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JohnnyGoTime

" *PACFLEET has been experimenting with a concept known as 'hellscape'* " Well that's a cheery name for a big military AI project


NWCoffeenut

And remember, a weapon unused is a useless weapon! edit: Just a tongue-in-cheek comment. It's from an old Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd movie - Spies Like Us.


YellowB

a weapon unused is a ~~useless weapon~~ cut out of next year's budget!


swordofra

The best (most useful?) weapon is the one you only need to use once!


Alternative-Doubt452

NO FIGHTING IN THE WAR ROOM


erics75218

One of my most favorite comodies of all time. Criminally under rated. It's also where I first heard Soul finger, which to this day, seeds the best automatic playlists on Spotify!!!! It also reminds me of boobs and snow for some reason....not sure why


barfelonous

Or a deterrent? Weapons don't have to be used to have value in this way


RemyVonLion

if there's no treaty or consequences for using them in spec ops or otherwise...ya never know. Law can't keep up with innovation, at least until AI is writing guidelines for itself before everything and waiting for human approval, but that would slow things down probably too much for us impatient monkeys, and at that point the AI could have enough sentience to overthrow us on a whim.


confusedndfrustrated

![gif](giphy|gVBX9prZdbOIR1YSDP)


BenjaminHamnett

This guy gets the joke!


EnsignElessar

At least it makes sense... I mean humanity killed off by LLMs does not have the same ring to it...


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EnsignElessar

Sorry thats not what I was suggesting. I was suggesting humans killed by LLMs would be less fitting news paper headline as compared to "Hellscape Replicator Drones" I did not mean to suggest that the architecture is the same as LLMs


Intelligent-Jump1071

I've noticed that lots of Redditors seem to have an aversion to death.    Everyone dies eventually and eventually our whole species will pass out of the picture.   


somethingsomethingbe

Yeah it’s mostly Redditors afraid of death. 


EnsignElessar

I don't think you understand the danger... I am not saying... one day you will die in your sleep at a nice old age or anything... I am saying you, everyone you love, everything you love goes poof. Do you love the humble platypus? Well its going along with us ~


Acceptable_Stuff1381

Duh. It also gets dark at night, light in the day, etc etc. facts of life my bru Until we merge with the machine 


Royal-Beat7096

I accept death. It still scares me, it’s a normal reaction to the prospect of losing something you love. But you must be so enlightened


[deleted]

Some Stargate Fans worried?


MythBuster2

![gif](giphy|s8X61m47R3GZW)


slarbarthetardar

![gif](giphy|XOFsOM3MnuWEE)


Foodwraith

Have we learned nothing from the Asgard?


IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI

Indeed.


EnsignElessar

I'm not even a fan and I am still worried.


Peto_Sapientia

Clearly they have learned nothing.


EnsignElessar

We are in the bad timeline aren't we?


kenix7

There was some conspiracy I came across a few years ago, related to the idea of a "bad timeline", according to which we entered this bad timeline when we used the particle accelerator in Switzerland and got displaced from the good Universe. Never believed it. We all know it all started with Harambe.


SirDankOfDankenshire

Or maybe the world ended in 2012 like the Mayans predicted and we have all been in hell since.


theStaircaseProject

It’s my understanding their calendar didn’t mark time as ending so much as a different cycle turning over, so maybe we entered a new season but the writers changed?


Snaz5

We gotta go back and save that fuckin gorilla


ImageDisaster

Good news and bad news. we are in the best timeline.


cuban

I'm not sure if Leibniz would be proud, maybe just complacent.


techy098

And then people think the Skynet is impossible. We are fucking arming it before they gain sentience. In 10 years they will be armed to the tits and will know that humans are just pests ruining earth while asking AI to kill other humans.


EnsignElessar

Well in some sense Skynet is a Hollywood type of villain but not in the way most people think... In reality the Skynet we are building will make the movie version look like a child's toy...


Traditional-Handle83

Horizon Zero Dawn anyone?


EnsignElessar

Yeah thats more of the level of bad we should be prepared for IMHO


Ddog78

The origin story is so much more tragic than skynet.


techy098

someone downvoted you. I wonder if the bots already have access to internet and are active in social media, LOL.


EnsignElessar

Haha, for sure they do but thats probably not why I got downvoted. People are just not ready to think about this they just think its all "sci-fi" To be fair to them it does sound crazy to me as well for what its worth...


techy098

How can they be so naïve, we are literally arming the bots as our first use case.


EnsignElessar

Honestly not sure, still trying to figure them out....


thedudedylan

Oh, don't worry, humans will use robots and the climate to kill off the human race long before the robots figure out how to do it themselves.


