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It will be interesting to see how this plays out once robots get more capable. If the people who planned the Iraq 2003 invasion had had robots available they ma

It will be interesting to see how this plays out once robots get more capable. If the people who planned the Iraq 2003 invasion had had robots available they may have just invaded more countries. Losing their own soldiers' lives is a strong incentive for politicians to limit military adventures. Once the cost to invade a country is only financial they may be tempted to be more aggressive.

jbattle 8y ago
I get your point but I honestly think the people planning the second Iraq war really didn't care about casualties, or perhaps we're just badly deceiving themselves. "We will be greeted with flowers" they said. "the war will pay for itself" they said. Specifically I think Cheney was willing to spill as much blood as needed. Some of his supporters in the media probably we're just in denial about the full costs of over throwing a country as large and fractious as Iraq. What this implies for future wars I'm not sure.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  They may not have cared about losing lives when they invaded but the American public quickly got sceptical about the war once they realized that their soldiers were getting killed. I think this definitely put some restraint on further military action.
- pluma 8y ago
  They cared enough to pressure news reports into not airing any footage of dead American soldiers though. Modern politics are always about optics. Caskets with American flags draped over them are bad optics, especially when there's lots of them all the time.
- UncleEntity 8y ago
  > "We will be greeted with flowers" That and American flags -- which, at the time, I wondered where they managed to get a bunch of flags? Yeah, yeah, I know people don't like to hear that the Iraqi people were actually glad we were there in the early days of the war and greeted us as "liberators"...
  - mythrwy 8y ago
    Just curious if you saw that in the media. If so maybe that answers the first part, where they got the flags, and also makes the second part worth little to nothing.
    - UncleEntity 8y ago
      Nope, saw it firsthand on convoys running around the countryside and also while buying cigarettes and whiskey from the good people of Iraq. Didn't see the media other than occasionally seeing them driving around in their landcrusers.
- EGreg 8y ago
  Cheney himself was not: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY
ryanmarsh 8y ago
once robots get more capable There’s a common misconception that robots are not yet capable enough. This obscures the present, unexecuted, reality. It is well within the budget of many nations to build grenade carrying swarms of drones capable of autonomously patrolling and attacking human targets. The fact that we have not seen this on a wide scale has no bearing on present capabilities, or that which is within reach. If you search YouTube you can already find examples of ISIS using remote piloted inexpensive drones to attack armored targets with devastating effectiveness. This is here, now. As a former light infantry grunt I have a visceral feel for the breathtaking transformation of the battle space we may soon witness. Within an AO it is very challenging to deny access to light infantry, even in the most foreboding terrain. Autonomous drones can and will effectively deny infantry access to large areas. This fundamentally changes ground warfare, even guerrilla. Use logic. Can a drone recognize someone holding a weapon? Can a system be devised to demark areas of friendlies? Are all nations as cautious as the US when it comes to each weapons release?
- AlexCoventry 8y ago
  What is AO?
  - rhcom2 8y ago
    Area of operations
  - lowbloodsugar 8y ago
    https://www.quora.com/What-does-AO-mean-in-the-military https://www.quora.com/What-does-AO-mean-in-the-military
- lowbloodsugar 8y ago
  1500 rounds in a Phalanx, so need 1510 drones (catapults, radar, any aircraft on deck), at, say $5000 each. $7.5m to take a carrier out of the battle. I hope the Navy has wargamed this or demonstrated the phalanx software wont shit itself with that many targets.
  - 8y ago
Avshalom 8y ago
I mean I feel like the USA has been continuously bombing somebody since at least the first Iraq War, and I'd lay even odds on "since the 30s" it's just that I've only had long term memory since the Bush 1. I think it's less concern about the domestic effects of war and more about the general inefficiency of murdering-the-shit-out-of-countries when it comes to foreign policy.
- everyone 8y ago
  Its just business. The military-industrial complex is able to get billions in tax money in order to bomb people. So, thats what they do. The funding makes the complex powerful, and gives it the ability to lobby for more money, so they bomb more, and so on.
  - everyone 8y ago
    Many large scale organisations seem to operate similarly.

