So the robot weapons issue is getting some more coverage - check out this New Scientist piece and scroll down to the 'Make Robots Not War' section at the bottom. The more scientists can be encouraged to stand by their views and not particpate in creating autonomous robotic weapons, the better. It's painfully easy to see what happens when science dances to the tune of military masters - Hiroshima, the concentration camps, Unit 731, the Allied firebombing of Dresden. Atomic bombs, genetic experiments, biological weapons - World War 2 really was the first sci-fi war.
The difference now, with autonomous robotic weapons, is that we are at the start of a new destructive technology - these weapons are in the planning stages and do not have to be created. Better to think about it now and stop, rather than be holding UN enquiries in 15-20 years time trying to find who / what was responsible for the massacre of three hundred innocent civilians in some far-flung war zone.
Just in case you think this is all a little too far-fetched, here's video of the SGR-A1, a South Korean robot sentry that's in line for duty on the border with North Korea.
(originally published 28th Mar 2008)
Comments