SA professor warns against drone, robot attacks

[Kevin Lancaster]

SA professor warns against drone, robot attacks

University of Johannesburg law Professor Hennie Strydom on Wednesday advised against the use of programmed drones and robots during conflicts

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

SA professor warns against drone, robot attacks

Did he mean CLONE attacks and by robots was he maybe thinking of destroyer droids .....

Strydom questioned the practicality of using such weapons in warfare and the implications of “machines deciding on who lives and dies”.

Well as long as there arent any Jedi around its quite practical

 

[Fingolfin]

I'm afraid it'5 pr0bably a bit late f0r this discussi0n...if indeed it was ever t0 be under discussi0n.

 

[Lawnchairman]

I'm afraid it'5 pr0bably a bit late f0r this discussi0n...if indeed it was ever t0 be under discussi0n.

Indeed

Remember missile guidance systems of the 80's

 

[Skerminkel]

but human involvement should never be replaced by machines

They said that about manufacturing 40 years ago.
Autopilots 30 years ago.
Cars 5 years ago.

Important argument, but the professor should also instruct the journalists to go and read their Asimovs.

 

[Space_Chief]

Important argument, but the professor should also instruct the journalists to go and read their Asimovs.

Why? What's so special about Asimov?

 

[Impulse_One]

Why? What's so special about Asimov?

Three Laws of Robotics

 

[Jola]

Three Laws of Robotics

The problem is that the robot designers won't pay any attention to this.

 

[Tacet]

The problem is that the robot designers won't pay any attention to this.

Yep. Asimov's laws are built around the concept of robots doing fairly peaceful tasks. Current development is driven from an armed forces perspective - enforcing Asimov's laws to DARPA just isn't going to happen.

 

[2026]

“Can they really make the distinction between legitimate targets and civilians? Can they distinguish a hunter from an enemy combatant?”

Can humans?

 

[Skerminkel]

Why? What's so special about Asimov?

Three Laws of Robotics

Not just the three laws, but the influence of robots in general. Asimov (and other scifi writers) introduced the questions decades ago already. Anyone who thinks about the issues, or report on them, should get up to speed with the thinking. If not, we just keep thinking in circles, because everyone has to consider the problem from scratch and in isolation. This is not much different to philosophy or economics or politics really. Scifi is science and technology's version of philosophy (and more fun to read, because it is stories.)

 

[Fingolfin]

Not just the three laws, but the influence of robots in general. Asimov (and other scifi writers) introduced the questions decades ago already. Anyone who thinks about the issues, or report on them, should get up to speed with the thinking. If not, we just keep thinking in circles, because everyone has to consider the problem from scratch and in isolation.

Totally, see "the issues with self-driving cars" in 'Sally', published in 1953:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_(short_story)

http://io9.com/why-asimovs-three-laws-of-robotics-cant-protect-us-1553665410