(KILLER ROBOT THREAD) Every development in humanoid robots gets followed by an outpouring of "the machines are taking over!" fears. Mostly kidding, but not completely. I wrote a book on this stuff, and I can tell you the killer robots are coming, but they won't look like people.https://twitter.com/CalebHowe/status/994814164970491904 …
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Fears of humanoid robots mostly come from science fiction, like the Terminator. Things that are like us, but stronger, faster, smarter, make for frightening villains. It goes way back. Robots, supervillains, demons, demigods, etc. 2/x
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But there's no reason killer robots need 2 legs and 2 arms. Skynet creates Terminators for a specific purpose: infiltration. They look like people so they can sneak into human bases, or travel into the past and ask people about Sarah Connor. We have intel operatives for that 3/x
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Hunter-killer ground robots will have four legs, not two. Better balance, and can run a lot faster. Like this one
4/xpic.twitter.com/vkL7mkBpc9
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Whether on treads or legs, weapons-carrying robots will be smaller and lower to the ground than humans. Makes for a smaller target for enemies. (BTW, in tests these models hit targets with perfect accuracy from distance. Unlike human snipers, they don't breathe) 5/xpic.twitter.com/7XWcnhUesw
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And, of course, many killer robots will fly rather than walk or roll. Can move faster, and don't have to worry about ground obstacles. There's the big missile-firing drones you've heard of, which can stay in the air for 24-36 hours. Can be more selective about when to fire. 6/xpic.twitter.com/eBGNq9beut
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And then there's small combat drones, like the Switchblade, a "non-line-of-sight" weapon that carries a grenade-sized charge and can kamikaze into targets. 7/xpic.twitter.com/7Oit2pxHbL
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But if we really get into a war with the machines, the biggest thing we'll have to worry about is probably drone swarms. Humans have better situational awareness than drones, and will for a while (never say never). But robots can coordinate more efficiently. 8/xpic.twitter.com/dTu6LlORst
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Replying to @NGrossman81
So how much autonomy should robots have on the battlefield? Where should humans be in the chain of decision making? And what do we (US) do if our adversaries choose to allow total autonomy and we don't?
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Those are some of the biggest questions. There's so much tactical advantage in autonomy that it's pretty much inevitable. Like autopilot on airplanes, people will get used to it. I'd draw the line at deciding to take a life (though machines will probably end up doing that too).
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