The UN May Ban Killer Drones

Started by DicedT, May 30, 2013, 06:54:18 PM

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LongBlade

#1
May 30, 2013, 09:35:38 PM
Interesting. I wasn't aware there was a move to ban armed UAVs.

This part caught my eye.

QuoteBut though the U.S. government staunchly maintains that drones will never fire without a human giving the command, Heyns is justifiably skeptical: "The decision-making processes of robots are often measured in nanoseconds and the informational basis of those decisions may not be practically accessible to the supervisor. In such circumstances humans are de facto out of the loop and the machines thus effectively constitute LARs."

Personally I would have tweaked the language to read "possibly justified in being skeptical," as I don't think your article, as published, makes the case that the US and its allies won't insist on having a human make the final decision to fire.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Mr. Bigglesworth

#2
May 30, 2013, 09:57:09 PM
Of course countries with no tech want to ban them.

Auto defense systems are not optional. It would be like someone going back to paper trading on wall street. Whoever complies is a dead duck in under a second.
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; "
- Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, 1598

bayonetbrant

#3
May 31, 2013, 05:26:40 AM
hasn't the UN also banned genocide?  how's that working out for us...?
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

TheCommandTent

#4
May 31, 2013, 07:21:39 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on May 31, 2013, 05:26:40 AM
hasn't the UN also banned genocide?  how's that working out for us...?

I was thinking along the same lines.  How many edict have they issued and not back up ...
"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."

LongBlade

#5
May 31, 2013, 02:41:34 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on May 31, 2013, 07:21:39 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on May 31, 2013, 05:26:40 AM
hasn't the UN also banned genocide?  how's that working out for us...?

I was thinking along the same lines.  How many edict have they issued and not back up ...

While we're at it, corruption is probably not on the officially sanctioned list of activities, but somehow the UN manages to be a successful kleptocracy in spite of that.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

mirth

#6
May 31, 2013, 03:48:15 PM
I think the emphasis here needs to be on Killer Drones.

As always Firefly shows us the way:

QuoteZoë: Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?
Book: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.
"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

Jack Nastyface

#7
May 31, 2013, 04:11:49 PM
Michael...
Good article.  Comments submitted under my real(ish) name: Byron Grant (surname redacted).
Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afghans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over.

DoctorQuest

#8
May 31, 2013, 04:14:37 PM
We have to get a jump on SkyNet somehow.
"Everything you read on the internet is true." - Benjamin Franklin

"Zero-G and I feel fine....." - John Glenn

"I reject your reality and substitute my own." - Adam Savage, inventor of the alternative fact.

son_of_montfort

#9
May 31, 2013, 05:40:27 PM
I, for one, don't really want to give an AI power to launch weapons!
"Now it is no accident all these conservatives are using time travel to teach our kids. It is the best way to fight back against the liberal version of history, or as it is sometimes known... history."

- Stephen Colbert

"The purpose of religion is to answer the ultimate question, are we in control or is there some greater force pulling the strings? And if the courts rule that corporations have the same religious rights that we humans do, I think we'll have our answer."

- Stephen Colbert

bayonetbrant

#10
May 31, 2013, 05:58:51 PM
Quote from: son_of_montfort on May 31, 2013, 05:40:27 PM
I, for one, don't really want to give an AI power to launch weapons!

FWIW, it's probably more "I" than most of the "I" calling the shots right now... ::)
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers
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