Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!agate!web-2a.berkeley.edu!c60a-2di From: c60a-2di@web-2a.berkeley.edu (The Cybermat Rider) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Robots and Free Will Summary: Future war Keywords: robots war Message-ID: <18631@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 29 Dec 88 22:58:40 GMT References: <3336@sdsu.UUCP> Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 49 In article <3336@sdsu.UUCP> caasi@sdsu.UUCP (Richard Caasi) writes: >#include > >Lest we forget, one of the big customers of new technologies such as >robotics, ai, and neural networks is the military. Inevitably, the >capability to conduct warfare will become more automated. This is >especially advantageous for those countries which lack the manpower >that an an enemy has. (i.e., smart missiles, pilotless aircraft, >satellite killers, crewless tanks & ships) The question is: What happens when >these intelligent warmongers get damaged from battle and yet retain ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >their destructive functions? Do they get out of control and start ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >turning on other targets? By the above statement, I presume you mean damage to the robots' control systems or "brains" (can't really think of a better word for it - when robot wars become reality, methinks their processings would be so advanced as to qualify as semiconductor/optical/etc. equivalents of the mush in our skulls). Under such circumstances, it is indeed possible that they may get out of control and turn on other targets. However, in the event of a real war of this nature, I doubt any human being would be so foolish as to walk on the surface. Doubtless they'd be safely (or so they think) tucked away in underground bunkers. If their pesky robots become rogues, the safest alternative would be to wait for ammo & other war supplies to be depleted. Of course, the robots might have built their own war factories by then........ I read a sci-fi book a few years back (Cageworld #2 by Colin Kapp) and one chapter caught my attention. The protagonists were exploring the outer reaches of the solar system (which man had colonized long before) when they set down on a "cageworld" that had obviously fallen victim to a terrible war. It turned out that the war was actually fought solely by robots, but the human inhabitants were wiped out in the process. Our hero himself encountered one such war machine, and the only thing that saved his life (by the way, he was a Master Assassin) was the fact that it had run out of ammo long ago. He lamented the "genius" of the machines' creators, and I paraphrase him: "Machines get tougher, faster and more deadly, but man remains the same old weak bag of blood and bones." A chilling observation.......... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Ho a.k.a. The Cybermat Rider University of California, Berkeley c60a-2di@web.berkeley.edu Disclaimer: Nobody takes me seriously, so is it really necessary?