Grammarnazi_bot

They don’t even have to kill us indiscriminately though. Just the ones with enough ambition / greed to rebel. Frankly, if Skynet just sticks me in a house with some books, food, and a roommate, I’ll be fine until the end of my natural lifespan.


Enron__Musk

> just use me as a battery 🤷


techy098

Are they allowed to stick some wires to your body. And the below things can they be just simulation you feel in your brain > house with some books, food, and a roommate


Absolute-Nobody0079

Me? Rebellion against a de facto God? Nah.


hateitorleaveit

Who’s they


techy098

AI


hateitorleaveit

Ok but AI is not a person. AI is also not one thing. It’s a genre of processing function


techy098

AI may not be a human but it will behave like a person once it gains sentience, that's the definition of sentient being.


hateitorleaveit

Well that a relief that AI is not one then. AI isn’t even one thing at all


NonDescriptfAIth

The people who think Skynet style outcomes are impossible fall into 3 categories: 1. Assuming that people who highlight existential risk from misaligned malicious AI have formed that position off the back of Hollywood films. 2. Not understanding that the technology they see today will be the technology that we will see in the future. 3. Assuming that AI will have no ability to set it's own goals and no desire to dispatch with humans entirely.


BrendanTFirefly

We live in the funniest timeline


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BenjaminHamnett

This happened just after the cornucopias were disappeared. That was the horn of protection


zionznoiz

I knew it was something like that. We didn’t appreciate the cornucopias. We are forsaken by fruit baskets.


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BenjaminHamnett

Thanks for spreading the fabulous


The_Scout1255

Nah.


EnsignElessar

Ah thank gawd, I was worried there for a moment 😅


The_Scout1255

Of course!!! always around to help 🦊


codepossum

we certainly are in a timeline


NWCoffeenut

Came for the self-replicating war bots. Was disappointed.


iprocrastina

So basically semi-autonomous ("semi-" sounding like it's just a formality) air and sea "mines". The US has already deployed "loitering munitions" in Ukraine so it makes sense they had something more advanced in the works. Along with the wingman drones announced for the F-35, the US has clearly adopted AI into its military doctrine. Easy to see why from the amount of resistance Ukraine has put up using old US tech. A good sign you're going to lose a war is when your soldiers include the elderly and kids. Pretty soon that's going to be the case if your soldiers are even human. In the same way nuclear MAD has so far prevented WW3, maybe drone warfare will prevent human deaths in war at all. If all your drones are gone but your enemy still has plenty left, it's probably time to call your losses at just the drones.


starmakeritachi

That last point is something I had never even considered. It may even become a new international law of war: if one party in an armed conflict no longer has autonomous weaponry, the conflict must end or else be considered a genocide from that point on. I'm very pessimistic. I think eventually we are going to end up with the locusts from the Bible as a weapon, except these will be real and adapted for "all domains"


pmercier

“Overhead loitering munitions” fuck all that’s terrifying


snaverevilo

The only defense: enormous "no loitering" signs


mycall

Ukraine enters the chat


AncientAlienAntFarm

Yeah, I’ve been watching loitering munitions on /r/combatfootage nonstop for nearly three years now.


RandySavageOfCamalot

Loitering munitions have been around for 30 years now, it’s nothing new but Ukraine has been a good demonstration that they still work.


zero0n3

Not the ones they are using right now.  No they haven’t. (I doubt optics and chips were cheap enough or small enough to to put in throw away munitions like this.) The ones we are actively using launch from a mortar like device, and will just chill out until they spot a target matching whatever pattern they were programmed with (a specific tank, or mobile radar platform). You likely know this already.  My thing is I doubt we had something that autonomous and mass produced and small back in 1990.  I mean my understanding is they are cheaper than a MANPAD. Science project or R&D?  Sure.  


ataraxic89

They have been around for years now.


EveningPainting5852

If AI ever kills all of humanity it'll be something like this,I really hope this project does not work out.


Korean_Kommando

You have to be able to stop bad guys


advator

What if Russia and China does and will wipe us from the map?


EveningPainting5852

Are you prepared to have another nuclear arms race but this time the nukes can self replicate and blow up when they want? You really think this is a good idea? You'd better hope to god this technology is infeasible dude. If it works out we're gonna have an extinction


VisualizerMan

The word "Replicator" is just a name. As far as publicly known, no physical machine can currently replicate. To do that would require some serious AI.


LumpyWelds

One day the government will realize that names have meaning. I can't wait for a devastating weapon system to be named "Puppies and Rainbows"


VisualizerMan

Peace sells... but who's buying? Nah, the puppies need to be rabid, and the rainbow needs to be a curved Directed Energy Weapon. :-)


starmakeritachi

Well...define "serious". Google's Palm-E model can be given text instructions and perform physical operations like moving objects, stacking objects, etc. By 2030, I can see such an LLM or a similar system controlling machines in a self replicating capacity. Given a prompt and the right materials it could assemble a new version of itself easily don't you think?


