The US military is spending wasting more money developing battlefield robots. Haven’t they seen The Terminator? Those who are ignorant of film history are doomed to repeat it. From the article on the ‘men of steel’:
-
The new battle network, known as “Future Combat Systems”, will enable sophisticated weapons to be deployed close to enemy lines with a minimum risk of casualties.
A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency said: “The aim is to be able to do everything you would ever need to do on the battlefield, using a combination of manned and unmanned systems. They would be able to fire at things, defend themselves, do reconnaissance and find targets.”
These weapons also have the nice feature of lacking any conscience or sense of morality. How convenient. There will be some good ways to fight these things, they will have to be controlled by human operators probably through radio or satellite transmissions. All you would need to do is to interrupt that link and these would be useless. I wonder how many countries are developing HERF guns and EMP tech to disable electronics. Also, you could do something like have a directed EMP beam or laser that could knock out communications satellites. Or, better yet, these satellites could be infilitrated somehow. It is all very exciting and scary. I am remined of that Simpsons episode (The Secret War of Lisa Simpson) where Lisa and Bart graduate from military school. At their graduation the commandant gives this speech:
-
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea.
They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall
mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by
small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is
clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.
That’s about what the average person in the military does these days. Scrape paint, polish something, clean things, and other jobs you couldn’t hire anyone to do without having them indentured for four years. You also get the added bonus of completely ruining your life for at least several years. Even our current and last president had no interest in serving for the military.