So, I'm not going to talk about the amusing spike in gun sales following the election of President Obama. Instead, a report funded by the U.S. Navy has finally said what everyone has been thinking since the military first put a missile on an unmanned aircraft.
First off, I'm relieved that someone at the top is actually thinking about these things. I often feel subjects like this (asteroid defense, epidemic behavior altering diseases/pathogens i.e. zombies, rampant A.I., etc.) get tossed into the government "LOL pile" because of the sheer volume of myth and popular culture involved.
Back to the article, the one most surprising factoid was the Congressional mandate to have one-third of a ground combat vehicles to be unmanned by 2015. Now I assume they mean that the vehicles will be controlled remotely and not that the U.S. will fight wars with lots of empty tanks. Two benefits come out of the American alliance with automated warriors: fewer humans in harm's way and fewer humans needed to fight wars. Up to now, every robotic participant in American wars has had a human at the helm. At this rate, this policy will have to shift in favor of more self-sufficiency for the robots.
BAE Systems Semi-autonomous Black Knight Armored Combat Vehicle (DailyTech)
The U.S. military and government need to take a few precautions in order to prevent something catastrophic. Note: "catastrophic" doesn't necessarily mean the apocryphal events of Terminator - a friendly-fire incident against an ally that still fields human armies or an unwarranted attack on a rival currently at peace would qualify as catastrophic missteps. Firstly, it might soon be time to get the President a second briefcase which holds the self-destruct codes for this army of automatons. Lastly, and most importantly, the government needs to take its time in implementing these mandates. The U.S. already holds huge advantages in military technology and the rush to run up the score is foolhardy (after all, militaries are not rated by the BCS). The cost of mistakes at this developmental stage are immense and grow larger with every corner cut and every overworked and underpaid programmer.
After all, the Europeans have already deployed Skynet military communication satellites. Clearly, we already tread upon thin ice.
