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An old soldiers take: https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gallimore_why_it_matters_how_we_kill https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gallimore_why_it_matters_ho... In

An old soldiers take: https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gallimore_why_it_matters_how_we_kill https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gallimore_why_it_matters_ho... In summary drones make it to easy for the countries like the UK and the US to kill with no risk to their own service men. The missiles are not magic, there will be collateral damage. Solders on the ground could mitigate this

inglor_cz 5y ago
"kill with no risk to their own service men" Reducing the risk to your own troops is a fundamental concern of most armies out there and has been for millennia. Robot warfare is a logical endpoint of such development. I cannot see anyone opting out of this race and remaining militarily relevant.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  > Robot warfare is a logical endpoint of such development Robot vs. Robot is unlikely to settle wars - we may as well play chess rather than wage war and humans have too much bloodlust to solve differences that way. What is likely to happen is having country A's robots in country B's homeland killing humans, while battling country B's robots in A's homeland. What constitutes a "war front" will be really confusing when the next war between great powers comes.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    The goal of a war usually isn't to rack the highest bodycount, but to break the opponent's will. IDK how this works with fully robotic armies, but some devastation of the homelands is probably expected. The concept of a war front has been already muddled since the advent of airplanes.
    - sangnoir 5y ago
      > The concept of a war front has been already muddled since the advent of airplanes. True, but airplanes have to fly back. I'd say cruise missiles, then UAVs/drones and loitering munitions have continued to blur the lines. Having loitering bots of war on the ground will be a further escalation.
lixtra 5y ago
> The missiles are not magic, there will be collateral damage. Solders on the ground could mitigate this I have no data about this but my gut tells me a drone could operate more safely than a ground team. The drone pilot is under much less stress while foot soldiers have to make live and death decisions in split seconds. Also drone strikes are easier to audit than opaque small team operations in enemy territory.

inglor_cz 5y ago

"kill with no risk to their own service men" Reducing the risk to your own troops is a fundamental concern of most armies out there and has been for millennia. Robot warfare is a logical endpoint of such development. I cannot see anyone opting out of this race and remaining militarily relevant.

sangnoir 5y ago
> Robot warfare is a logical endpoint of such development Robot vs. Robot is unlikely to settle wars - we may as well play chess rather than wage war and humans have too much bloodlust to solve differences that way. What is likely to happen is having country A's robots in country B's homeland killing humans, while battling country B's robots in A's homeland. What constitutes a "war front" will be really confusing when the next war between great powers comes.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  The goal of a war usually isn't to rack the highest bodycount, but to break the opponent's will. IDK how this works with fully robotic armies, but some devastation of the homelands is probably expected. The concept of a war front has been already muddled since the advent of airplanes.
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    > The concept of a war front has been already muddled since the advent of airplanes. True, but airplanes have to fly back. I'd say cruise missiles, then UAVs/drones and loitering munitions have continued to blur the lines. Having loitering bots of war on the ground will be a further escalation.

lixtra 5y ago

> The missiles are not magic, there will be collateral damage. Solders on the ground could mitigate this I have no data about this but my gut tells me a drone could operate more safely than a ground team. The drone pilot is under much less stress while foot soldiers have to make live and death decisions in split seconds. Also drone strikes are easier to audit than opaque small team operations in enemy territory.