Look! Up in the sky! Its a bird....

Boyd

Boyd

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Really, how far away can SkyNet be when the Wall Street Journal is running opinion pieces like this from a professor of medical ethics? Aside from time travel, it reads like a plot synopsis from The Terminator. Here are some excerpts. Very scary stuff....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203604577396282717616136.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

OPINION
May 11, 2012, 6:07 p.m. ET

Robot Soldiers Will Be a Reality—and a Threat

Given the obvious dangers, fully autonomous offensive lethal weapons should never be permitted.
____________________

Today drone pilots operate thousands of miles away from the battlefield. They must manage vast amounts of data and video images during exceptionally intense workdays. They are scrutinized by superiors for signs of stress, and to reduce such stress the Air Force is attempting shift changes, less physical isolation on the job, and more opportunities for rest.

Yet even as this remarkable new form of war fighting is becoming more widely recognized, there are at least two more possible technological transitions on the horizon that have garnered far less public attention. One is using brain-machine interface technologies to give the remote pilot instantaneous control of the drone through his or her thoughts alone. The technology is not science fiction: Brain-machine interface systems are already being used to help patients with paralytic conditions interact with their environments, like controlling a cursor on a computer screen.
_____________________

Yet there is a way to avoid the errors of brain-machine interface that could change warfare in still more fundamental and unpredictable ways: autonomous weapons systems combining the qualities of human intelligence that neuroscience has helped us understand with burgeoning information and communications technologies.

Even now there are defensive weapons systems on U.S. naval ships that routinely operate on their own, but with human monitoring. A new automated weapons system has been deployed at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. This robot sentry is said to be the first that has integrated systems for surveillance, tracking, firing and voice-recognition. Reportedly it has an "automatic" mode that would allow it to fire without a human command, but that mode is not being used.
_______________________

Another technology is even more radical. Neuroscientists and philosophers are exploring the parameters of "whole brain emulation," which would involve uploading a mind from a brain into a non-biological substrate. It might be that Moore's Law (the idea that computing capacity doubles about every two years) would have to persist for decades in order for a computer to be sufficiently powerful to receive an uploaded mind. Then again, the leap might come by means of the new science of quantum computing—machines that use atomic mechanical phenomena instead of transistors to manage vast amounts of information. Experiments with quantum computing are already being performed at a number of universities and national laboratories in the United States and elsewhere.

Robotic warriors whose computers are based on whole brain emulation raise a stark question: Would these devices even need human minders? Perhaps, if we're not careful, these creatures could indeed inherit the Earth.
 
46er

46er

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Mar 24, 2004
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It's all one big video game, until the bots take over. At least they won't eat meat, just green wafers. :eek:

I think there was a movie like this once or twice or thrice.....
 
dogg57

dogg57

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Found this for ya..........MMM yum For almost seven decades McDonald’s has been the source of cheap, fast, and filling food for Americans. As the company has grown around the world so too has its reputation, both good and bad. With almost complete dominance over the wallets and stomachs of frugal diners around the world that company has
big-mac.jpg
had a difficult time with critics in recent years, taking the brunt of the blame for the growing obesity epidemic in the United States. As lean times continue though McDonald’s continues to thrive with consumers more aware of exactly how much they have to spend on food than ever before.
Now the chain has begun to explore new menu options that may benefit both sides of the argument. A low cost food rich in healthy carbohydrates, Soylent has long been envisioned as a substitute for heavily processed and manufactured foods. First appearing in the 1973 Charlton Heston film ‘Soylent Green’, McDonald’s has begun processing their own version of Soylent in the real world in an effort to appeal to more cost conscious consumers struggling through the recession. According to reports the company has already begun production on the new product at Industry, CA processing plant



soylent-green-poster.jpg
 
Boyd

Boyd

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Soylent Green has is one of my favorite movies. It was Edward G. Robinson's last film; he was dying from cancer and he knew it. Knowing that has always made his performance more powerful for me. And what could be a worse futuristic nightmare than having Dick Van Patten lead you off to your death? On the DVD you will find a feature shot on 16mm film where the cast threw a party for Edward G. Robinson to celebrate all the films he appeared in.
 
46er

46er

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Mar 24, 2004
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"You tell everybody. Listen to me, Hatcher. You've gotta tell them! Soylent Green is people! We've gotta stop them somehow!"

For some strange reason, I'm getting hungry.....

Perhaps its the lymes causing it; that's a shade of green.
 
LARGO

LARGO

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Sep 7, 2005
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With regard to the concern of machines, technology, etc.
I offer you this.
I really enjoy reading and absorbing quotes from other folks of all walks of life.
(a) It can be very educational especially when I can draw from other's life experience in the written word.
(b) It frees me up from ever having to have an original thought or idea. Priceless.

With this thread in mind I remembered a quote I use in my emails for crisis situations with end user plant down time.
It fits nicely here. This it pretty much word for word I think.

It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are - Clive James

Think about that a bit.

g.
 
Boyd

Boyd

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In 1956 Aldous Huxley narrated a CBS radio broadcast of Brave New World. In the introduction he says...

Brave New World is a fantastic parable about the dehumanization of human beings. In the negative utopia described in my story, man has been subordinated to his own inventions. Science, technology, social organization -- these things have ceased to serve man. They have become his masters.

A quarter of a century has passed since the book was published. In that time, our world has taken so many steps in the wrong direction that if I were writing today, I would date my story not 600 years in the future but at the most, 200. The price of liberty and even of common humanity is eternal vigilance.
Click to expand...


I would say that we are already very close to the point where science, technology and social organization have become our masters. You can listen to the full broadcast here: http://slapphappe.wordpress.com/201...-brave-new-world-for-a-vintage-cbs-broadcast/
 
46er

46er

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Mar 24, 2004
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1984 happened a lot earlier than expected. There is virtually no where you can go without being caught on some form of camera. Even in the pines there are the trail cams. And wait unitl OBD-III is implemented in vehicles.

"We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent there will be no need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."
 
Old Crazy

Old Crazy

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geezerfinneran

geezerfinneran

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geezerfinneran

geezerfinneran

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Ummm.... Guess you didn't notice this, but at least one generation ago, the authorities began using piloted aircraft of various types for law enforcement, search and rescue, etc.

Since we are here discussing the matter, it would appear Civilization-As-We-Know-It has survived.

Apart from being non-piloted, or remotely piloted craft, how does the use of drones for the same purpose differ ?

If they were not called "drones" would you feel better about them ??
 
ecampbell

ecampbell

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Jan 2, 2003
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geezerfinneran said:
Ummm.... Guess you didn't notice this, but at least one generation ago, the authorities began using piloted aircraft of various types for law enforcement, search and rescue, etc.

Since we are here discussing the matter, it would appear Civilization-As-We-Know-It has survived.

Apart from being non-piloted, or remotely piloted craft, how does the use of drones for the same purpose differ ?

If they were not called "drones" would you feel better about them ??
Click to expand...

It's the stealthyness " sneakyness" of them, I don't care what they are called. I'll bet that they'll earn a new name once the public becomes aware.
 
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