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Boston Dynamics has sworn off all war machine development [1]. But as expected, others have taken their place [2]. Guilt-tripping a single non-monopoly proving

by pj_mukh 6mo ago

Boston Dynamics has sworn off all war machine development [1]. But as expected, others have taken their place [2]. Guilt-tripping a single non-monopoly proving useless again. [1]: https://bostondynamics.com/news/general-purpose-robots-should-not-be-weaponized/ https://bostondynamics.com/news/general-purpose-robots-shoul... [2]: https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20260323PD219/military-boston-dynamics-supply-chain-adoption-taiwan.html https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20260323PD219/military-bosto...

Hendrikto 6mo ago
> Boston Dynamics has sworn off all war machine development [1]. That’s just marketing bs in the same vein as “Your privacy is very important to us.”. It means nothing.
- etiam 6mo ago
  “Your privacy is very important to us.” is technically true though. It probably does take away something from their profits, and sometimes the whole business idea, if they don't continue to rampantly violate it...
- Froedlich 6mo ago
  Yep. Boston Dynamics has been dependent on military contracts since their founding in 1992. The "no more military weapons" statement seems to have been after they were acquired by Hyundai. Boston Dynamics' business is, basically, "mobility platforms." After all these years the basic development is all done; now they're pivoting to commercial markets. There's no real difference between a "murderbot" and, say, a police riot-control platform, a fire-fighting platform, a forestry platform, etc. They might not be explicitly developing weapon packages any more, but there are plenty of other companies who will be happy to take the money to build them onto Boston Dynamics' platforms.
  - pj_mukh 6mo ago
    "there are plenty of other companies who will be happy to take the money to build them onto Boston Dynamics' platforms." Only way to solve this is DRM. War machine (or even intimidation tool) creations on their platforms is a Terms of Use violation [1] [1]: https://bostondynamics.com/blog/an-ethical-approach-to-mobile-robots-in-our-communities/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://bostondynamics.com/blog/an-ethical-approach-to-mobil...

by pj_mukh 6mo ago

Hendrikto 6mo ago

> Boston Dynamics has sworn off all war machine development [1]. That’s just marketing bs in the same vein as “Your privacy is very important to us.”. It means nothing.

etiam 6mo ago
“Your privacy is very important to us.” is technically true though. It probably does take away something from their profits, and sometimes the whole business idea, if they don't continue to rampantly violate it...
Froedlich 6mo ago
Yep. Boston Dynamics has been dependent on military contracts since their founding in 1992. The "no more military weapons" statement seems to have been after they were acquired by Hyundai. Boston Dynamics' business is, basically, "mobility platforms." After all these years the basic development is all done; now they're pivoting to commercial markets. There's no real difference between a "murderbot" and, say, a police riot-control platform, a fire-fighting platform, a forestry platform, etc. They might not be explicitly developing weapon packages any more, but there are plenty of other companies who will be happy to take the money to build them onto Boston Dynamics' platforms.
- pj_mukh 6mo ago
  "there are plenty of other companies who will be happy to take the money to build them onto Boston Dynamics' platforms." Only way to solve this is DRM. War machine (or even intimidation tool) creations on their platforms is a Terms of Use violation [1] [1]: https://bostondynamics.com/blog/an-ethical-approach-to-mobile-robots-in-our-communities/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://bostondynamics.com/blog/an-ethical-approach-to-mobil...