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The problem posed in the slaughterbots video wasn't the technology itself being inherently dangerous (although that was a considerable factor), but instead it f
by dafoex 6y ago
The problem posed in the slaughterbots video wasn't the technology itself being inherently dangerous (although that was a considerable factor), but instead it focused on what happens when it gets compromised or otherwise falls into the wrong hands. The small, mass producible nature of the slaughterbots made it very easy for this to happen, and was the worst case scenario for fully autonomous weapons in general.
That said, I think we are right to be concerned about these "suicide drones", because they are a lot smaller than the fixed wing drones with the missiles, and as such would be harder to detect. I'm picturing these things dropping out of the back of a small aeroplane, one by one, nearly invisible to radar as they fall and land themselves in waiting for troops on the ground to collect them. Alternatively, they fall from the aeroplane and take flight to a GPS location of some small, but bombable fixture like a radio mast or portacabin.
- _bxg1 6y agoAnd what's to stop terrorists from dropping hand grenades from a small airplane onto whatever they want, today? Control on explosive substances (and on aircraft themselves, to a degree) is what. These drones don't change that equation.
- dafoex 6y agoThis is true, there is very little stopping someone strapping a grenade to an off the shelf drone and flying it into a crowd, other than regulation on the explosives themselves, but that's not something that can easily be mass produced. Anyone with enough skill and determination can produce a weapon by themselves, I just think mass production makes it far easier for ill-willed people to obtain a ready-to-go weapon. I still think the bigger risk, currently, is from the people buying these legitimately. These are not much more than precision bombs in their current state, and the risk is not from terrorism but war, and specifically how close to home that war can get. When the Salisbury poisonings happened it scared a lot of people, so imagine the panic if something like this was used to attack a van or a small building in a populated area.