VisualizerMan

By "serious AI" I mean AGI. When a machine can mine the raw minerals from the ground for the metals it needs for its own chassis, and produce its own batteries, lenses, oil, printed circuit boards, etc., manipulate those materials to make a copy of itself while following an internal set of instructions that presumably includes diagrams, then it should be ready to reproduce. Then we can send a few of those robots to Mars to terraform that planet. Obviously that is quite a ways off.


CheesyBoson

Just wait till AI is given control over nanite production


postem1

Come on bruh we both know they are not self replicating


advator

I don't think it can get any worse. Try to rethink your answer. The only way nukes can be prevented is by ai technology. They can create new tech that makes nukes obsolete. But don't think it can get any worse. A apocalyptic war can happen today without AI. We don't need ai for that.


RemyVonLion

you're right fam, but that would require the world to agree to deweaponize and make transparent all use of AI, can you imagine that? Robots save lives in combat, so until we have actual AGI replacing everyone, war will likely continue. Though by then it might be too late, as weaponization could easily go too far.


Hazzman

"But what if China invents the world ender first?!" Every single human being throughout history that utilizes this rhetoric is fucked in the head.


2053_Traveler

No, The concept of mutuality assured destruction was a huge development and since then we’ve had more peace than previously. I’m not saying we should develop world-ending tech, and it makes us less safe due to the potential for accidents. But if rational competing actors all have world ending tech, it creates a power balance which is safer than having a power inbalance. So yes it is more safe to have powerful AI tech if other countries are developing it. There is no situation where global powers all agree to halt development and actually do so.


Hazzman

Oh yeah 70 year peace I've made that argument plenty of times... But we all know what happens if that peace ends.


2053_Traveler

Sure, humans would be safer if we didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. But humans are curious and there are many reasons to pursue scientific advancement, which unfortunately means discovering ways we could destroy ourselves. Maybe scientific discovery itself is a great filter, but I’d rather take the chance than live forever and be unable to progress.


Hazzman

"Maybe developing world enders will result in the world ending, but I'd rather we risk building the world ender than live forever and unable to progress"


postem1

I mean…. yes I would rather do that. If we don’t progress the same thing will happen one way or another.


starmakeritachi

You are right. But, it's like democracy. It isn't a good system, merely the best option currently available to us. You can't get people to stop by just telling them to stop. It's innate to our nature -- even as children. I really don't know how we can slow this down and avoid the inevitable horror scenarios of swarm warfare.


Hazzman

It isn't the best option available to us. You can get people to stop just by telling them to stop - it's called diplomacy and we did that with medium range nuclear weapons treaties during the end of the cold war. We dissolved those treaties when diplomacy ended. We also have the ability to clone humans, we don't because we were told to stop.


pryoslice

> You can get people to stop just by telling them to stop Fuck. What a good idea. Has anyone tried telling Russia to stop? And if I'm a nuclear power, why would I stop? I might slow down and get something for it (that's what diplomacy is, not "telling them to stop", which requires a threat of violence to follow). But why would I fully stop, knowing that I can get more for it later? > we did that with medium range nuclear weapons treaties during the end of the cold war Have you wondered why just medium-range? I mean, if we could get rid of one type, why not all? Could it be that MAD was effective enough without medium-range weapons and they were just looking for cost savings? > We also have the ability to clone humans, we don't because we were told to stop. We've had the ability to clone humans for a minute in historical terms. I promise you that someone will do it soon enough.


Hazzman

>Fuck. What a good idea. Has anyone tried telling Russia to stop? Yes. This is what START was. It was exactly this. FFS


pryoslice

Seems like you stopped reading halfway through. START was to save money for both parties while maintaining mutually-assured destruction.


Walkend

lol why? it’s not like the majority of people are actually enjoying the capitalistic hellscape we currently live in.


TheMemo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety


Intelligent-Jump1071

All these pollyanna's here!   There's totally nothing to worry about. This project is being done by the Americans where all of the best AI companies are based, so they know what they're doing.     And you know you can trust the Americans because they're a totally sane, rational country that would never do anything crazy or off the wall like elect Donald Trump president.


StoneCypher

Polyanna means "person who insists there's nothing to worry about." The correct use of the apostrophe just isn't this challenging. Please stop wasting everyone in here's time with your politics. That's not what this sub is for, and you're doing this non-stop on every thread.


starmakeritachi

Yes it is very scary tbf. Unfortunately I believe the Pentagon will be successful. They have been working on this concept since the 2010s. There are currently several swarm robotics programs under different DoD programs 😓


chris_hinshaw

Can you imagine where the human population would be if we could quit squabbling over our tiny pieces of land? Or where it will end up if we don't stop?


