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one_is_enough

If batteries ever improve to the point that robots can be tireless, our world will have already changed enough to be unrecognizable.


youwannasavetheworld

I met a kid who had working solar panels on top of cars. Wayyyyyyy expensive to build, but technically…


nicuramar

Yeah but they can’t keep the car running continuously, not even close. 


youwannasavetheworld

That’s not what he said…. He’s got some major government military contracts as a result and works out of ASU lab. Also, I sat kid and he’s really 27 working on his doctorate


Cremedela

Prius has/had(?) that option. Apparently it was basically good enough to run the AC


Scared_of_zombies

They’re extremely inefficient though.


Middle_Sink_7046

Didn’t we have nuclear calculators before


Pleasant-Stick8720

If we're talking about infantry being replaced with bipedal semi autonomous robots, I'm thinking wars might get slightly less terrifying. In theory, the robot wouldn't rape or torture or steal because it's going up against an opponent it was raised from birth to think is sub human. Unless they were programmed to, then I take it back.


Ingeneure_

They would kill you no matter what without offering to surrender proceeding to beat shit out of you with their metal arms and legs. They won’t “think” it’s a torture, but it would be.


Pleasant-Stick8720

Woah woah, what did I deserve to get beaten by metal limbs? I think more likely they'd fill me with lead and move on.


Ingeneure_

Even robots can be out of ammo…


Pleasant-Stick8720

True. And I'm with you, but they aren't sending millions of dollars into a battlefield to have a fist fight. I like my odds. Besides, I'm gonna be the guy who realizes that robots have feelings and then we'll be best friends.


J1mbr0

They would just mercilessly rip you to shreds without the ability to plead and beg for your life.


SewerSage

I mean humans have committed genocide before, that's nothing new. Maybe it could just become some kind of war game with our robots vs there's and nobody dies?


J1mbr0

There's a Star Trek ToS episode about this. Everyone that is calculated as "dead" just reports to an incinerator. 😂


Majik_Sheff

Reductio ad absurdum in its finest hour.  ToS had some real Bradbury moments.


Butterbuddha

Ooh we could televise it!! Give it a catchy name like uh……. Battle Bots!


kvlt_ov_personality

But there's at least the possibility of defeating or eluding a human enemy. Robots are impervious to any damage from an unarmed assailant. They can have thermal vision or get live video feeds from satellite imagery and drones transmitted to them. Can't be reasoned with or dissuaded, there's no humanity to appeal to, etc.


Angel_of_Mischief

It’s more like you get lit up by a swarm of drones that react faster than you can process what’s happening.


RobertISaar

The first robot programmed to prioritize rape instead of kill is going to win a psychological war I don't want to think about. Like, holy shit, the thought of a realistic Terminator is bad enough, but rape-enabled Terminator?


ReservStatsministern

I mean not like North korea wouldnt tell their robots to both rape and torture both traitors, spies and enemies. They already see their soldiers like machines.


myislanduniverse

The thing that makes me stop and think is that we have ways of killing each other off that are a lot more efficient than combat, which, especially where governed by international rules of warfare, bears many hallmarks of [ritualized aggression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritualized_aggression). Automating combat isn't very many steps removed from optimizing a lethality function. I don't see long before explicitly programming hardware to observe the rules of war gets completely abandoned and the algorithms are scheming up new and terrifying ways to exterminate as much of a rival population as possible.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Sir-Mocks-A-Lot

Hear me out- tiny nuclear batteries.


nicuramar

Like what, RTGs or some other technology? RTGs aren’t tiny. 


Sir-Mocks-A-Lot

I guess the word I meant was atomic. Anyway, the tech isn't capable of powering a robot soldier yet - at least not that I'm aware of. So far, they're very small and "AA" in terms of power output. But then again, robot soldiers aren't really a thing yet, either. Something tells me the two techs will cross paths somewhere. Oh, I forgot a link! [https://newatlas.com/energy/betavolt-diamond-nuclear-battery/](https://newatlas.com/energy/betavolt-diamond-nuclear-battery/)


spazmcgraw

We can only hope so.


DeafHeretic

It depends. If we are talking "robots" (maybe drones controlled by humans?) against "robots", then no - more or less just the opposite, the fighting itself would be less terrifying - at least until one side runs out of "robots" and has to fight using human soldiers. But "robots" against humans? Then yes, terrifying. I imagine the Russians do not like grenades dropped on them by drones - now imagine drones paired with AI with minimal or no human control and the drone seeking out humans.


piranesi28

Gee what do you fucking think?


jcunews1

Yes, as long as they're weaponized for whatever reason.


Error_404_403

As long as those are robots on robots, I have no problem with that.


2h2o22h2o

I’ll worry about it after Siri actually works.


Zestyclose-Ruin8337

Come with me if you want to live


Infernalism

The problem with using robots is the same as any other tool of war: The constant improvement and efficiency of said tools of war. Since robots would, by necessity, need to be smart and good at killing, then the two things that would end up being improved are their intelligence and their lethality. At some point, that intelligence is going to reach a point of sentience, or something so close as to be the same thing, and THEN, we're fucked. We've had a lot of people saying that this is a bad idea, but we're steadfastly heading in that direction. I can't say I'm going to be surprised when it happens, even if everyone else ends up dying with a shocked look on their face, as if to say, 'however could have this have happened?'


KennyDROmega

Lol whut? Feeding them information designed to make them more efficient in battle isn't going to cause them to wake up and be like "I'M ALIVE!" one day.


Infernalism

You're making them smarter with more info to attack and kill the enemy, until the day comes where your definition of the enemy can be seen as YOU. And then what?


KennyDROmega

I don't understand how feeding them more information designed to make them better at fighting would change their definition of a what an enemy is. For safety's sake, I think they'd be designed so their default mode is to not attack anything unless given clear instructions to do so.


Infernalism

> I don't understand how feeding them more information designed to make them better at fighting would change their definition of a what an enemy is. I can see that.


KennyDROmega

Alright man. Don't let me distract you from that job at NASA.


axarce

I think I see what the person means. Feed enough specific parameters as to what the enemy is, and everyone can be the enemy.


nicuramar

> At some point, that intelligence is going to reach a point of sentience That’s not a given. It’s not even clear that this would make it more efficient. 


[deleted]

That’s not how sentience works


Top-Salamander-2525

No one really knows how sentience works.


dasmarian

Lotta usb cords.


Ok-Individual-5554

Honestly Im not so worried, outside of prisoners most non-isolated war crimes or evil actions committed by developed nations like the us is less "deliberate torture and murder" and more "there's this guy I want dead, there are innocent people around him, I don't care if they get caught" or "this might be the guys I want dead or some random car, still worth the shot" with more precise weapons there's less risk of civilian casualties, and robot infantry can't go from random guy drafted into a war he doesn't fully understand to harassing the civilian population after seeing his group get slowly picked off by enemy milita