15 ms·

Oh Great They’re Putting Guns on Robodogs Now

31 points by hjek 5y ago

vbg 5y ago
“ eventually it became clear that the foremost concern of these plutocrats was maintaining control over a security force which would protect their estates from the rabble in a post-apocalyptic world where money might not mean anything.” Great basis for a computer game or sci fi book. “Battle your way through waves of robot sentries and guardians to make it to the inner sanctum of the billionaires. What do you find when you get to the end? A skeleton on a throne of gold monitoring his robotic defenses against humanity. Maybe we should trick all the billionaires into thinking there’s a nuclear war so they scurry into their bunkers never to come out again.
htrp 5y ago
This is already in BF2042; does art imitate life or life imitate art?
- stemlord 5y ago
  The tech industry has been gleefully imitating scifi horror for a while now
  - consumer451 5y ago
    > The tech industry has been gleefully imitating scifi horror for a while now I mean, here on HN we hear that this is not the case at all among employees of big tech, and then we make fun of them.
- JohnWhigham 5y ago
  I don't know why people are surprised by this. Rarely, if ever, has humanity stopped and wondered if the technological path they are about to embark upon may not be the best for the greater good.
voakbasda 5y ago
Is anyone actually surprised by this move? Humanity has not moved past arms races. Any country that agrees to ban this type of weapon will still face them on the battlefield, because there will those who don’t care. Better to have them working on our side.
- hjek 5y ago
  > Better to have them working on our side. Your local police department may get the military surplus murderdogs. Maybe just with rubber bullets for "riot control" though. Just guessing of course, but small drones are already in common use by police in several countries.
simmerup 5y ago
You look through history and see many instances of soldiers refusing their superiors commands to massacre civilians, or even superiors knowing their options are constrained due to their soldiers politics. This invisible check on power is lost by autonomous drones and robots. Very scary territory to be wading into.
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  Only until you realize that the dogs are running software and all the best hackers are out here, not in there :)
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
mikewarot 5y ago
Wow, that's a LOT of trust to put in the operating system and communications links. These things will be hacked, it's just a question of time.
- hjek 5y ago
  In that case the obvious solution is just to disable networking to get fully-autonumous murderbots.
  - mikewarot 5y ago
    Which assumes that the code doesn't have a trojan horse waiting to go off, or just some random bug.
gary17the 5y ago
"So hey they’ve started mounting sniper rifles on robodogs, which is great news for anyone who was hoping they’d start mounting sniper rifles on robodogs." :)

31 points by hjek 5y ago

vbg 5y ago

“ eventually it became clear that the foremost concern of these plutocrats was maintaining control over a security force which would protect their estates from the rabble in a post-apocalyptic world where money might not mean anything.” Great basis for a computer game or sci fi book. “Battle your way through waves of robot sentries and guardians to make it to the inner sanctum of the billionaires. What do you find when you get to the end? A skeleton on a throne of gold monitoring his robotic defenses against humanity. Maybe we should trick all the billionaires into thinking there’s a nuclear war so they scurry into their bunkers never to come out again.

htrp 5y ago

This is already in BF2042; does art imitate life or life imitate art?

stemlord 5y ago
The tech industry has been gleefully imitating scifi horror for a while now
- consumer451 5y ago
  > The tech industry has been gleefully imitating scifi horror for a while now I mean, here on HN we hear that this is not the case at all among employees of big tech, and then we make fun of them.
JohnWhigham 5y ago
I don't know why people are surprised by this. Rarely, if ever, has humanity stopped and wondered if the technological path they are about to embark upon may not be the best for the greater good.

voakbasda 5y ago

Is anyone actually surprised by this move? Humanity has not moved past arms races. Any country that agrees to ban this type of weapon will still face them on the battlefield, because there will those who don’t care. Better to have them working on our side.

hjek 5y ago
> Better to have them working on our side. Your local police department may get the military surplus murderdogs. Maybe just with rubber bullets for "riot control" though. Just guessing of course, but small drones are already in common use by police in several countries.

simmerup 5y ago

You look through history and see many instances of soldiers refusing their superiors commands to massacre civilians, or even superiors knowing their options are constrained due to their soldiers politics. This invisible check on power is lost by autonomous drones and robots. Very scary territory to be wading into.

forgotmypw17 5y ago
Only until you realize that the dogs are running software and all the best hackers are out here, not in there :)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

mikewarot 5y ago

Wow, that's a LOT of trust to put in the operating system and communications links. These things will be hacked, it's just a question of time.

hjek 5y ago
In that case the obvious solution is just to disable networking to get fully-autonumous murderbots.
- mikewarot 5y ago
  Which assumes that the code doesn't have a trojan horse waiting to go off, or just some random bug.

gary17the 5y ago

"So hey they’ve started mounting sniper rifles on robodogs, which is great news for anyone who was hoping they’d start mounting sniper rifles on robodogs." :)