jbattle 8y ago

I get your point but I honestly think the people planning the second Iraq war really didn't care about casualties, or perhaps we're just badly deceiving themselves. "We will be greeted with flowers" they said. "the war will pay for itself" they said. Specifically I think Cheney was willing to spill as much blood as needed. Some of his supporters in the media probably we're just in denial about the full costs of over throwing a country as large and fractious as Iraq. What this implies for future wars I'm not sure.

maxxxxx 8y ago
They may not have cared about losing lives when they invaded but the American public quickly got sceptical about the war once they realized that their soldiers were getting killed. I think this definitely put some restraint on further military action.
pluma 8y ago
They cared enough to pressure news reports into not airing any footage of dead American soldiers though. Modern politics are always about optics. Caskets with American flags draped over them are bad optics, especially when there's lots of them all the time.
UncleEntity 8y ago
> "We will be greeted with flowers" That and American flags -- which, at the time, I wondered where they managed to get a bunch of flags? Yeah, yeah, I know people don't like to hear that the Iraqi people were actually glad we were there in the early days of the war and greeted us as "liberators"...
- mythrwy 8y ago
  Just curious if you saw that in the media. If so maybe that answers the first part, where they got the flags, and also makes the second part worth little to nothing.
  - UncleEntity 8y ago
    Nope, saw it firsthand on convoys running around the countryside and also while buying cigarettes and whiskey from the good people of Iraq. Didn't see the media other than occasionally seeing them driving around in their landcrusers.
EGreg 8y ago
Cheney himself was not: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY

ryanmarsh 8y ago

once robots get more capable There’s a common misconception that robots are not yet capable enough. This obscures the present, unexecuted, reality. It is well within the budget of many nations to build grenade carrying swarms of drones capable of autonomously patrolling and attacking human targets. The fact that we have not seen this on a wide scale has no bearing on present capabilities, or that which is within reach. If you search YouTube you can already find examples of ISIS using remote piloted inexpensive drones to attack armored targets with devastating effectiveness. This is here, now. As a former light infantry grunt I have a visceral feel for the breathtaking transformation of the battle space we may soon witness. Within an AO it is very challenging to deny access to light infantry, even in the most foreboding terrain. Autonomous drones can and will effectively deny infantry access to large areas. This fundamentally changes ground warfare, even guerrilla. Use logic. Can a drone recognize someone holding a weapon? Can a system be devised to demark areas of friendlies? Are all nations as cautious as the US when it comes to each weapons release?

AlexCoventry 8y ago
What is AO?
- rhcom2 8y ago
  Area of operations
- lowbloodsugar 8y ago
  https://www.quora.com/What-does-AO-mean-in-the-military https://www.quora.com/What-does-AO-mean-in-the-military
lowbloodsugar 8y ago
1500 rounds in a Phalanx, so need 1510 drones (catapults, radar, any aircraft on deck), at, say $5000 each. $7.5m to take a carrier out of the battle. I hope the Navy has wargamed this or demonstrated the phalanx software wont shit itself with that many targets.
- 8y ago

Avshalom 8y ago

I mean I feel like the USA has been continuously bombing somebody since at least the first Iraq War, and I'd lay even odds on "since the 30s" it's just that I've only had long term memory since the Bush 1. I think it's less concern about the domestic effects of war and more about the general inefficiency of murdering-the-shit-out-of-countries when it comes to foreign policy.

everyone 8y ago
Its just business. The military-industrial complex is able to get billions in tax money in order to bomb people. So, thats what they do. The funding makes the complex powerful, and gives it the ability to lobby for more money, so they bomb more, and so on.
- everyone 8y ago
  Many large scale organisations seem to operate similarly.