The Terminators Have Arrived

Killer Drone Hunts Down Human Target Without Being Told To, according to this article. Now, the article is from the New York Post, and they don’t give the name of the human or humans who were killed, so there are two reasons to take the story with a grain of salt. On the other hand, they do cite a U.N. report, and quote several people who are, in all likelihood, real people, and most importantly we all know that this technology exists.
So, it was only a matter of time. We’ve all seen those cute videos from Boston Dynamics with the robot dog who can open doors, dance (how well they’re dancing is another question, but I thought they were pretty good), run, and get back up again after some shit human being has kicked them over. Well, if those robot dogs were programmed to kill the mailman, there’s no doubt they could do it.
So, we’re in dangerous territory now. Who gets prosecuted if a drone kills somebody? Well, to some extent, the old ‘just following orders’ defense is likely to come into play. Even if a drone acts independently, somebody has to program it, somebody has to give it the parameters of who is a target and who is an innocent person.
If they can get away with saying “I didn’t do it, the drone did it” then we are in dangerous territory indeed. Because the drone, not being alive, not actually having sentience, doesn’t even care if it is dismantled. If it decides, for whatever reason, to kill, there is no disincentive, no fear of the law.
We are heading for an extremely dystopian future, and some people think it’s just great.