**
Scotty Starnes posted: "Doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
This is from the administration who has stated that US citizenship does not
make you immune from being targeted and killed without due process (See 5th
Amendment of the US Constitution). From Wired: The P" Respond to this
post by replying above this line
New post on *Scotty Starnes's Blog*
<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/> Pentagon Wants
to Assure You That A Human Will Always Decide When a Robot Kills
You<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/pentagon-wants-to-assure-you-that-a-human-will-always-decide-when-a-robot-kills-you/>
by
Scotty Starnes <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>
Doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy? This is from the
administration who has stated
<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/ag-eric-holder-says-targeted-killing-of-us-citzens-without-due-process-is-legal-and-constitutional/>that
US citizenship does not make you immune from being targeted and killed
without due process (See 5th Amendment of the US Constitution).
>From Wired <http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/11/human-robot-kill>:
The Pentagon wants to make perfectly clear that every time one of its
flying robots releases its lethal payload, it’s the result of a decision
made by an accountable human being in a lawful chain of command. Human
rights groups and nervous citizens fear that technological advances in
autonomy will slowly lead to the day when robots make that critical
decision for themselves. But according to a new policy directive issued by
a top Pentagon official, there shall be no SkyNet, thank you very much.
Here’s what happened while you were preparing for Thanksgiving: Deputy
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter signed, on November 21, a series of
instructions to “minimize the probability and consequences of failures” in
autonomous or semi-autonomous armed robots “that could lead to unintended
engagements <http://cryptome.org/dodi/dodd-3000-09.pdf>,” starting at the
design stage (.pdf, thanks to Cryptome.org). Translated from the
bureaucrat, the Pentagon wants to make sure that there isn’t a circumstance
when one of the military’smany Predators,
Reapers<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/drone-report/>
, drone-like
missiles<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/drones-suicidal-cousins/>
or
other deadly robots effectively automatizes the decision to harm a human
being <http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/11/president-hunt-you/>.
The hardware and software controlling a deadly robot needs to come equipped
with “safeties, anti-tamper mechanisms, and information assurance.” The
design has got to have proper “human-machine interfaces and controls.” And,
above all, it *has* to operate “consistent with commander and operator
intentions and, if unable to do so, terminate engagements or seek
additional human operator input before continuing the engagement.” If not,
the Pentagon isn’t going to buy it or use it.
It’s reasonable to worry that advancements in robot autonomy are going to
slowly push flesh-and-blood troops out of the role of deciding who to kill.
To be sure, military autonomous systems aren’t nearly there yet. No
Predator, for instance, can fire its Hellfire missile without a human
directing it. But the military is wading its toe into murkier ethical and
operational waters: The Navy’s experimental X-47B prototype will soon be
able to land on an aircraft
carrier<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/x47b/> with
the barest of human
directions<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/navy-wants-mouse-click-flying-for-its-carrier-based-drone/>.
(The video below is of the X-47B being loaded on a ship.) That’s still a
long way from deciding on its own to release its weapons. But this is how a
very deadly slope can slip.
It’s that sort of thing that worries Human Rights Watch, for instance.
Last week, the organization, among the most influential non-governmental
institutions in the world, issued a report warning that new developments in
drone autonomy represented the demise of established “legal and non-legal
checks on the killing of
civilians<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/11/19/losing-humanity-0>.”
Its solution: “prohibit the “development, production, and use of fully
autonomous weapons through an international legally binding instrument.”
Laudable impulse, wrong solution, writes Matthew Waxman. A former Defense
Department official for detainee policy, Waxman and co-author Kenneth
Anderson observe that technological advancements in robotic weapons
autonomy is far from predictable, and the definition of “autonomy” is murky
enough to make it unwise to tell the world that it has to curtail those
advancements at an arbitrary point. Better, they write, for the U.S. to
start an international conversation about *how much* autonomy on a killer
robot is appropriate, so as to “embed evolving internal state standards
into incrementally advancing automation.”
Continue reading>>><http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/11/human-robot-kill>
*Scotty Starnes <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>
* | November 27, 2012 at 1:25 PM | Tags:
autonomous<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=autonomous>,
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton
Carter<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=deputy-defense-secretary-ashton-carter>,
drone attack <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=drone-attack>,
drones<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=drones>,
due process <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=due-process>,
Pentagon<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=pentagon>,
predators <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=predators>,
Reapers<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=reapers>,
semi-autonomous
<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=semi-autonomous>, targeted
killing <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=targeted-killing>, US
citizenship <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=us-citizenship> |
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