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Oh man, can anyone imagine a non-Terminator scenario for this? Update: I'm not saying people shouldn't develop this, we're never going to squash human curiosit

by atonse 1y ago

Oh man, can anyone imagine a non-Terminator scenario for this? Update: I'm not saying people shouldn't develop this, we're never going to squash human curiosity. But when I see this kind of stuff, I'm deeply troubled by how bad actors (state and non-state) will use this. I hope our security services are working hard on countering these potential threats.

TYPE_FASTER 1y ago
Inspecting utilities and other industrial infrastructure.
jmccarthy 1y ago
very prompt burrito delivery?
- generalizations 1y ago
  In china probably very soon. In the US? Regulation has already killed that.
- cluckindan 1y ago
  If by burrito you mean shaped charge high explosives with lethal shrapnel, triggered by facial recognition, delivered by drones the size of house sparrows at the speed of sound, then yes, burrito delivery.
  - roughly 1y ago
    Christ, you sound like my nutritionist.
    - cluckindan 1y ago
      Go, Forth and multiply matrices.
lbotos 1y ago
I feel like search and rescue after an earthquake where a drone swarm can canvas and categorize if it saw movement or not is one possible "non-bad" use.
- martin_a 1y ago
  Fire departments and police in Germany are deploying more and more drone units, too. Firefighters use them to search for missing persons but also to get aerial images and a better overview of larger scenes as "running around" is often not possible or doesn't help that much with the overview. Police is using them to take pictures of accidents. It's easier to see tire marks and the whole "history" of an accident from above. Really reduces their time on a scenery to take pictures of everything.
AlienRobot 1y ago
Drones flying through your windows to deliver things faster. Cons: massive invasion of privacy and probably illegal. Pros: looks cool.
- itishappy 1y ago
  I've always thought a user-installable drone-pad in the style of a window AC unit would be the ideal.
AngryData 1y ago
Im more worried about these type of things causing us to blast each other and ourselves back to the 1920s or so during conflicts when small explosive EMPs start being viewed as less damaging than drones and robots. A fast explosive on the back of a neodynium magnet and a few coils of copper can make a hell of an EMP blast. The only reason we don't use them now is due to all the collateral damage, but if drone bombs represent even more damage they become viable. Yeah it will destroy all the radios around and fuck up a bunch of expensive equipment, but you would still have soldiers with guns rather than just smoking craters.
- Legend2440 1y ago
  You could do EMP, but you could also do some sort of point-defense turret. Drones are lightweight and fragile, so it doesn't need to be big - just fast and auto-targeting.
  - marcus_holmes 1y ago
    Didn't they try this in Ukraine and it doesn't work? Any point installation is quickly overwhelmed. The only answer to FPV drones so far seems to be more FPV drones. Though they're not using fully-autonomous drones in Ukraine yet, so that might still play out.
    - 542354234235 1y ago
      “[As of May 2025] Ukraine has developed and successfully tested the Sky Sentinel – an AI-powered, fully automated turret designed to shoot down Russian drones and missiles… the M2 is known to have an effective range of 1.5 kilometers against airborne threats. Each unit costs approximately $150,000. Developers estimate that protecting a city would require 10 to 30 turrets… Given that each Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia costs around $100,000, Sky Sentinel offers a scalable and cost-effective solution to a persistent and deadly threat.” https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/53546 https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/53546
      - 1y ago
contravariant 1y ago
Sure, just strap a nuke to it and watch WWIII kick off. No terminator necessary.
MoonGhost 1y ago
This will definitely be used in drone vs drone dogfight. Interceptors hunting spy, bombers, and kamikaze drones.
energy123 1y ago
Paul Christiano has thought about these scenarios. I recommend his interview with Dwarkesh a while ago where he goes in depth about it.

by atonse 1y ago

TYPE_FASTER 1y ago

Inspecting utilities and other industrial infrastructure.

jmccarthy 1y ago

very prompt burrito delivery?

generalizations 1y ago
In china probably very soon. In the US? Regulation has already killed that.
cluckindan 1y ago
If by burrito you mean shaped charge high explosives with lethal shrapnel, triggered by facial recognition, delivered by drones the size of house sparrows at the speed of sound, then yes, burrito delivery.
- roughly 1y ago
  Christ, you sound like my nutritionist.
  - cluckindan 1y ago
    Go, Forth and multiply matrices.

lbotos 1y ago

I feel like search and rescue after an earthquake where a drone swarm can canvas and categorize if it saw movement or not is one possible "non-bad" use.

martin_a 1y ago
Fire departments and police in Germany are deploying more and more drone units, too. Firefighters use them to search for missing persons but also to get aerial images and a better overview of larger scenes as "running around" is often not possible or doesn't help that much with the overview. Police is using them to take pictures of accidents. It's easier to see tire marks and the whole "history" of an accident from above. Really reduces their time on a scenery to take pictures of everything.

AlienRobot 1y ago

Drones flying through your windows to deliver things faster. Cons: massive invasion of privacy and probably illegal. Pros: looks cool.

itishappy 1y ago
I've always thought a user-installable drone-pad in the style of a window AC unit would be the ideal.

AngryData 1y ago

Im more worried about these type of things causing us to blast each other and ourselves back to the 1920s or so during conflicts when small explosive EMPs start being viewed as less damaging than drones and robots. A fast explosive on the back of a neodynium magnet and a few coils of copper can make a hell of an EMP blast. The only reason we don't use them now is due to all the collateral damage, but if drone bombs represent even more damage they become viable. Yeah it will destroy all the radios around and fuck up a bunch of expensive equipment, but you would still have soldiers with guns rather than just smoking craters.

Legend2440 1y ago
You could do EMP, but you could also do some sort of point-defense turret. Drones are lightweight and fragile, so it doesn't need to be big - just fast and auto-targeting.
- marcus_holmes 1y ago
  Didn't they try this in Ukraine and it doesn't work? Any point installation is quickly overwhelmed. The only answer to FPV drones so far seems to be more FPV drones. Though they're not using fully-autonomous drones in Ukraine yet, so that might still play out.
  - 542354234235 1y ago
    “[As of May 2025] Ukraine has developed and successfully tested the Sky Sentinel – an AI-powered, fully automated turret designed to shoot down Russian drones and missiles… the M2 is known to have an effective range of 1.5 kilometers against airborne threats. Each unit costs approximately $150,000. Developers estimate that protecting a city would require 10 to 30 turrets… Given that each Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia costs around $100,000, Sky Sentinel offers a scalable and cost-effective solution to a persistent and deadly threat.” https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/53546 https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/53546
    - 1y ago

contravariant 1y ago

Sure, just strap a nuke to it and watch WWIII kick off. No terminator necessary.

MoonGhost 1y ago

This will definitely be used in drone vs drone dogfight. Interceptors hunting spy, bombers, and kamikaze drones.

energy123 1y ago

Paul Christiano has thought about these scenarios. I recommend his interview with Dwarkesh a while ago where he goes in depth about it.