (not necessarily war driven) improvements: computers, electronics, etc. I would rather not see the war that brings you the AI for autonomous machines.

close04 8y ago

What I mean is that it's not these wars that will bring you autonomous vehicles. It's war in general, the idea of using autonomous machines of any kind for war is very old, and so is the study of it. But Iraq has been a war zone for decades now (with intermezzos). And although some of the tech was there since before the Gulf War we still haven't progressed that far in ~30 years. This kind of war brings slightly accelerated incremental progress, evolution. Something like a WW or a cold war where you question whether your city will be the next Hiroshima brings you a jump: the nuclear bomb, the ICBM, man in space and on the Moon, and so many other Sci-Fi tech. That's what I meant. Yes, today we have slightly better autonomous vehicles than a decade ago but this is natural evolution and it relied on progress in so many other (not necessarily war driven) improvements: computers, electronics, etc. I would rather not see the war that brings you the AI for autonomous machines.