3 ms·

We could at least make it illegal domestically. Also, is this Cold War thinking still common? I thought we were over that by now.

germinalphrase 5y ago
We haven’t even stopped building new kinds of nuclear weapons - or reviving old ones. China recently launched a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOB) with a hypersonic glide vehicle which is a new spin on an old Cold War idea. Edit: which is to say, believing the average person has moved on from Cold War thinking is probably wishful thinking that would be immediately dispelled during near peer conflict. We are in every bit as much danger now as we were then. Edit 2: I can recommend two podcasts for those interested in a bit of low stakes learning. “At the Brink”: a limited series from the William J. Perry Foundation. “Arms Control Wonk Podcast” which covers contemporary nuclear weapons, arms control, etc. in an ongoing manner.
awillen 5y ago
Have you read the news lately? https://www.reuters.com/world/china-surprises-us-with-hypersonic-missile-test-ft-reports-2021-10-17/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china-surprises-us-with-hypers... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58794094 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58794094 China has becoming increasingly aggressive in both its rhetoric and actions towards Taiwan, and this comes only shortly after they clearly violated their 50 year agreement with Hong Kong. They are testing increasingly advanced weapons. That's just reality - nothing to do with Cold War thinking. Maybe China decides not to build autonomous killer robots, but we absolutely can't be sure of that. If they do end up with that technology and we don't have it, it puts us at a huge military disadvantage against an increasingly aggressive superpower. Making it illegal domestically makes no sense whatsoever if China develops the technology. The risk with autonomous killer robots is in their existence - if something goes wrong, they start deciding to kill the wrong people. If China has them and we don't, that doesn't reduce that risk at all. But if China has them and we don't it, then we're at risk both of something going wrong with the robots and of China using them against us. At least if we develop our own, we can counter the latter threat.
nonameiguess 5y ago
Contemporary US defense policy is almost entirely based right now on concerns of falling behind China technologically in the next 20 years. So no, we're definitely not over that. We were, but we swung back hard in the other direction, with present leadership convinced that going all-in on asymmetric warfare, counterinsurgency, and foreign internal defense training and assistance was exactly the wrong thing and terrorism is small beans in the grand scheme, and we should have stayed focused on long-term strategic dominance of near-peer adversaries. And it is illegal for the active military to do anything domestically. Different story for the National Guard, of course, and the police, so I guess we might want to neuter them technologically if there's a real concern the police are going to use murder dog robots to hunt suspects.
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  I on many occasions ate breakfast with national guard members dressed up as police for their training exercises. Their police uniforms all had high rank, high tenure. They will be in charge of the police when things go sideways.
quantified 5y ago
Not sure why you’re downvoted. But, yes, still common and pertinent.

germinalphrase 5y ago

We haven’t even stopped building new kinds of nuclear weapons - or reviving old ones. China recently launched a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOB) with a hypersonic glide vehicle which is a new spin on an old Cold War idea. Edit: which is to say, believing the average person has moved on from Cold War thinking is probably wishful thinking that would be immediately dispelled during near peer conflict. We are in every bit as much danger now as we were then. Edit 2: I can recommend two podcasts for those interested in a bit of low stakes learning. “At the Brink”: a limited series from the William J. Perry Foundation. “Arms Control Wonk Podcast” which covers contemporary nuclear weapons, arms control, etc. in an ongoing manner.

awillen 5y ago

Have you read the news lately? https://www.reuters.com/world/china-surprises-us-with-hypersonic-missile-test-ft-reports-2021-10-17/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china-surprises-us-with-hypers... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58794094 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58794094 China has becoming increasingly aggressive in both its rhetoric and actions towards Taiwan, and this comes only shortly after they clearly violated their 50 year agreement with Hong Kong. They are testing increasingly advanced weapons. That's just reality - nothing to do with Cold War thinking. Maybe China decides not to build autonomous killer robots, but we absolutely can't be sure of that. If they do end up with that technology and we don't have it, it puts us at a huge military disadvantage against an increasingly aggressive superpower. Making it illegal domestically makes no sense whatsoever if China develops the technology. The risk with autonomous killer robots is in their existence - if something goes wrong, they start deciding to kill the wrong people. If China has them and we don't, that doesn't reduce that risk at all. But if China has them and we don't it, then we're at risk both of something going wrong with the robots and of China using them against us. At least if we develop our own, we can counter the latter threat.

nonameiguess 5y ago

Contemporary US defense policy is almost entirely based right now on concerns of falling behind China technologically in the next 20 years. So no, we're definitely not over that. We were, but we swung back hard in the other direction, with present leadership convinced that going all-in on asymmetric warfare, counterinsurgency, and foreign internal defense training and assistance was exactly the wrong thing and terrorism is small beans in the grand scheme, and we should have stayed focused on long-term strategic dominance of near-peer adversaries. And it is illegal for the active military to do anything domestically. Different story for the National Guard, of course, and the police, so I guess we might want to neuter them technologically if there's a real concern the police are going to use murder dog robots to hunt suspects.

LinuxBender 5y ago
I on many occasions ate breakfast with national guard members dressed up as police for their training exercises. Their police uniforms all had high rank, high tenure. They will be in charge of the police when things go sideways.

quantified 5y ago

Not sure why you’re downvoted. But, yes, still common and pertinent.