Tuesday, July 31, 2007

More on Robot Warfare

Pray tell me, in how many years? Will it happen in our lifetime? Just how soon?

Computer did beat the best chess player in 2001, when will the robot soldier (challenge to create one by UK MOD is here) beat the best human warfighters?

Never?
20 years?
10 years?
5 years?
When???

Somehow, I think that urban warfare is one of the most "human" (not humane, for sure ...) activities, requiring every single ability that puts humans above the machines by an unmeasurable margin (examples are intuition, gut feeling, self-sacrifice, many others ...) Yes, sensor networks, fast CPUs and "swarm intelligence" count for something, but I still think that it is not poetry or sculpture that will prove truly resistant to computerization: it is warfare!

Thus, assuming no humongous paradigm shifts in robotics or computing, I am hereby betting on "never." Any takers?

UPDATE: this here talks about armed robots in Iraq, but these are not the same. In reality, the above blog post is not so much about armed machines, but about AI making a decision to open fire. Thus, armed remote operator-controlled robots kinda don't count.

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Dr Anton Chuvakin