We are not used to think of them this way. We don’t see robots or machines as a threat, more as a tool to complete our tasks. But this my friends, is about to change. In fact, it may have already changed, the beginning of the end may have begun. Machines deliberately killing people - can that really be?
Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.
As technology, processing power and sophistication of software is ever increasing, it should come as no surprise that the military of the big players in the world encourage their researchers to pursue the development of new kind of technology, which might also be used in warfare.
Autonomous machines.
Robots, designed to perform a certain task, but it lies in their hands what happens next. It is up to their ‘mind’ how to proceed, even if it shall kill a human being if so required. Welcome to the Cold War 2.0, the arms race for robots in the military. Many robots are already used for espionage and all these things, even armed robots. But there’s always someone in the loop, someone who then decides whether to pull the trigger or not. This someone is about to lose his job, the machine will be doing that for him now, making the decision for him. The decision to kill a human being is up to “just lights and clockwork” (Spooner’s opinion about them in ‘I, Robot’).
According to Professor Noel Sharkey, these killer robots pose the latest and ultimate threat to all mankind, and an arms race in that direction might be on its way, if not already occuring.
But if you think that so far nothing has gone wrong and everything is under control… Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14.
Other reports have suggested a computer error might have been to blame. Defence pundit Helmoed-Römer Heitman told the Weekend Argus that if “the cause lay in computer error, the reason for the tragedy might never be found.”
And there is another incident of a machine mysteriously firing on people.
All machines are man-made. So if they really outsmart us at some stage, we brought this on ourselves. “No fate but what we make” - John Connor.
Come with me, if you want to live.
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