The WELL: inkwell.vue.352: P.W. Singer, Wired For War

#76: John Payne (satyr) Sun 19 Jul 09 19:04

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:04:00 PDT

Headline: Air Force Plans for All-Drone Future

Okay, take it with a grain of salt, but the subtext is that the days of Air Force resistance to the use of drones are over.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/air-force-plans-for-all-drone-future/ [Read entire topic]

#75: John Payne (satyr) Sun 28 Jun 09 17:38

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:38:00 PDT

Ultra-precision glide bombs, dispensed up to ten at a time, are on a rush order presumably for use in (Iraq and) Afghanistan. The system is called Gunslinger, and while it falls short of the nuggets of pure information dispensed by another Gunslinger (epic poem by Ed Dorn), it may represent an all-time high information:explosives ratio for real world munitions. That said, it's still a bomb.

<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/spec-ops-shops-for-10-pack-of-precision-glide-bombs/>

http://tinyurl.com/lh6h63 [Read entire topic]

#74: John Payne (satyr) Mon 22 Jun 09 18:10

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:10:00 PDT

Plan to teach military robots the rules of war http://tinyurl.com/rulesofwar (newscientist.com) [Read entire topic]

#73: John Payne (satyr) Sun 24 May 09 11:23

Sun, 24 May 2009 11:23:00 PDT

If the military relevance of that last is obscure, imagine an operator suspended in a gimbal, as in the movie Lawnmower Man, connected to a humanoid machine in the field. [Read entire topic]

#72: John Payne (satyr) Sat 23 May 09 08:06

Sat, 23 May 2009 08:06:00 PDT

There's another upcoming movie that takes the idea of remote operation (a.k.a. telepresence) about as far as it can be taken, to a situation in which just about everyone lives their lives through human-appearing robotic surrogates.

Surrogates (9/25/09) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263/ [Read entire topic]

#71: Sharon Lynne Fisher (slf) Sat 23 May 09 01:39

Sat, 23 May 2009 01:39:00 PDT

I didn't much care for it. I liked the tv show much better. [Read entire topic]

#70: John A. Morris (johnmorris) Thu 21 May 09 18:43

Thu, 21 May 2009 18:43:00 PDT

I'm going anyway. I need to know what happens next. [Read entire topic]

#69: John Payne (satyr) Thu 21 May 09 10:51

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:51:00 PDT

I caught a midnight showing of Terminator Salvation. No recommendation, one way or the other. You already know whether you're planning on seeing this movie, right? Just don't expect to see the 2018 version of what's been under discussion here, for the most part. There are some details, like a small robotic aircraft capable of hovering in place, like a helicopter can, that are plausible, but most of the technology is over the top for nine years in the future. [Read entire topic]

#68: John Payne (satyr) Mon 18 May 09 07:26

Mon, 18 May 2009 07:26:00 PDT

Another, belated, thumbs up for Peter's presentation on TED.com

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.html [Read entire topic]

#67: John Payne (satyr) Sun 17 May 09 17:58

Sun, 17 May 2009 17:58:00 PDT

This Danger Room article...

<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/05/drone-kills-25-calls-for- moratorium-hit-new-york-times/>

http://tinyurl.com/pakstrikes

...links to several sources, principally to this New York Times Op-Ed calling for a moratorium on drone strikes in Pakistan...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17exum.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3> [Read entire topic]