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US Army Considers Replacing Thousands of Troops With Robots

Thuleman said:
I am not surprised by any of this, the military is getting way to expensive. Think about it, people enlist at 18, retire at 38 after 20 years will full benefits, and then the government has to pay them for another 50+ years. That kind of "business model" is just unsustainable, there just isn't enough cash for that type of stuff.
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Just replace military grunts with all those able bodied welfare lifers we've got hanging out on the streets that just can't seem to be bothered finding a job. We're already perpetually paying for, sight as well put them to work and get some use out of them.
 
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Long term saving costs would be huge. One of the big costs to the armed services is for pensions and long term care after service.

Unless there was some quantum leap in AI, robots will be still controlled by soldiers, (hopefully soldiers with a conscience) much like drones have replaced pilots in the sky. It does take out the "up close and personal" feeling, desensitizing the operator. It's not a human, it's a digital representation on a monitor.

I just want to know one thing about controlling these replacement robot soldiers.... controllers or KB/M?
 
I'll believe it when I see it. counter measures are easier with robots then with some trained soldiers.
 
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I meant to add, and this is just MY GUESS, is that the first robot soldiers would be akin to suicide bombers. Basically, a little tough track or all-terrain robot with cameras that can go in and self-detonate. Basically, clearing a very hostile area effectively and with precision.
 
Drive a robot drone into a building that is full of bad-guys and have it blow itself up without risking any of our human soldiers. Create a small robot truck to carry extra equipment for the soldiers. Create little robots to send somewhere you can't see to get intel / pictures of what's there before going in and being ambushed. These are the types of robots you'll see... at least for the next few decades. I believe there are already international rules in place, and more being written, to prohibit any country from building a terminator style army. :)
 
tuksonrider said:
I meant to add, and this is just MY GUESS, is that the first robot soldiers would be akin to suicide bombers. Basically, a little tough track or all-terrain robot with cameras that can go in and self-detonate. Basically, clearing a very hostile area effectively and with precision.
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Old_Way said:
Drive a robot drone into a building that is full of bad-guys and have it blow itself up without risking any of our human soldiers. Create a small robot truck to carry extra equipment for the soldiers. Create little robots to send somewhere you can't see to get intel / pictures of what's there before going in and being ambushed. These are the types of robots you'll see... at least for the next few decades. I believe there are already international rules in place, and more being written, to prohibit any country from building a terminator style army. :)
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great.. we'd just turn into the high tech chickenshit version of the enemy they're fighting. :D
 
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Lith1um said:
I'll say it again. Money for robots to wage war, yet still no robots for meaningful work inside Fukushima Daiichi after 1074 straight days of unchecked environmental destruction.

Sooner or later you're going to run out of qualified, willing employees. The salt water is taking it's toll on the plant, the clock is ticking.
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Wow that was a bikram yoga stretch. You really fucking stretched that one.
 
SGA76 said:
LMAO!!!!!
I could just see that one happening.
Kids would be logging on to see who can get the biggest negative score, NATO members would be having strokes en mass, and we'd all feel terrible about it until they killed off the Fox news reporters, then we'd be fine with it.
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At least people would notice if they killed off the Fox news reporters.
If it happened to MSNBC or CNN, it might be a few weeks before anyone noticed. :)
 
jacuzz1 said:
They are the fruit of Crony Capitalism and not the true free market. Our current hybrid socialist economy born of the lobbyist corruption of our politicians whom have made a part time job a career and perverted our system is doomed for the very reasons that you state. A True free market is self correcting.
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Exactly.

The more power the government has and the more control it has over the economy, the bigger the seperation between the rich and the poor.
Just look at the past 5 years and how much more wealth has been consolidated into the hands of the rich with all the so-called bailouts.
 
Everyone envisions terminators. I envision the stupid droid from the first 3 Star Wars movies. Our government has to be so PC they'd probably all sing happy songs and have flashing lights on them to warn the enemy that they're coming.
 
A Quote from this article by Former US commander General Stanley McChrystal;

Asked by the BBC’s Today programme what the future was for drone warfare, he said: “There’s a danger that something that feels easy to do and without risk to yourself, almost antiseptic to the person shooting, doesn’t feel that way at the point of impact. And so if it lowers the threshold for taking operations because it feels easy, there’s danger in that.”
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Seems there is a disconnect between what the General is saying and reality. I knew to look this up cause I know an ex-UAV operator who quit because of the stress and bad feelings. Too many people think our soldiers are just brainwashed killers, the truth is so far from that.

http://www.livescience.com/40959-military-drone-war-psychology.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/us/drone-pilots-found-to-get-stress-disorders-much-as-those-in-combat-do.html?_r=0
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/afghanistan-pakistan/kill-capture/as-drone-use-surges-pilots-report-high-stress-levels/
 
Originally Posted by Thuleman View Post
I am not surprised by any of this, the military is getting way to expensive. Think about it, people enlist at 18, retire at 38 after 20 years will full benefits, and then the government has to pay them for another 50+ years. That kind of "business model" is just unsustainable, there just isn't enough cash for that type of stuff.
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This is not even remotely the truth.