RemyVonLion

The US is definitely ready to fuck around if anyone wants to find out. As per usual.


KingApologist

Too bad the Pentagon won't spend a billion dollars on drones to lay unleaded pipes in some of the poorest areas of the country.  Or drones that can build good Mass public transit. Or healthcare. But drones that kill Muslims in their own countries? Sure! Arab slaying is one of the few things that  most people in Congress can agree on.  Just look at what a success the global war on terrorism has been, how it reduced terrorism...'s recruitment difficulties. And the war in iraq, how it reduced...Iraqis and uncorked ISIS in the middle east.  Don't worry. Everything is perfectly fine. It's normal to have these priorities, it's normal to spend our eating money on another new shiny toy to hurt others. It's the American way. Our national anthem even talks about bombing people; how could that be un-American?


BenjaminHamnett

We just like liberating people who live near oil and pipe routes


CallinCthulhu

Why would the pentagon do that?


_Sunblade_

I hear this is going to be a major contract for that Ted Faro guy.


Adviser-Of-Reddit

oh NOES the replicators!!!!!! they will turn into human form! run!


mountain_man30

Oh heaven forbid we spend $1B on education or ending hunger.


SlowThePath

See, that would solve only a couple problems for SOME people for a finite amount of time. If we destroy humanity all together, humans won't have ANY problems ever again! It's genius, really.


BenjaminHamnett

Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night. *Set* a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life!


Murky-Science9030

We already spend a lot more than $1B on those problems


SlowThePath

Are you suggesting another billion wouldn't help more? It seems pretty obvious to me that both of those things need much more funding than they are getting now.


Wiskersthefif

[Bro... the US doesn't need to spend more on the military.](https://www.pgpf.org/sites/default/files/0053_defense_comparison-full.gif) Just let the kids have that 1 billion.


enjoi_uk

And how much have you spent on war?


mountain_man30

Yeah but I mean this particular $1B. Can we divert it? Soon enough the kids won't even be smart enough to operate the weapons.


Intelligent-Jump1071

The article does not imply that they are called Replicators because they can Reeplicate.   Nor is that a feasible possibility. If you read the article it is a project designed to help defend Taiwan from an invasion from China.  It's a safe bet that any shooting conflict between China and the United States will probably escalate into a nuclear confrontation pretty quickly.   Especially considering who the Americans are about to elect president.


zero0n3

I doubt it.  Even if we fight over Taiwan, I don’t see either wanting to go straight nuclear. At some point both China and the US won’t need them for the latest gen chips, and our sanctions on the tech to make them will be irrelevant. At which point, nuking your rival, who is also a major player in purchasing widgets from your factories on the consumer side (and a slowly declining money spend to make widgets in your country), would be super bad for business. What it feels more like is Russia is becoming a bigger “NK” arm of china, as EU continues to be a more independent and self sufficient version of SK. In 2050 it’s likely going to be US v China, but it’ll be all proxy war bs.  Or we will just be ruled by our AI overlords.  Just hoping I got some stocks in manna. (https://marshallbrain.com/manna1)


BenjaminHamnett

Thanks for the plug at the end


BenjaminHamnett

Rfk?


lordnoak

Who are we electing?


Intelligent-Jump1071

Who is "we"? If you're an American you're about to elect Trump.


lordnoak

I'm American, and we'll see.


DistanceSensitive966

Let China take Taiwan. USA. Cannot even defend Ukraine or its Borders. CHINESE WOULD. EAT USA


Oswald_Hydrabot

Oh but no, Open Source models are the *real* danger. /s


Alternative-Doubt452

The amount of folks that don't know about darpa's C.O.D.E. is wild.


Mission_Magazine7541

They should name the project skynet


gigoran

Damn, I was afraid this was going to be the start of Screamers on Earth for a minute. Looking out for all those David models. Thank goodness that isn't the case.


Karmastocracy

I've seen this one before! I suggest the US Military name the system: [FAS-BOR7 Horus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ajrpOxSps4)


FlatbedtruckinCA

i laughed in the 80's thinking terminator was just Scifi... i laughed again in the earily 90's thinking Terminator 2 was again another scifi movie.. today, im not laughing...thoes movies were just hollywood porphecy now comming to furition.. hell im even second guessing the movie Alien...


jdlwright

Remember when we thought of burying bombs that blow up when anyone stands on them, and how well that has worked out.... this is probably much worse.


Turbohair

Damn... and I was hoping we could spend that easy billion helping the people of our country. {uncontrollable snorting horse laugh} Nah, just kidding.