war machines

Remote Car Stopper by Eureka Aerospace

by Socrates

Here is a video demo of a prototype for a remote car disabling or car stopping Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) device called HPEMS (High Powered Electro Magnetic System). The device is currently being developed by Eureka Aerospace for the US Police, Airforce, Marine Core and other interested parties. It has the ability to stop cars within a 200 meter range and the goal is to make the prototype light enough so that it can be easily carried by a single soldier or police officer. One of the major weaknesses of the device is that it will not be able stop vintage cars that lack an on-board computer or microprocessor. This means that, once the device is introduced, it will be vehicles built before the mid 1970s that will make the best get-away cars. Related articles by Zemanta Car-stopping electropulse cannon [...]

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The Rise of Robotic Artificial Intelligence

by Socrates

Here is a fascinating video interview with Prof. Noel Sharkey Sheffield University professor of robotics and AI. Prof. Sharkey discusses the rise of robots and Artificial Intelligence and the implications thereof. One particularly important area is the ethical issues of arming robots and using them in armed conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan. (This interview raises questions that were previously discussed in the Dawn of the Kill-Bots series.) Artificial intelligence: Noel Sharkey on the inexorable rise of robots | silicon.com Related articles by Zemanta Call for debate on killer robots (news.bbc.co.uk) Call for debate on killer robots (innovationtoronto.com) Military killer robots ‘could endanger civilians’ (telegraph.co.uk) Expert Warns Of ‘Terminator’ Robot Threat (news.sky.com)

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Dawn of the Kill-Bots: the Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Arming of AI (part 4)

by Socrates
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Part 4: Military Turing Test — Can robots commit war-crimes? Now that we have identified the trend of moving military robots to the forefront of military action from their current largely secondary and supportive role to becoming a primary direct participant or (as Foster-Miller proudly calls its MAARS bots) “war fighters” we have to also recognize the profound implications that such a process will have not only on the future of warfare but also potentially on the future of mankind. In order to do so we will have to briefly consider what for now are assumed to be broad philosophical but, as robot technology advances and becomes more prevalent, will eventually become highly political, legal and ethical issues: Can robots be intelligent? Can robots have conscience? Can Robots commit war crimes? In 1950 Alan Turing introduced what he believed was [...]

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Dawn of the Kill-Bots: the Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Arming of AI (part 1)

by Socrates
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Warfare, while seemingly the opposite of large scale industrial production, in so far as it is usually perceived to be large scale destruction, exhibits most if not all of the main characteristics of the capitalist mode of production. Features such as specialization, personal discipline within an ethos of team spirit, standardization of procedures, processes and products, are characteristic of both war and modern production. Whether it is more proper to say that warfare has been industrialized or that capitalist production has been militarized is an interesting and important question,  yet regardless of the answer it is evident that robots can be successfully applied both to the production process of capitalism as well as the destruction process of war. Just like its cousin the manufacturing robot has the capacity to produce more products per unit of time compared to a worker, [...]

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