This is more accurate;
"people enlist at 18, retire at 38 after 20 years will full benefits, and then the government has to pay them for another 50+ years", because they can be called back to active service at any time no matter their age. Their medical is paid to help ensure they remain in some sort of decent physical health because of the investment placed in them.

Here is some more truth for you to keep it all in perspective;
Veterans were more than twice as likely as other civilians to commit suicide. They were twice as likely to be a victim of a fatal motor vehicle crash and a quarter more likely to suffer other deadly accidents.
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http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-veteran-deaths-20131217-dto,0,382875.htmlstory

When I retired the running joke was that if you made it 5 years after retiring, you might make it to a long life. I know that was an exaggeration, but it wasn't that far off the mark. Veterans just get exposed to so much nasty shit whether in war or not. I don't have a clue all the stuff I was exposed to, but I do know I almost died twice, once was a virus that almost killed me in a day, and I know I was exposed to asbestos and I am just waiting to see what kind of cancer I get hit with beyond the skin cancer I already have.

I am only 53 years old, that's not really old, but my joints are shot, hearing damaged, I can't go to sleep until I stretch out my back to ease the pain. My choice, my problems, but don't talk about this shit as if it's fucking easy street, and I never even saw combat duty although I was in a war zone in Iraq after I retired.

And the other thing about your comment that's bullshit. The military is all volunteer, me you, anyone as long as they got a working brain and are not physically limited can join up. But it's a contract deal, you sign a contract, and agreement. You know Congress just broke that agreement right? My pay is supposed to undergo small increases as a percentage of the Annual Cost of Living adjustment. Congress just changed the deal after we have honored our part of it, they have cut 1% off the COLA. Now this year the COLA was 1.7%, they just chopped 1% off it until we reach age 62, Obama just said he is going to reduce the COLA .7% just because. So no adjustment at all. My $950 or so dollars a month, which is still taxable at my current income levels is going to sit and shrink with the cost of living from now until I retire.

Now just how well would you take it if someone made you a contract and said we will pay you this if you spend the best years of your life doing a job for us, and after you have done your part in full, they don't want to pay up, "because it's unsustainable"?

It's only unsustainable cause they want the money for other shit, which by the way, is probably shit you bitch about already and don't want them spending the money on that either. Don't tell me what's unsustainable because that 1%, although it's alot to me, is nothing to the government, really.

When one small company like Norton, who around 2003, was told by the IRS that they had undervalued an Intellectual Property transfer to Europe and owed another 1 Billion Dollars in Taxes, when the taxes on their profits are measured in Billions then you start to see that they amount of money moving around the world is beyond your actual comprehension. You can't even wrap your head around how much money is out there, but they have to cut a tiny little bit of all that because it's unsustainable.

Time to get a clue my friend.
 
Drive a robot drone into a building that is full of bad-guys and have it blow itself up without risking any of our human soldiers.
Click to expand...

Adjust your thinking, we got guns that do that with perfect accuracy from 15 miles away and within 2 minutes is ready to engage another target that's 10 miles away in the other direction. How fast is your drone? Oh, and that artillery, it's tactical nuclear capable. You just gota but the right buullliitttss in it, go bigger boom :D
 
lcpiper said:
This is not even remotely the truth.

This is more accurate;
"people enlist at 18, retire at 38 after 20 years will full benefits, and then the government has to pay them for another 50+ years", because they can be called back to active service at any time no matter their age. Their medical is paid to help ensure they remain in some sort of decent physical health because of the investment placed in them.
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You once again commit the logical fallacy arguing that "they deserve it" vs facing fiscal reality. Until you, and others like you in Congress, are able to disassociate the issue from the people you will not be able to see clearly that WE HAVE NO MONEY.

The argument here is that machines are over time less expensive than people, which is a good thing because WE HAVE NO MONEY.

The government has NO MONEY to pay benefits for eternity, not to retired military, not for homeless, not for disabled, yadda yadda yadda. It doesn't matter whether it's the right thing, or the moral thing, to pay up. When there is no money then things need to be cut. Paying 50+ years of pension for 20 years of service doesn't make financial sense and is not sustainable at all.
 
 
mynamehere said:
Just replace military grunts with all those able bodied welfare lifers we've got hanging out on the streets that just can't seem to be bothered finding a job. We're already perpetually paying for, sight as well put them to work and get some use out of them.
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How about sending prisoners to fight instead?
 
tuksonrider said:
Long term saving costs would be huge. One of the big costs to the armed services is for pensions and long term care after service.

Unless there was some quantum leap in AI, robots will be still controlled by soldiers, (hopefully soldiers with a conscience) much like drones have replaced pilots in the sky. It does take out the "up close and personal" feeling, desensitizing the operator. It's not a human, it's a digital representation on a monitor.

I just want to know one thing about controlling these replacement robot soldiers.... controllers or KB/M?
Click to expand...

What No CYLONS? ;)

By your command...
 
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