I don’t like to publicize the fact that I really dislike the government. With my taste in music and everything it makes me feel like too much of a cliche. After Obama was elected I was really trying to give the government a chance. But either he is just an image that the same, old as dirt, evil republicans are using so we think America is hip & aware, or he’s just as bad as the rest of them. I pray it’s not the latter. Briefly for once, I was able to proudly say ‘I don’t hate our government.’ But of course, they’ve managed to give me another reason to think they are completely and utterly stupid. Technology is amazing, but past helping obtain music I don’t want to pay for, making sure I’m spelling this blog right, and getting in touch with my friends; I think we’d be better off without it. In fact, I think technology will eventually be the end of us.
I chose a talk by P.W. Singer, about robots in the military and the future of war itself. It doesn’t have anything to do with my paper, but it’s much more interesting. In sixteen minutes I learned that the government already-as in right now-have robots working a long side U.S. soldiers. I also learned that the people controlling these robots are people our age sitting in cubical like rooms, covered head to toe in video monitors, controlling them with what I swear is a Playstation controller covered in camouflage. These people, don’t even have to leave the country! They control them from the states, spend so much time doing so during a given day, and make it home in time for dinner. Whoever controls these drones, has no idea of what they are actually doing. Sure, they know they are killing people, but unless they’re there, in person, taking that life themselves; they won’t feel the consequences in the same way, if at all.
What’s even creepier is the picture of an AT-ST from Star Wars along side a photo of an actual robot made in Japan, and they look almost identical, it’s called a Land Walker; google them and see for yourself. Sure, science fiction is cool, but we seem to forget the consequences of all this technology. It’s easy to kill someone if you send a robot to do it. It’s easy to wage a war when you know there will be no human casualties, at least on your side. We will lose all sense of responsibility and before you know it nations will be waging wars for irrational reasons. Sure it saves lives, but at what cost?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.html
I chose a talk by P.W. Singer, about robots in the military and the future of war itself. It doesn’t have anything to do with my paper, but it’s much more interesting. In sixteen minutes I learned that the government already-as in right now-have robots working a long side U.S. soldiers. I also learned that the people controlling these robots are people our age sitting in cubical like rooms, covered head to toe in video monitors, controlling them with what I swear is a Playstation controller covered in camouflage. These people, don’t even have to leave the country! They control them from the states, spend so much time doing so during a given day, and make it home in time for dinner. Whoever controls these drones, has no idea of what they are actually doing. Sure, they know they are killing people, but unless they’re there, in person, taking that life themselves; they won’t feel the consequences in the same way, if at all.
What’s even creepier is the picture of an AT-ST from Star Wars along side a photo of an actual robot made in Japan, and they look almost identical, it’s called a Land Walker; google them and see for yourself. Sure, science fiction is cool, but we seem to forget the consequences of all this technology. It’s easy to kill someone if you send a robot to do it. It’s easy to wage a war when you know there will be no human casualties, at least on your side. We will lose all sense of responsibility and before you know it nations will be waging wars for irrational reasons. Sure it saves lives, but at what cost?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.html
Wow, I have got to watch this episode. Extremely interesting. Below is a link of an actual Land Walker. I think it's one of the same that you were talking about.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwbUljGs3g
I wonder if any other countries have effective robot army like that? If not, Im curious and maybe a bit scared to what the death toll could grow to during war times.
ReplyDelete