How many times do sentient killer robots have to turn against and enslave the human race in science fiction books and films before we realize that building killer sentient robots is generally not a good idea? The guy quoted in this article thinks half the U.S. military will be “half machine, half human” by 2015. Haven’t the people working on this technology watched The Matrix? Terminator? I, Robot?
This will not end well:
“We are at a point of revolution in war, like the invention of the atomic bomb,” Singer said. “What does it mean to go to war with US soldiers whose hardware is made in China and whose software is made in India?”
Robotics designer David Hanson offered hope when it comes to making robots a little more human. Hanson builds robots that have synthetic flesh faces and read people’s expressions in order to copy expressions.
“The goal here is not just to achieve sentience, but empathy,” Hanson said. “As machines are more capable of killing, implanting empathy could be the seeds of hope for our future.”
On a more serious note, there’s something disturbing about going to war with robots. Yes, it can reduce casualties, but the technology is going to very one-sided for a very long time. Rich nations will spare their sons and daughters the horrors of war while the poor fight against each other and killer machines. Except when it’s done remotely it seems more like slaughtering than fighting.